Gabriela1980

Hello everyone!
Hope all is well! I am a newbie here so please be patient with me. I will probably ask questions that you have seen and answered million times before.
We are as a family are planning to make the big jump and move to France permanently. We have 1 year old boy which makes it even more adventurous.
The main worry, question marks we have are about my husbands business. He is in the entertainment industry, owning his own company that is registered and pays taxes in the UK. Should we move the business to France or is it better and easier to keep it in the UK? Any experience and suggestions are most welcome!
Also anyone has any positive experience with accountants that specialise in this area?

Thank you!

EuroTrash

Hi there, welcome to the forum
Re the business, well that's easy because you don't actually have any choice in the matter. If you live and run a business activity in France, then your business has to be registered in France, and you have to pay your social contributions here. Earning an income here but not paying your social dues is not allowed under French law. It's possible to keep a UK company in addition to the French business structure, but in most cases it's just another layer of red tape for no real gain, and you end up paying taxes in two countries instead of one.

The entertainment industry is quite highly regulated here, and has its own specific code de travail, so depending exactly what the business involves he might have some interesting homework to do . For instance if he is a performer, or if he hires performers, this is somewhere to start:
Le statut de l'artiste-interprète / Documentation / Fiches pratiques / Irma : centre d'information et de ressources pour les musiques actuelles

dmu

Oh my goodness, the link brought back bad memories for me. I used to do all the paperwork for my daughter's Association (all things theatrical), and dealing with all those organisations listed wasn't a doddle. Happy was the day (at least for me) when she decided to shut shop....
The OP would have to have a knowledgeable accountant, in order to cope...

Gabriela1980

Thank you so much for the welcome and useful info! Much much much appreciated! Indeed my other half is performer but also hires other musicians to perform with him all around Europe. I feel the same - as that he will need to register the business in France full stop! I am currently trying to get my head around the healthcare. We have the European insurance cards but I understand that this will only get us emergency care. But with my other halfs business registration to take sometime, we will need to take private insurance in the meantime, if my understanding is right. Any tips on a good deal/insurance company?

Gabriela1980

Thank you for your response! Yes, it feels like a bit of nightmare! I feel that we will need to pay some good accountant, full stop. Otherwise my head will explode with trying to make sense of it all and also worrying that we miss some important info and get into a trouble! Sorry to hear about your daughter's business closure tho!

EuroTrash

If you hold EHICs issued by the UK, then these become invalid once you leave the UK. The UK's NHS is basically residence-based, therefore you're no longer entitled to NHS over if you're no longer resident, and this includes your EHICs.

It is possible to apply to join the French health system as inactifs, but you would have to wait three months before you could apply, you would need a certain level of income to qualify, and the application process can take some time. So as you say, private insurance sounds like a better option in your case. Get as many quotes as you have the patience to fill in the questionnaires - it will depend on your ages and medical histories, and different insurers have different algorithms for assessing risks, it's a case of finding the one that gives the best quote for your particular circumstances.

dmu

Thank you, but you won't much like the reason why - the entertainment world here is a stressful place to live in, and she left for Germany, where she's found a nice little niche and is more zen...

Gabriela1980

More bad news? hahahaha I am laughing but the EHIC info has made me worried a bit more! I am not that bother about us adults, more about our little one as he is just about to start walking so based on my friends' experience, we have some little or bigger accidents ahead of us!

Gabriela1980

Oh no, really? And my husband's french agents are telling him that moving to France is the best thing to do as there is so much support/help in his profession etc!

EuroTrash

I'm no expert on the entertainments industry but I think it's a bit of a two edged sword. From what little I think I understand - yes, performers are better protected here because there are rules in place to ensure that they can't be exploited, they have social security entitlements, there is no unfair competition, etc. The flipside is that there's less flexibility, more conditions to meet, more declarations and obligatory payments to be made. You can't for instance make a casual arrangement with a bar owner to play a weekly gig and bring a couple of non-pro friends with you, in return for exposure and a share of the bar takings on the night cash in hand.
A bit like Equity in the UK, except that here you don't have a choice whether to join or not.
I think there's a lot of precarity in the entertainment industry in the UK, would that be a fair comment? and precarity is a dirty word in France, so the French obviously consider their approach far better.

dmu

My two didn't ever have accidents needing medical attention as soon as they started walking Whether your child turns out to be accident-prone like your friends', is another matter! On the other hand, you'd have the regular consultations with the paediatrician (vaccinations, etc... and for the usual childhood illnesses). BTW, children must now have 11 compulsory vaccinations, and Crêches, Halte-Garderies, Maternelles... require Certificates before they're accepted.
You should also bother about your healthcare insurance, especially if your OH is unable to perform for some reason! Apart from that, if you intend to become residents after 3 months, you must prove that you have had private cover since Day 1...
Whereabouts were you thinking of settling?
Hope all this is of some help!

Gabriela1980

Bonjour! Thank you for your kind reply! We are thinking about the Pyrenees Orientales area - more of south-east. My husband needs a solid airport for his work and Barcelona should do the majority of his travel, apart from the small local french airports. We are going to rent Air BnB for the first 3 months in Ceret. We delayed our move exactly for the reasons you just mentioned - vaccination - so our little one had all of his. The next ones are boosters when is he over 3 years old. I am starting to look at the private health insurance now, but would appreciated a tip on some good deals? Otherwise I will spend another few hours searching while my little one is cruising around the room asking for my attention. Do you have any experience? Thank you! ;o)

dmu

If you mean with little ones cruising around, yes! But they were put in a play pen if I needed to concentrate.
Otherwise no, I arrived with a job lined up and had healthcare with the Sécu right from the start....

Gabriela1980

I am afraid his play pen is a place where he spend too much time in recently because I need to concentrate ;o))))

dmu

Ah, you have a "choix cornélien" there!
When I worked at home and mine were babies, I had a nounou a few hours a day (because the elder one was too old to be penned in!)
I occasionally put them in the local halte-garderie at other times, but the space available was always random.