cyrian

Sorry, I was trying to be helpful.
You appear to be tax resident in France and you should be filling in a french tax return as a family (not as an individual).
There is also a concession available for short-term contracts in another EU country.
Income and tax paid in another EU country are declared on said french tax return and no further tax would be due.
You would be included with zero income.
I am not sure about completing the tax return unless you are married or PACS'd - perhaps others can advise.
If your partner is paying NI in the UK then she is covered by a workers S1 -as stated above.
French tax returns are for the calendar year - one year in arrears.
Therefore, the 2015 declaration is for 2014 income.

EuroTrash

It's important - but you only need one. If you already have a valid one, then getting a different one is not so important.

EuroTrash

Or to put it another way - if she's applied for and been issued with a workers S1, then she's entitled to continue paying NICs.
It's a bit like the tax - it's HMRC's decision, not yours. You can't just do what you think would suit you best, you have to ask.

ArchwayJack

Many thanks for the info, everyone. I will need to check with my partner and see if I have all the info. It is possible that this is sorted, but that I am just out of the loop a bit. As for the license issue, I think I will probably leave it. It seems it isn't really worth it.

Cynic

Hi all,

The UK Government view is that a UK driving license is only valid if you are resident in the UK; if you move abroad permanently, you should register your change of address in the new country of residence and (in the EU) they'll issue you with a new EU driving licence for that country and notify DVLA of your new address.

However (and confusingly), some EU countries take a different view; best thing you can do is to contact the DVLA equivalent in the country where you now live and see if they'll accept your UK licence.

EuroTrash

Which directly contradicts the EU website where it quite clearly says that you only have to renew it if it expires:
Driving licence renewal and exchange - Your Europe
and the French government website which quite clearly says that there is no obligation to change to a French licence
https://www.service-public.fr/partic...osdroits/F1757

Cynic

No, it says:

Quote:

Originally Posted by EU Website

Obligatory exchange You may be required to exchange your driving licence:

It seems they all make their own rules up.

Apologies for the formatting.

EuroTrash

Indeed. But in context - France doesn't appear to have that 2-year rule. So neither France nor the EU is making it obligatory, so why should the UK?
You gotta love it - how do they make things so complicated.

Cynic

There is a small country icon on that page you linked to; it gives you links to all the EU countries different rules on the subject. Could be because EU law is not in fact law at all, they are more guidance documents to enable individual home countries to create their own legislation, quoting the appropriate EU journal. The UK tends to literally translate the whole document, while others countries seem to interpret their own view of what it meant to say.

BritInParis

The OP is planning to return to the UK before his GB driving licence expires so why bother making unnecessary trouble? For what it's worth I continue to use my GB licence in Germany for two years and France for 18 months without anyone so much as battering an eyelid. If the OP is driving a car in France then he needs to make sure his French insurer is aware he holds a GB (EU) licence rather than a French licence but beyond that as it is not required to exchange one EU licence for another EU licence then why bother.

petitefrancaise

I had my UK license in France for 8 years, then I got a ticket and had to change it and my husband never changed his at all in 11 years. You really don't have to change your license until you commit a driving offense.

Im_and_Er

Not quite.

You have to exchange when:

A. Your photocard expires (10 years from issue), or you lose it.
B. At age 70 if you still have an old paper licence.
C. If you commit an offence AND the authorities require you to.

The rules state that you are not permitted to hold more than one EU licence at a time and the issuing of the French one instantly nullified any and all previous ones.

I'm a little surprised that you got away with what was actually fraud because how the system works, or is supposed to, is that licences surrendered for exchange are returned to the issuing authority for them to amend their records and if they (DVLA) cotton on to the fact that a supposedly lost and therefore invalid licence was used to obtain a French one it would be reported back potentially landing you with some rather embarrassing questions to answer from the gendarmes.

Maybe yours never made it back or DVLA didn't notice but you were lucky.

InVinoVeritas

I think you miss a small but important factor in your tirade, Im_and_Er , which is that I gave my licence to the French authorities and the net result was that my English licence is still valid. Whether or not I have a duplicate is completely beside the point because I could, even now, a replacement licence from the DVLA.

I do wonder how you cope with living in France

Cynic

I wouldn't be so sure; if you returned your duplicate for renewal; your record at DVLA will show that your previous licence was surrendered to the French authorities and a French one issued - they do communicate (which really surprised me). One of our Polish drivers came unstuck with this when he returned to Poland to do his ADR training refresher and showed the testing authority his "lost" Polish licence which he "kept" for this purpose; the Polish authorities confiscated his Polish licence.

One other point; if you check your UK driver card; section 4b gives the date of expiry (normally 10 years from the date of issue), the dates on the back are the dates related to potential retest (basically means that at age 70, you need a doctors certificate of being fit to drive, which will need to be submitted to DVLA with your licence renewal application).

Im_and_Er

I'm astonished that you think that the simple act of handing back a French licence somehow magically revalidates a UK licence (whether legitimately obtained or not), or has any effect whatsoever on your status with DVLA !

Are you in France or UK ?

Cynic, you do not need a doctors certificate at 70.

Initially on reaching 70 DVLA will send you a form for you to self certify that you are fit to drive and then you have to recertify every 3 years.