JoelB

Good afternoon,

I find myself in a complicated situation and was wondering if anyone had any advice.

I am a 30 year old British citizen, I moved to Paris in January with my French partner and I work remotely for an American company who pay me my gross salary into my French bank account.

I am in the process of collating the necessary documents to complete the PAC's process with my partner.

I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on how I would go about paying into the French tax system as well as advice on obtaining my securite social + carte vitale; and come later in the year, apply successfully for the new portal?

Merci,
I know it's a little complicated, any advice at all is appreciated!!!

Joel

EuroTrash

It shouldn't be complicated, just so long as you and your employer have done everything correctly with URSSAF - registered you as an employee on a French employment contract, issuing French payslips and paying social security contributions to URSSAF and income tax "à la source".
However since you're asking about social security and carte vitale and tax, I wonder if that is all set up correctly.
Living and working in France but not declared to the French authorities and not paying social contributions or income tax (ie "working on the black") obviously would not give you access to healthcare, social security etc, plus it contravenes the French labour code and could result in eye-watering penalties. French administration - social security, healthcare, tax etc - is very joined up these days and if one piece of the jigsaw is missing, you tend to be blocked all round. So for instance if you're working but not registered with URSSAF and paying cotisations, not only will you never get a carte vitale but also you will find it hard to explain to the tax office where your income came from when you come to fill in your tax return. And if you have no record of cotisations with URSSAF and no avis from the tax office you won't be able to prove legal residence as a worker, so it'll be impossible to get a residence permit on the grounds of correctly exercising freedom of movement. Hopefully that's not your situation but if it is, this guide will explain what you have to do https://www.urssaf.fr/portail/files/...FE-UK-2017.pdf.

Re income tax, the French tax year is 1 Jan to 31 Dec. If you arrived in France in Jan 2020, you will complete your first tax return for income during 2020, in April 2021. But if you're a salaried employee, your employer should be deducting income tax from your salary each month. Explained here https://www.service-public.fr/profes...sdroits/F34732 , as far as I know it works exactly the same for foreign employers.

Hope this helps. I think you need to check with your employer exactly where they are with registering you because it sounds as if things aren't happening as they should.

Listen Very Carefully

The basic rule is-you pay tax social security etc to the country where you are when you do the work to put it crudely "rule of bum" None of this is actually complicated it is just that you and the company you work for have not followed the rules
As has been said you need to regularise your position
1 The US company seys something up so that it is paying French cotisations etc and deducting tax etc -they probably will refuse to do this
2 You set up a business entity in France to enable you to "en regle" Then you will pay French tax cotisations and be able to get your Carte Vitale"
3 You consider portage salariale www.itg.fr

cyrian

Set up a french company and pay tax and cotisations as suggested.

EuroTrash

It kind of depends on the specific situation, which the most appropriate option is.
Main factors to be considered are, what is the OP's activity and how secure is his job. Needs considering I think in these days of lockdown and anticipated recession.
If there's a significant chance that he might want to claim chômage in the future, it would be to his advantage to ensure he's classed as a salarié rather than an independant worker.
If he sets up a company and employs himself, his company would be responsible for following the correct redundancy procedures. He (=the compan) can't just lay himself (=the worker) off, it's not that simple in France.
If the employer won't honour their obligations, which as LVC says they may well refuse to do, the portage salariale route if it's possible would be infinitely simpler although it will probably work out more costly. How much more costly, would depend on what type of business structure the OP decided to set up.
Micro entreprise isn't a viable option if the OP receives a monthly salary.

dmu

I can't advise, but the fact that the OP said in #1 that his GROSS salary was paid into his French bank account, implies that no one has ever paid social contributions or PAYE.
He should check with his employers ASAP - if they are unwilling to comply with the French labour rules and regulations, the OP must set up a business structure. Not very straightforward in these troubled times....
Healthcare coverage is compulsory for everyone in France and you need an "official" paper to justify your application for residency, but is it necessary to declare an S.S. number when entering into a PACS? It seems to me that you simply need the documents listed on the Service Public site.... (When I got married here, the British Consulate was quite used to issuing an equivalent to the French Certificat de Coutume).
HTH

JoelB

Hi good afternoon,

Thanks for all the advice,

To give a little more clarity, my initial question was a little hypothetical,

I don't actually commence work with the US company for another 2 weeks or so, therefore I am currently seeking advice with regards to setting up a business entity in France as an auto-entrepreneur.

But I was unaware of this "portage salariale" route, so I will also explore this avenue.

Thanks very much,

JoelB

@EuroTrash,

I was wondering if you could clarify why you stated that micro-enterprise isn't viable if receiving a monthly income?

Cheers,

Listen Very Carefully

Because as a micro entreprise you are expected to have different customers-it is a bit like being self employed in the UK but not strictly the same It is to prevent companies dodging their fiscal obligations basically

Listen Very Carefully

You can get a lot of help and advice from your local chamber of commerce in the area you are moving to www.cci.fr They will suggest the best option for you depending on exactly what the nature of the work is as being France there are different regimes and caisses depending on your occupation although there is currently a plan to simpify everything-I think

EuroTrash

As LVC says.

France is very hot on "travail dissimulé" (concealed employment) which it regards as social security / tax fraud. Registering as self employed when in fact you are a salaried employee, in order to avoid full employer/employee social contributions, is one of oldest tricks in the book.

In the past a lot of Brits have done this and got away with it but if your paperwork is inspected, which it may well be during the residency application process first for your temporary CDS and then in more detail after 5 years for your permanent CDS, they will expect to see invoices paid by different clients for different projects in different amounts, and outgoings showing what you've spent on marketing and prospecting and your company website and all the random expenses that come with running your own business. If there are no invoices and no evidence that you're investing in running a business, but instead your bank account shows the same amount arriving on the same date from the same source every month, even the dimmest of fonctionnaires is going to think "travail dissimulé".

You can try it if you want but I don't think it's a great idea.

petitefrancaise

Depending on what you actually do, there may be a way of being a single employee of a foreign company.... Go along to the CCI as already suggested and ask for advice there. I suspect that your US company will have a fit when they see what their charges will be though and really, if they are ok with you being in France and working then their accountants should be figuring out how to employ you legally anyway.
As others have already said, don't set up as micro entreprise with only 1 customer, you might get away with this for a year because you can argue that you are looking for other clients but it won't fly in the long term.

dmu

At the present time it's unlikely that any CCI would be open to the public, but the OP could e-mail or telephone his "local" one. If, without documentation, they can't advise him remotely, he could try getting an appointment with an Expert-Comptable but, there again, they must all be working from home, too. Maybe these professionals will be resuming business as from 11th May, if the OP can wait.
@JoelB - if you haven't had private healthcare cover since January and up to the time that you'll be paying S.S. contributions in one way or another, you'll have to wait 3 months after you're officially employed (either by your US employer or yourself) before you can apply for Residency.
But your original question was about getting PACSd and, unless the Convention specifically requires an S.S. number (I haven't read it),, it doesn't appear to be necessary. Your Notaire (or whoever will be witnessing the Contract) will be able to confirm.... Also you must bear in mind that Birth Certificates required for all Administrative procedures (e.g. your applications for residency, PACS) must be issued within 3 months of such applications. Try to programme the two procedures within the same time-frame in order to avoid having to acquire another B.C. a second time (you'll need one for each procedure).... This 3-months limitation a typical French quirk, but it does avoid French citizens having to produce the Certificat de Coutume and Certificat de Non-Pacs when they want to get legally bound, since all changes in matrimonial status are marked in the margins of their French B.C.s.
HTH

EuroTrash

CCI is definitely the place to go but it will be interesting to see what they say. I'm pretty sure that URSSAF / the tax office would say the employer has to register the OP as a French employee. They have been known to make difficulties over a French "business" that is not actually independent because it is 100% dependent on one particular foreign business for its revenue, it doesn't make any of its own business decisions etc. There have been cases (although I can't see it being an issue for the OP) when the fisc has argued that the French setup is a branch of the foreign business and not a business in its own right. You'd expect the CCI to be more flexible - will be interesting to see if it is.

DMU - As far as I can see there is no connection between the PACS and the work/social security/tax issue, beyond that they are two issues that the OP is currently in the process of sorting out.

dmu

That's how I see it too, but the Birth Certificate question is important, as one "issued within 3 months" will be needed for each application for PACS and residency.
Upon reflexion, there isn't a reduction for a multiple order. The OP could order a Birth Certificate and collect the other documents necessary for the PACS, and get on with that issue as from now. And when his employment situation is sorted out, order another B.C. for his application for Résidence.

P.S. DD2 has just confirmed that her S.S. number wasn't required for her PACS contract and that the PACS (and unfortunately its resiliation) is marked on her French B.C....