When does France officially become your home?

We look at different what it means to have your ‘home’ in France as well as other important considerations including signing up for social benefits and understanding your French ‘marriage regime.’

Residency, domicile, home: what officials mean by these terms

Concepts of residency, domicile or home in France can have several different meanings, depending on the context. 

For example, with regard to visas and residency cards, the main issue is firstly having a residency right (droit de séjour, the word séjour literally meaning ‘stay’), which is a basic legal right to stay in France for immigration and border control purposes. If staying longer than three months, any visa or residency card provides this, though it may be for a set time (as in the case of a visa de long-séjour temporaire) or may need to be renewed after a certain period. 

Obtaining a 10-year carte de résident de longue-durée - UE, adds to this notions of legal and uninterrupted residency (séjour régulière inintérrompue), with the latter having an official definition in EU law of spending five years in the country with a legal residency status, not dependent on the state, enrolled for healthcare cover, and spending not more than 10 months away in total in that period or six months at any time continuously (with exceptions for important reasons such as work or training placements).

Note that the term ‘régulier (or régulière in the feminine)’ with regard to residency has the meaning of ‘according to the rules’, rather than ‘frequent’. 

The term ‘domicile’ often comes up when officials ask you to provide a justificatif de domicile (for example, for residency card renewals) which in this case means proof of having an address in France which you use personally, a common example being a utility bill dated at some point in the last six months. 

The social security system uses ‘résidence stable et régulière’ as a criterion for singing up in the system, which in social security law refers to living in France legally for at least three months (ie. longer than merely a ‘short stay’, which can be up to three months). To remain in the system you should also continue to be ‘habitually’ resident in France, which they judge to be having been living in the country at least six months out of the previous 12 (checks can be made, eg. by sending letters to your address).

When it comes to taxes, the question arises as to where your main home is (if you have more than property you use in France) and where you are a tax resident. 

The résidence principale for the tax office is the one you use ‘effectively and habitually’ and ‘have the strongest attachments’. This affects what local taxes are due and whether capital gains tax is due on sale. It should be declared as such to the tax authorities via the tax website, impots.gouv.fr.

Tax residency in France 

While all of the above are relevant to Americans moving to France, tax residency (domicile fiscal) is an important one. 

This is defined in France’s central tax law, the Code général des impôts.

The main point to know is that France does not become your tax domicile after a set period or time or when you acquire a particular document and it can become such immediately if you have moved on a settled basis intending France to be your main home. It is not a matter of choice but is subject to legal rules. 

Once you have become a tax resident you become eligible to declare all your worldwide income to France for assessment, which is done in the May-June of the calendar year after the one in which the income was received. 

This is not necessarily for it to be taxed, which will depend on elements such as family size, how large the income is, and (with regard to foreign income) double tax treaties with France. 

Several tests are looked at in case of doubt but the first is whether you have your foyer (literally ‘hearth’) in France, which refers to ‘home’ in the sense of the place where you live ‘habitually’ and/or have your strongest attachments. Consideration is given, for example, to where you work and where any partner or dependent children live. 

If this cannot be clearly determined, then the second main indicator is the lieu de séjour principal (place where you physically live for most of the time). Consideration is given to whether you spend most of the calendar year in France or more time in France than anywhere else. Further considerations are also used if there is doubt (see chapter 12 on income tax for more on this).

With regard to the US tax system, the IRS will consider you to have moved to France once you have effectively made it your main home. You should also file form 8822 to notify your new French address. 

However, the US is unusual in that citizens remain assessable for US income tax, and are required in most cases to file an annual return, even if they are French tax residents. This is not necessarily in order to be taxed by the US, as there are substantial allowances; also, the US/France tax treaty determines which country has the right to tax which kind of income.