Do I need to make declarations for tax in France during temporary move to UK?

Reader question: I am a taxpayer in France and live with my Pacs (civil) partner. I am considering returning to live in the UK for 18 months. Would I need to make tax declarations while absent? I would expect to return for a week or two from time to time.

If you live in France with a Pacs partner, you both form a foyer fiscal (French tax household) and should usually make a joint French income declaration of your worldwide income at the usual time (ie. by deadlines in May–June, depending on department).

If you decide to spend an extended period abroad, the question arises as to whether you remain a French tax resident.

If your Pacs partner continues to live in the usual home and you visit fairly regularly, the tax office may consider that this remains your foyer (main home) and you therefore remain a French tax resident.

Our income tax help guide contains further information on these rules. 

Factors that may support this include owning the French property but no property in the UK, keeping most social and personal ties in France, having financial affairs mainly based here, or continuing to run a business here.

Factors suggesting a shift to the UK would include cutting most links to France apart from your Pacs relationship and spending most of the year in the UK.

This can be a grey area, in which case a tax specialist such as an avocat fiscaliste can advise.

The UK has its own rules and where there is uncertainty, tax treaty ‘tie-breaker’ rules apply, looking at where your strongest ties are and, in complex cases, nationality.

As a UK tax resident you would need to declare French income in the year of moving for the period prior to the move. Moving forward you would still file jointly but your partner would declare worldwide income while you would declare only certain French-sourced income you might still have, such as French rental income.