We do not need Brexit Withdrawal Agreement card to visit France - so how can we cancel it?

Reader question: My wife and I obtained 10-year Withdrawal Agreement (WA) cards when Brexit happened, having had a house for 15 years in rural France. We do not now use it as our permanent residence and now only spend a couple of months a year in France. So, we wish to revert to a 90/180 visa. We also do not want any tax concerns, other than paying our local property tax. How can we cancel the WA card?

Answer: While there is no specific provision for ‘cancelling’ the 10-year cards, you can, essentially, just stop using them if you are confident that the 90/180 days rule will be enough for your needs.

Your cards give an ongoing right to live in France if you wish to, that according to the letter of the Brexit WA is only lost if you are ‘away’ from French soil for five years or more. 

France’s exact interpretation of this, however, has not yet been put to the test, with Brexit still being relatively recent.

This residency right is not the same as French tax residency.

French tax residency arises if you meet certain criteria set out in the Code général des impôts including having your main ‘home’ in France (often the place you share with any immediate family), or otherwise spending more of a given calendar year in France than anywhere else, or managing your financial affairs from France or running a business here.

If you were previously a tax resident but ceased to be, you should complete a French tax return in the year after leaving for the period up to the date of departure, noting your new main address in the ‘change of address’ section of the final tax return. 

Read more: Do French language test exemptions for over 65s apply to all residency cards?

French property and tax

If at any stage your French property becomes your home again for tax purposes, you should tell the tax office so it can levy the local taxes correctly (including exemption from taxe d’habitation). 

This can also be done in the Biens immobiliers section of your space at impots.gouv.fr. You should also declare to France worldwide income for the calendar year in question, starting from the date on which you ‘moved’, in the spring of the following year.

If you are not French tax residents, leave the home registered as a second home and there is no income declaration to make unless you make French-declarable income, such as from renting out the property when not in use, in which case a declaration as a non-resident is required.