Choosing to leave France and settle abroad requires careful planning of your tax residence transfer. This is a crucial process from both a legal and tax perspective: inadequate preparation may expose you to significant risks, including reclassification, double taxation and other adverse consequences. Below is the step-by-step approach we generally recommend to our clients.
Step 1: Secure the Transfer of Your Tax Residence
The first step is to carefully verify that the transfer of tax residence is effective under the applicable legal criteria.
First, French domestic law must be analysed. The French tax authorities consider, in particular, the location of the family home, the centre of economic interests and professional activities. See our article on this subject here.
Maintaining strong ties with France — for example, holding a management position in a French company or deriving most of your income and/or holding most of your assets in France — may result in your continuing to be regarded as a French tax resident despite physically moving abroad.
Secondly, it is necessary to examine the tax law of the destination country. For example, obtaining tax resident status in Mauritius requires residing in the country for more than 183 days per year or effectively establishing one’s home there.
For countries that have entered into a tax treaty with France, it is also essential to examine the treaty provisions carefully. These provisions often resolve cases of dual residence, particularly by applying concepts such as permanent home or centre of vital interests.
This three-part analysis — French domestic law, the law of the host country and the applicable tax treaty — forms the basis for securing the transfer.
Step 2: Identify the Exact Date of the Tax Residence Transfer and Anticipate Reporting Obligations
Once the decision has been made, it is essential to determine the exact date on which your tax residence changes.
This may, for example, correspond to the date on which you cease to have a permanent home available to you in France, following a sale, rental or other arrangement, particularly where there is a conflict of residence between the country of origin and the country of expatriation.
It is also important to determine whether tax residence can be transferred during the course of a tax year in both jurisdictions. France allows this.
This date determines the tax year in which several actions must be taken, including notification of the transfer, treatment of any applicable Exit Tax and reporting of income split between the relevant periods.
For more information about Exit Tax, see our article here.
Step 3: Officially Notify the French Tax Authorities of Your Change of Residence
Upon departure, it is essential to send a letter on plain paper to the French tax authorities.
This notification should specify the date of the transfer and provide a new correspondence address — ideally in France with a trusted third party to ensure proper receipt of administrative correspondence, or otherwise an address abroad.
Although this is not strictly mandatory, it is very strongly recommended, where applicable, to attach a draft declaration requesting a deferral of Exit Tax payment. This approach is strongly recommended by our firm.
Step 4: File Your Next French Tax Return
In the year following your transfer, you will need to file your income tax return and indicate your change of residence.
In particular, you will need to complete Form 2042-NR, which is used to report French-source income, or income that remains taxable in France following the transfer of residence.
If an Exit Tax payment deferral has been granted, the official declaration must also be filed together with the main tax return in order to validate the application of this specific regime.
Step 5: Obtain a Tax Residence Certificate in the Host Country
As a precaution, it is essential to request and obtain a tax residence certificate from the tax authorities of the host country.
This document will often be required as evidence of your new tax residence.
Securing your departure from France and your relocation abroad requires careful preparation.
Engaging a French tax lawyer ensures that you receive personalised advice adapted to the nature of your assets, the sources of your income and the optimal structuring of your new personal and professional circumstances.
Such a professional, where appropriate in coordination with a notary, has the legal expertise required to anticipate risks, organise wealth-related transactions, fulfil your obligations and ensure that all your French reporting requirements are properly complied with.
Transferring your tax residence is a major step in the organisation of your personal wealth. Seek professional advice, plan ahead and entrust each stage to experienced tax law practitioners in order to avoid unpleasant surprises and secure your expatriation strategy over the long term.
Lawyer at the Bordeaux Bar – Master II DJCE (Business Law & Taxation)
Partner – Managing Director of Citizen Avocats (SELAS Citizen France, registered with the Bordeaux Bar)
