Have moved you to the France section, where I think you'll have a better shot at some substantive responses.

For 2023, you don't actually need to file French taxes (and besides, the deadline is pretty much here for paper-declarations) - but you may want to consider filing for that stub period (October to December 2023) if only to get the registration process done so you'll be able to file online next year. (Right now is prime time for tax form submissions, so you may want to wait until after the summer. There's no penalty for late filing if you don't owe anything, which is most likely your situation for that stub period in 2023).

You have already been resident here for 3 months, so it's time to sign up with CPAM (the national health care system), though there is no rush. The French CPAM cover is usually free for those receiving a retirement pension - though if you are "early retirees" you may need to wait until you hit retirement age and can start drawing a pension. You may also need a document from the Irish health care system if they have an arrangement with France to pay for your health cover. The French national cover only pays for a portion (up to about 70%) of health care costs, so once you're enrolled, you probably want to look into a mutuelle (i.e. "top up") health insurance, which covers the rest of the costs.

That's the quick overview - which will no doubt raise further questions. You can search through the forum for more information on taxes and health care cover. Or just ask as questions come up.

 

If you are resident in France you are required to submit an annual tax return in any event to the French tax authorities outlining your world wide income.As Bev has advised it might be an idea to declare for 23 period but if I was you I would wait until the summer as everyone is now busy filing their tax returns and will often go to their local tax office for help and advice-you will find they will actually do their best to make sure that you get your return right and are very helpful in my experience so in a while I would go to to the local tax office and seek guidance.Just about every country has a tax agreement with just about every other country about how different sources of income are taxed so you need to be aware of the French/ROI tax agreement as to what will be taxed where(assuming that you are from Eire and only have income from that country as opposed to the UK .
You say that you "are retiring" .What will this retirement be-a private pension or a state pension and when are you planning on taking it/them as it may be better to wait to apply for the french health system when you have your pensions

However I am concerned that you appear to think that the E111(EHIC) card will cover you whilst you are permanently resident in France.It does not-these cards are designed for holidays and temporary stays only and as a permanent french resident you are not entitled to cover from another country UNLESS you have a state retirement pension from that country.In effect if Eire twig that you have moved they will refuse to pay France for any medical treatment that you require meaning that you will get the bill.And indeed your application to CPAM will require you to show what health cover you had in period prior to your application so you may need to look at getting some private health cover sooner rather than later.
Then there is the question of your wife's in Ireland? If she is operating it remotely from France then it may well be that she will need to register as a business entity in some form in France as it is the "Rule of Bum" that applies ie you are taxed where you do the work but again the tax treaty should cover this eventuality If she does need to register then she will be paying health charges etc so that will be her covered,but your nearest Chambre de Commerce can help
THis may seem daunting but they are all classic ex pat "faux pas" and they are all surmountable so do not worry
I would get your healthcare sorted first and if you need help with that come right back there is loads of experience on here who got the T shirt so ne panique pas

 

Thank guys for your quick response, you have given me the push to start doing something about it, we will first ask our accountant in Ireland to give us some advise on it, while we have been here in france since last October, we were out of the country for about 2 months from March on, thank you again for the motivation, and will probably have to come back to you once our accountant gives us his 2cents of information.

 

The other "gotcha" with relying on an EHIC for health care cover is that this will only allow for cover of urgent or necessary medical care - not the day to day stuff. As Crabtree says, you need to find some sort of health care cover to tide you over until you can get registered with the French system. (And that can take some time, even once your "dossier" is accepted.)

 

Yes we will thanks, before we left Ireland last time we got enough of our general meds and couple of antibiotics, we are in good health so far ( don’t want to jink us) we can afford to see a doctor here if needed, so while living a great life, we just needed to take our head out of sand and make some moves on the future, we have spent 4-5 months here each year doing up our place, it’s only now we are thinking of these issues, thanks and I am pretty sure I will be back again for the wonderful advice available here on this site

 

Just bear in mind that your e11 only covers you for 3 months at a time (for very limited services) and you never know when you might have a major health issue. Even EU citizens are required to have health insurance in place for at least 3 months, which is pretty much the same as for French citizens, and there can be significant delays in having your application to join the French health system. Tbh pretty much everything is slow in France at the moment.

 

Hi - as Irish passport holder from N Ireland I would endorse the always sensible advice from Bevdeforges and welcome. I highly recommend getting the health card and hope you have brought as many documents as possible, marriage certificate, birth certificate, proof of income etc. I got documents translated by excellent translator in Bordeaux whom I found on town hall list. Earlier you start the process the better I would suggest. Not necessarily essential for translations but seemed to earn goodwill and help - lots of goodwill towards Ireland. Do suggest you talk to local tax office before mad month of April and May - so not now ! - when queues build up at tax offices, and not many accountants reply either. Health cards give you that much more peace of mind but bear in mind finding a GP in rural areas can be a real headache. Building up French contacts and asking for word of mouth recommendations helped but it took us a long time. Good luck, Gary

 

Bevdeforges,
Can you please expound on this, as I’ve seen you reference this in another post.
“though if you are "early retirees" you may need to wait until you hit retirement age and can start drawing a pension”

My husband I plan on moving to France next year from the U.S. and we will be 60/59, so early retirees and not drawing on our U.S. SS until a couple more years, instead living off of savings until then. So, this has made me very curious as to if I’m missing something that would impact our getting on the French healthcare system in our first year?

P.S., thank you for all the replies you post…you’re very generous with your wisdom and this seeker certainly appreciates it!!!

 

your first year year in any european country would be a comprehensive insurance policy to the requirements of a citizen of that country. Pre existing faults included. 100% coverage at whatever the cost..

 

Basically, BarbTF and Nunthewiser have summed things up pretty well. Your first "challenge" is that of obtaining your visa as inactifs (i.e. not eligible nor planning on working). You have to show "sufficient financial resources" to obtain the visa, and the French don't like to see you drawing down your life's savings for current income and day to day expenses. If the interest and other earnings on your investments is equal to a living income (i.e. see what the current SMIC is) they'll probably go for it. Similarly, if living on your savings for a few years until you become eligible for US SS and whatever other pensions you have won't draw things down too badly, OK. (But do be sure to include some sort of statement regarding your expected pension payment will be and when you will start to draw it.)

If you get through that and arrive in France as inactifs, you still have the ability (actually more of an obligation) to enroll in CPAM cover - but they will want proof of your prior year's income (usually in the form of a tax statement - here, they ask for the Avis d'imposition - the tax assessment document) to determine how much you will be charged. The formula is a percentage of your "reference income" (which includes untaxed amounts as well as your "taxable income") and is subject to an allowance/threshold and a maximum cap. In US terms, it will be a real bargain. But don't forget, too, that French health cover (the state plan) does not cover 100% of your medical expenses. You'll probably need and want to get a mutuelle to top up the State reimbursement and cover at least part of private medical expenses (i.e. those charged at more than the official state limits). And you'll need the mutuelle, even after you start drawing your pensions and getting your CPAM cover without cost.

 

BarbTF, Nunthewiser, and Bevdeforges: Thank you for your explanations! I knew we would need to purchase a medical insurance policy for our first year until the paperwork for the French system came through, and that timeframe is unknown, so I was prepared to purchase the policy for our Visa. And, I had also budgeted for the mutuelles we would both need once we got on the French system. However, I did not know that our cost would be based upon our previous year's income, so I very much appreciate this pearl of wisdom, and will try to gather more facts about that for our budgeting purposes. (Extremely helpful to know, and so glad I asked!) I was not aware that France would possibly not consider savings for our Visa income requirement (I was pretty sure I had read that they did allow savings, whereas Italy (our other choice) did NOT, which is what ultimately made France our destination.) We were planning on buying a home, but had been seeing lots of posters advise to rent for a bit first to ensure you like the location, but it sounds like buying would give us a leg up on our Visa consideration, so we can certainly buy. (I was really leaning towards buying anyway...just don't want to move twice.) So, I have learned two very important things from you guys, both crucial to our plans. Thank you!

 

I was not aware that France would possibly not consider savings for our Visa income requirement (I was pretty sure I had read that they did allow savings, whereas Italy (our other choice) did NOT, which is what ultimately made France our destination.)

This isn't quite the case. The thing is they don't want you to run down your life's savings to live in France. If you have a plan - i.e. you arrive in France a couple of years before you start drawing your pension, and two years of living expenses won't use up a significant portion of your savings - there should be no problem with the visa.

And like the previous poster has said, owning a home in France doesn't influence the visa decision one way or the other. The warning about renting first is based on the notion that the housing market doesn't turn over here in France the way it does in the US (for example). If you buy too soon and decide you want to sell up and move, it can take a LONG time to sell a house. Right now, it has to do with mortgage rates - as they rise, fewer and fewer folks can qualify for a mortgage (because mortgages are decided based mostly on the income of the applicant, not so much on the value of the home involved).

 

home ownership in no way helps or hinders the visa process

 

Bevdeforges and hydrospain:
Yes, I understand that owning a home does not influence the Visa process per se, but I thought Bevdeforges' caution that renting would take a monthly amount from your savings which would impact the drain on your savings which could impact the Visa decision...that's how I interpreted the home owning aspect; if you own a home, the savings you present as proof of income will look much better.
And, yes, that is exactly our plan...to present sufficient savings to live on until in a couple of years we can draw on our U.S. pension/investments.
Again, thank you!