Do I have to file at home while living in France?
Residence decides it, and residence is a question of facts rather than of where your post arrives. The one exception is US citizenship, which carries the filing obligation with the person wherever they go. So the first thing we establish is which system still claims you.
Is there a treaty between my country and France?
Possibly, and the version in force for your year is the one that matters — protocols and multilateral-instrument positions change what a treaty does without changing its name. We check it against the authority rather than a summary. Where no treaty applies, domestic relief takes over.
I own property in France. Where is the rent taxed?
In France, because that is where the property sits. The complication is the base: gross-rent withholding takes no account of mortgage interest, tax or repairs, so a leveraged property can face tax on turnover. An election onto net profit, where it exists, is what fixes that — and it has its own timing.
When does my home tax residence start again after France?
On the facts, not on the date of the flight. Residence is decided by where you actually live and where your ties are — a home available to you, family, the ordinary pattern of your days — and those rarely all change on a single date. Where both countries could treat you as resident for the same period, the treaty in force for your year, if there is one, decides which of them yields and from when. We fix a date in writing, record the facts supporting it, and build both returns from that one position rather than letting each side assume its own.
Do I still have to file in France after I move back?
Usually yes for the part of the year you were there, and often for longer if anything stays behind. French payroll does most of the collecting during an assignment, so the annual return is largely a reconciliation, but it still has to be made for the period of residence. A property kept in France, or any income arising there, can keep an obligation open long after you have gone. The household basis matters here too: if your spouse remains for part of the year, the French computation may still be looking at both of you.
Which country taxes a bonus paid after I returned from France?
Generally the country where the work was done has the first claim, even though the money arrives later, so a bonus earned during the French period does not become home income simply because it was paid after you landed. Deferred remuneration, leftover allowances and share awards that vest after the move all raise the same question, and each needs the earning period identified rather than the payment date. Where both sides tax it, relief comes through a credit, which means the two tax years have to be lined up before the claim can be made.
Can I claim credit for French social contributions on my home return?
Often not, and this is the most common surprise in a return year. Credit relief is generally confined to foreign income tax; contributions to a social system are a different charge with a different purpose, and a payslip showing both as deductions does not make them the same thing. The practical work is separating the two out of the French payroll documents line by line, then claiming credit only for the part that qualifies. Where a social security agreement applies, it may instead decide which country's system you contribute to at all.
What happens to the French flat if I keep it after moving back?
It moves you from resident to non-resident in France without ending your connection there. Ownership carries local charges that attach to the property regardless of income, and any rent becomes non-resident income in France as well as income on your home return, with credit relief bridging the two. Your home system may also want the holding disclosed annually once you are resident again. None of that is difficult, but each part has its own timing and its own evidence, and the year of return is when they are most often missed.
My spouse stayed in France longer than I did — does that matter?
It does, because France looks at the household for many purposes while your home system taxes each of you separately. A spouse remaining behind can keep a French household computation live after your own residence has moved, and your income may still feature in it even though you are filing at home as a returning resident. The two positions have to be set out together, otherwise the same income is described one way on one return and another way on the other. We put both spouses' dates and facts on a single schedule before either return is prepared.
What is a dual-status alien?
Someone who is a US tax resident for part of a year and a non-resident for the rest of it — almost always the year of arrival or the year of departure. You file one return covering both periods, with worldwide income and ordinary deductions for the resident part and US-source income under the non-resident rules for the other. Several ordinary reliefs, including joint filing, are restricted for the year. See dual-status alien.
What is a "dual-status alien spouse", and why is my software asking?
The question comes from the filing-status screens, and it is asking whether your spouse was a non-resident or part-year resident for the year — because if they were, a joint return is not available by default. An election exists to treat a non-resident spouse as a resident for the whole year, which unlocks joint filing at the price of bringing their worldwide income into the US return and their accounts into its reporting. See a US person with a non-resident spouse.
