Do I have to file at home while living in France?
It depends on residence, not on address — except for US citizens and green-card holders, for whom the answer is yes regardless of where they live. We settle the residence question first, because every other answer follows from it.
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?
Rent from immovable property is almost always taxable where the property is situated, frequently by withholding on the gross amount, with your home country taxing the same income and giving credit. A net-basis election, where one exists, is usually the difference between tax on profit and tax on turnover.
Can I keep my job at home while living in France?
Usually yes as a matter of employment, but the tax follows the place where the work is actually performed, not the address of the employer or the bank the salary lands in. Once you are living and working in France the collection normally moves there, and your home system narrows to whatever still arises at home. Social contributions are a separate question with their own answer, sometimes a different one. Settle both with your employer before the arrangement starts, because unwinding a year of withholding in the wrong country takes far longer than setting it up correctly.
My employer has no entity in France — what do they have to do?
Having no office in France does not by itself remove an employer's obligations where an employee is working there, and the practical arrangement is usually a payroll registration or a shadow arrangement that reports the employee locally while the contract stays where it is. European payroll does most of the collecting, which is why the annual return tends to be a reconciliation rather than the main event. The employer's other exposure is whether your activity creates a taxable presence for the business itself, which turns on what you actually do there rather than on your job title.
Could working from France create a taxable presence for my employer?
It can, and the question is about function rather than furniture. A treaty generally looks at whether the business has a fixed place at its disposal in the country, and separately at whether a person there habitually plays the principal role leading to the conclusion of contracts for it. An engineer writing code and a salesperson negotiating terms present very differently on that test. We describe the actual working pattern, apply the treaty in force for the year, and give the employer a written view they can act on rather than a general warning.
Which country do I pay social contributions to?
Not necessarily the one that taxes the salary. Social security is governed by its own agreements, which generally aim to keep a worker in one system rather than in both, and a certificate issued under such an agreement is what evidences the position. Where no agreement covers the situation you can end up contributing in two places with no relief available, because contributions are not income tax and credit relief does not reach them. This is the part of the arrangement most often left until after the first payslip, and it is the hardest part to reverse.
I invoice my overseas clients as a freelancer — is it different?
The analysis changes but the conclusion often does not. Self-employed earnings are generally taxable where the work is carried on, so invoicing a client abroad does not move the income out of France if France is where you sit to do the work. You may also have local registration and contribution obligations in your own name rather than an employer's. What you gain is control: the basis of charge, the expenses and the timing are yours to organise, which is worth doing at the start of a year rather than in the middle of one.
Does my spouse's income affect my French tax if she works too?
It can, because France works with the household for many purposes while your home system almost certainly assesses each of you individually. A spouse's earnings, and sometimes income they hold at home, can enter the French computation even where they belong to that spouse alone elsewhere. The effect is usually felt on the credit claim rather than on the underlying liability. We set both spouses' income out on a single schedule before either return is prepared, so that the two filings describe the same household in the same way.
Do I have to file in both countries?
Frequently yes, and the two filings do different jobs. The country where the income arises taxes it at source; the country where you are resident taxes your worldwide income and then gives credit for the tax already paid. Filing only one side is what leaves relief unclaimed — the credit has to be asked for on a return. We prepare both sides so the numbers agree. See dual filing.
What is a foreign tax credit?
A credit against your home-country tax for income tax you already paid to another country on the same income, so the same amount is not taxed twice at full rates. It is capped: you cannot credit more than your home country would have charged on that income, which is why a higher foreign rate leaves an unused balance rather than a refund. In the US it is claimed on Form 1116, in Canada on the T2209 and T2036, in India on Form 67. See Form 1116.
