Return from expatriation to France: Anticipating future issues with Tax office

[sriracha]

None G like if you gonna be there 2 years tops just dont declare s**t, dont say s**t, dont know s**t I no hablo french cause the amount of bs you are gonna have to deal with is of biblical proportions.

chances of they knowing what u up to are very slim if you keep it low, and even if they do, Id rather pay some fines than having to deal with the French IRS.

I think he's from France, he cannot run the risk of not being able to go back to his country ever again.

 

[TheCryptoAnt]

I think he's from France, he cannot run the risk of not being able to go back to his country ever again.

dont even tell them u there, use Airbnb or some platform like them.
i say this cause he said 2 years tops, if he plans on actually relocating there then my answer can't be used

 

[Untangle]

I just hope they won't investigate me too much as this would be my first tax filing. Hence I was thinking of closing some accounts that I have overseas and keep the minimum.

Also, I came back in October 2022, should I file for 2022? or 2023? Since I did not receive any income in 2022.

When you come back to France you are immediately considered a tax resident on your date of arrival. Middle if the year, end of year it does not matter. You have to register yourself with local tax office when you do so.

All your foreign bank accounts are already known by french tax office, even if you are not resident. French passport holders are reported worldwide by banks to french authorities at opening and once a year, with balance and interests earned.

You must declare all accounts, even those closed within the last 12 months.

Auto entrepreneur is the way to go for 2 years then close it after that if you managed to reach the max revenue amount.
This is the cheapest way to maximise your profit. Cheap tax.
Even foreigners use this and become resident for 2 years in France then close it, declare it and wire it back to their home country (Belgium etc) and legally leave France after that.

 

[mud]

Also being resident in France the past 4 years I've had some look at the tax system.

It might be worth exploring if France and HK have a double tax treaty which means you would NOT be counted as a French taxpayer. Also, you should look at the number of days you're in France to see if you get caught or not under the time rules.

(We are shutting down our French company and spend most of the year out of France to avoid these, and other issues)

I can say I was staggered at the price of accountants, lawyers, and tax agents in France. It is many times higher than other western countries.

We made the mistake of employing someone in our French company. 14 Agencies and 3 months later we had to sack the young fellow unfortunately. The friggin French Tax Office even fined us €1800 for not lodging a €0 payroll declaration for the first 4 days we employed this fellow. (They caved after I cracked the shits and told them I couldn't lodge the form - with its 145 lines of info - unless they actually delivered to me a log on to their portal)

 

[thomasparra]

When you come back to France you are immediately considered a tax resident on your date of arrival. Middle if the year, end of year it does not matter. You have to register yourself with local tax office when you do so.

All your foreign bank accounts are already known by french tax office, even if you are not resident. French passport holders are reported worldwide by banks to french authorities at opening and once a year, with balance and interests earned.

You must declare all accounts, even those closed within the last 12 months.

Auto entrepreneur is the way to go for 2 years then close it after that if you managed to reach the max revenue amount.
This is the cheapest way to maximise your profit. Cheap tax.
Even foreigners use this and become resident for 2 years in France then close it, declare it and wire it back to their home country (Belgium etc) and legally leave France after that.

Outside of FACTA, international banks are not required to report such information to the country of citizenship of their clients.

CRS: "Under the CRS, financial institutions are required to identify customers who appear to be tax resident outside of the country/jurisdiction where they hold their accounts and products, and report certain information to our local tax authority. They may then share that information with the tax authority where you are tax resident."

If a client (UK or French citizen for example) lives and is a tax resident in HK, and that his status with the bank is HK Resident, no information will be shared outside of HK. This is how I understand it. However, if the client declares his UK or French tax residency then the bank should report the information.

Auto entrepreneur is a good status if you manufacture or resell physical goods or if you provide services with little to no costs (cleaner, consulting, uber driver). At the moment you sell services with costs that represent more than 15-20% of your revenue the status becomes a burden as your tax/cotisations sociales are based on revenue and not the operating income.