For the French

How tax residency works

France taxes its tax residents on worldwide income. Under Article 4 B of the General Tax Code (Code général des impôts, CGI), you have your domicile fiscal, your tax home, in France if any one of three tests is met.

The tests are alternatives, not a scorecard. Meeting just one keeps you resident, so moving yourself while your spouse and children stay in the family home usually changes nothing. There is no fixed day count, although spending more than 183 days in France in a year generally makes it your principal place of stay.

Directors of large companies headquartered in France, with French turnover above 250 million euros, are deemed to carry on their main professional activity in France. Where a tax treaty applies, its tie breaker rules can settle a dual residence case. France has no tax treaty with Paraguay, so for that move the French domestic tests alone decide.

• Foyer or principal place of stay: where your household normally lives, or failing that, where you spend most of the year
• Main professional activity: where you work or run your business, unless that activity is only incidental
• Centre of economic interests: where your main investments and business base are, or where most of your income comes from

Leaving properly

Leaving properly means moving your household, your work and your economic base, and being able to show it. The tax office looks at facts, so keep evidence of your new home, your residency status and your life abroad.

1. 01

   Move the household

   Your spouse or partner and minor children should move with you. If they stay, the foyer, and with it your tax residency, usually stays in France.

2. 02

   Report your new address

   Update your address in your online account on impots.gouv.fr, the French tax portal, and tell your employer and each pension fund, because the way they tax payments changes.

3. 03

   Request exit tax deferral early

   If you are within the scope of exit tax and your destination does not qualify for automatic deferral, the request must be filed at least 90 days before you leave.

4. 04

   File the departure year return

   In the spring after you leave, file form 2042 for all income from 1 January to your departure date and form 2042 NR for French source income for the rest of the year, with form 2074 ETD if exit tax applies.

5. 05

   Switch to the non resident office

   Once that return is processed, the SIP NR (Service des impôts des particuliers non résidents, the tax office for non residents) handles any French income tax and IFI you still owe.

Exit tax, property and investments

France’s exit tax (Article 167 bis CGI) applies if you were tax resident for at least 6 of the 10 years before leaving and hold shares or similar rights worth 800,000 euros or more in total, or at least 50% of a company’s profits. Unrealised gains are taxed as if you had sold, at the 12.8% flat income tax rate plus social charges.

Payment is deferred automatically if you move to another EU or EEA (European Economic Area) country, or to a country that has both information exchange and tax recovery agreements with France and is not on France’s non cooperative list. Otherwise deferral must be requested with a guarantee. Once deferred, the tax is cancelled if you still hold the shares 2 years after leaving, or 5 years if they were worth more than 2.57 million euros. An amendment in the 2026 budget debate to restore a 15 year period was not adopted.

France’s list of non cooperative states (États et territoires non coopératifs, ETNC) includes Panama, Antigua and Barbuda and Vanuatu. Moving your tax residence to a listed country rules out automatic deferral and closes any PEA (plan d’épargne en actions, the French share savings plan). The EU removed Panama from its own list in October 2026 and France normally follows by decree, so we check Panama’s standing before you move.

French property stays taxable in France. Rent is taxed at a minimum rate of 20% up to 29,579 euros of net income (2025 income) and 30% above, unless you show your average rate on worldwide income is lower, plus 17.2% social charges. Gains on sale are taxed at 19% plus 17.2%, with relief for years of ownership and a surcharge on large gains. A former main home can be exempt if sold by 31 December of the year after you leave and not let in between, and non residents may also have a single exemption of up to 150,000 euros of gain on one French home, under conditions that include where you live.

IFI (impôt sur la fortune immobilière, the wealth tax on real estate) applies to non residents whose net French property exceeds 1.3 million euros. French inheritance and gift tax reaches worldwide assets when the person who dies or gives lived in France, and also when the heir has lived in France for at least 6 of the previous 10 years; otherwise only French assets are taxed. Your move does not take children who stay in France outside its reach.

Assurance vie (life insurance savings) contracts can generally be kept, and so can a PEA unless you move to a non cooperative state. French dividends paid to you abroad carry French withholding tax at the rate set by any treaty.

Pensions and social security

French state and supplementary pensions can be paid abroad, against a life certificate sent each year. Whether France or your new country taxes them depends on the type of pension and the tax treaty, if there is one. Government service pensions usually stay taxable in France, and without a treaty, as with Paraguay, French pensions remain taxable in France.

Private retirement savings such as a PER (plan d’épargne retraite) can usually stay in place. How withdrawals are taxed depends on where you live when you take them, so your accountant confirms the position before you draw on it.

Your cover through the CPAM (Caisse primaire d’assurance maladie, the local health insurance fund) ends when you settle outside the EU, and you must return your Carte Vitale, the health insurance card. Many people join the CFE (Caisse des Français de l’étranger), a voluntary scheme for health, accident and basic pension contributions while abroad.

Retirees drawing a French state pension who live outside the EU, EEA, Switzerland and the UK can have care during temporary stays in France covered through the CNAREFE, the national centre for French retirees abroad. The condition is at least 15 years of contributions to French schemes, or residence in a country whose social security agreement with France covers it.

Dual citizenship

France allows dual citizenship. A French national who acquires another nationality keeps French nationality; giving it up requires a voluntary declaration and is possible only in limited cases.

Every citizenship program we offer also allows dual citizenship, so French applicants keep both passports. Antigua and Barbuda and Vanuatu being on France’s non cooperative list has no effect on holding their passport; it matters only if you move your tax residence there.

Once settled abroad, registering with the French consulate (the registre des Français établis hors de France) is optional, but it makes passports, civil documents and voting from abroad simpler.