# US/France Tax Questions



## adavidt (Jan 19, 2014)

Greetings from David Taylor,

I am a US Citizen - 77 years old
Wife US and French Citizen - 73 years old

We moved to France Oct 9th, 2013. Plan to live here for our remaining years. We are both retired.

We are both volunteers in the abatement of Human Trafficking for the United States. 

I have applied for and will receive my Carte d'Sejour by the 17th, of Feb.

Here is our Financial Situation:

We receive income from the US from the following sources: Social Security, IRA/ Investments, Rental Income from property that we own in the US, and a small amount of interest we receive from Bank Accounts.

My wife receives French income her Retirement, and her Social Security. We also understand that she will, in the future, be receiving some Royalty payments from her time as an actress in France.

We have used a CPA in the US for over the past 25+ years. 

The tax situation seems to be very complicated - can you give use some help and guidelines?

Thank you,

David Taylor


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Actually, most of this is rather simple.

As US citizens, you will always be obligated to file US tax returns. As residents of France, you will also file a French declaration each year. Both the US and France require you to declare your worldwide income - though they define "income" a bit differently, so you may not be declaring exactly the same amounts to both governments.

In very general terms, you normally wind up paying income tax to the US on your US sources of income and to France on your French sources, but there may be some overlap. In France you must file together as a married couple (i.e. as a "household") but for the US you have the option to file jointly or separately - though joint usually works out the best.

Since you have only just arrived, however, you won't have to worry about French taxes until it comes time to file for 2014. This year, you will have to file US tax returns, but you have until June 15th because you are living overseas as of April 15th. June 15th, however, is the date by which your returns must reach the IRS.

It's a bit early yet but the IRS office in Paris usually publishes quite a bit of useful information for US citizens filing from overseas. I'll post a link once the information for this year starts showing up on the website. 

French income tax declarations aren't due until May or June for the prior year - and the forms normally don't appear in their final state until April. But many folks have reported excellent results by going in to see the tax office and asking for help with the forms. 

On the US side, the US Consulate publishes a list of attorneys (that includes tax attorneys) and the IRS page for the Paris office publishes a list of accountants who do US taxes.
Cheers,
Bev


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