Home / Expatriation / Impatriation
Moving to France
Returning or moving to France for a job: eight years of reduced tax, to be claimed from arrival.
Whether you are an expatriate coming home or a foreign national moving for a job, you can exempt part of your pay and half of your foreign income for eight years, and limit the IFI (real estate wealth tax) to your French assets for five years. Here are the conditions and what they are worth.
The conditions
Who can benefit.
Not having been tax resident in France during the 5 calendar years before taking up the post.
Being recruited from abroad by a company established in France, or transferred there by a group. Executives are also eligible, subject to conditions.
Becoming a French tax resident on arrival: the regime applies for as long as you remain one, up to a limit of 8 years.
What is exempt
On your salary, on your foreign income, on your assets.
| Income or assets | Exemption | For |
|---|---|---|
| Impatriation bonus | Its actual amount, or 30% of pay for an employee recruited abroad | 8 years |
| Pay for days worked abroad | Exempt, within an overall limit of 50% of total pay | 8 years |
| Foreign-source dividends, interest and royalties | 50% | 8 years |
| Capital gains on the sale of securities held abroad | 50% | 8 years |
| Real estate assets outside France | Not subject to IFI | 5 years |
The ceiling on the salary exemption is a choice: 50% of total pay, or 20% for the impatriation bonus alone (Article 155 B of the French Tax Code).
Beyond salary
What the move also changes.
Frequently asked questions
What clients ask us.
I am a French national who has lived abroad for 6 years: can I benefit when I return?
Yes, nationality is irrelevant: you must simply not have been tax resident in France during the 5 calendar years preceding your taking up the post, and be recruited or transferred to a job in France.
What should I prepare before coming back?
Negotiating the impatriation bonus with your employer, the list of your accounts and contracts abroad, which must be declared every year from your return (€1,500 fine per account omitted), and what to do with your foreign investments, whose income will only be 50% exempt.
I am moving to France without working there: am I eligible for this regime?
No: the impatriate regime requires being recruited from abroad or transferred to a job in France (Article 155 B of the French Tax Code). Limiting IFI to your assets located in France for 5 years, however, applies to anyone who moves to France after 5 years outside the country (Article 964 of the French Tax Code).
Is my Luxembourg or foreign assurance-vie policy affected?
The contract is declared every year as a foreign account, and its surrenders follow French assurance-vie taxation as soon as you are resident (Article 125-0 A of the French Tax Code). We check before your return whether it is better to keep it, transfer it or surrender it.
