What changes financially when you move to France?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules France and the Netherlands apply to your situation: which country may tax you, which schemes exist and how you get insured. With the source, so you can check it yourself.
This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest will appear.
Which country may tax
Which part of your income may your new country of residence tax?
France taxes your household, not you
You file one return per foyer fiscal: your household for tax purposes. The income is first divided by the number of parts, and only then are the bands applied.
This is not a scheme you apply for. It is simply how the system works. Each family member counts in parts: a couple counts for two parts, the first and second child for half each, the third child for a whole one. The bands run separately over each part. As a result, a family with one main income often pays noticeably less in France than the same family in the Netherlands. It is also the reason a French tax sum can never be done for one person alone. Whoever moves with you counts too.
- couple
- 2 parts
- first and second child
- 0.5 part each
- third child
- 1 part
Source: Votre situation de famille — the foyer fiscal and the parts per family member — checked on 2026-09-11
Read the whole storyYour first French return only comes the year after arrival
France has no filing moment on arrival. You report yourself in the spring after your year of arrival, and no invitation comes.
For that same year you file your last Dutch return using the M form: the return for the year in which you emigrate. Two returns for one year is normal. The treaty settles which country may tax what, so that you do not pay twice. Put the moment in your diary before you leave. Without a reminder, an obligation like this easily slips out of sight.
Where this comes from: Practical description from the knowledge article; there is no separate government page that sets out this sequence for newcomers like this.
Read the whole storySpecial regimes
Is there a favourable regime, and do you qualify?
The only favourable tax regime is not for you
France has no favourable tax regime for those who come on their own initiative. The régime des impatriés applies only if a company established in France has brought you in from abroad.
You qualify with a transfer within a group, or if a company recruits you directly from abroad. If you come on your own initiative, you are explicitly excluded. That applies if you retire, come as self-employed or work remotely for a Dutch employer. So there is nothing to apply for here and nothing to miss. Do not move "for the tax", because that reason does not exist in France. What there is, is set out above under the foyer fiscal.
- previous tax residence
- five calendar years outside France
- duration for those who do qualify
- until 31 December of the eighth year
Source: Le régime des impatriés — recruited from abroad, the five-year requirement and the duration — checked on 2026-09-11
Read the whole storyHealth insurance
How do you get insured, and what do you pay for it?
Without a regular GP you get less back at every consultation
France reimburses along the parcours de soins, the route through your regular GP. If you have not declared a regular GP (médecin traitant) to the health fund, you forfeit the largest part of the reimbursement at every consultation.
An example. On a standard consultation of € 30 you get € 19 back if you have declared a médecin traitant. Without one, € 8.40 of that remains. Same doctor, same consultation. That difference applies at every appointment, for everyone from age 16. Declaring is simple: the doctor arranges it online during a consultation. The hard part is finding a doctor who takes new patients. So that is something to look at already when you choose a region from home.
- consultation of € 30, with declared doctor
- € 19 back
- consultation of € 30, without
- € 8.40 back
Source: Médecin traitant and the parcours de soins — reimbursement inside and outside the route, from age 16 — checked on 2026-08-28
Read the whole storyThe mutuelle is not a luxury but the norm
Almost every French person has a supplementary insurance alongside the basic insurance: the mutuelle. Count it in your monthly costs from the first day, just like the rent.
The basic insurance reimburses part of the agreed tariff, the official rate for a treatment. The rest is called the ticket modérateur, and you pay it yourself. As an employee your employer is obliged to arrange one with your job. If you arrange it yourself, the premium rises with your age. A budget that only notes "healthcare there is arranged through the state" misses the item every French person simply pays.
Where this comes from: Summarised from the knowledge article, which relies on the DREES figures on complémentaire santé. The premium differs by age and policy, so no amount is given here.
Read the whole storyUntil your definitive number is there, you claim on paper
After your application you first receive a provisional number. Healthcare costs are already reimbursed with it. A carte Vitale and an ameli account (your online space at the health fund) are not yet possible then.
Count on a run-up of several months before everything runs smoothly. The clock only starts when you apply. After that, the processing of the definitive number continues. Have you got a home and can you prove your address? Then the application is the first thing you send, before the boxes are unpacked.
Where this comes from: Practical description from the knowledge article on CPAM registration. The official deadlines are statutory maxima for one procedure, not waiting periods during which you are uninsured — which is why no number of months is given here.
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW accrual stops on departure; repair is possible within one year
This is about the accrual, not the payment. What you've built up until you leave stays yours. But as soon as you're no longer insured in the Netherlands, you build up nothing more. Every year until your AOW age then costs 2% of your later AOW. If you already receive AOW, this no longer applies.
For most emigrants the insurance ends at the moment of departure. If you keep working in the Netherlands or are posted abroad, you can stay insured. You close the gap with voluntary insurance at the SVB, the agency that runs the AOW. That is possible for ten years at most. Your application must be in within one year of your compulsory insurance ending, though. And you must have been insured for at least a year directly before that. The premium depends on your income and is revised every year. That is why no amount is given here. Put that final application date in your diary before you go.
- reduction per uninsured year
- 2% of your AOW
- application for voluntary insurance
- no later than 1 year after your insurance ends
- duration of voluntary insurance
- 10 years at most
Source: Algemene Ouderdomswet (General Old Age Pensions Act) — article 13(1) (2% reduction per uninsured calendar year), article 35(1) (voluntary insurance, ten years at most) and article 36(1) (application no later than one year after the compulsory insurance ends) — checked on 2026-09-19
Read the whole storyYour Dutch basic health insurance ends on deregistration
The basic insurance stops on the day you deregister. Not on 31 December, and not if you let it run on either.
The insurance belongs to living in the Netherlands, and that stops. What replaces it depends on your route. If you come with a Dutch pension, it is the S1. If you go to work there, it is PUMa from your first working day. If you have neither, the three-month waiting period applies. You bridge that gap with insurance you arrange before departure, not after.
Where this comes from: Description from the knowledge article on CPAM registration: Dutch cover stops on emigration and French cover only starts when you start it. No official page has been found that gives the end date of the basic insurance in so many words.
Read the whole storyFor inheritance and gifts the Netherlands counts you in for ten more years
The Inheritance Tax Act (Successiewet), the law on inheritance and gift tax, pretends an emigrated Dutch national still lives in the Netherlands for ten years. That applies on death and to gifts.
If you die within ten years of leaving, your heirs pay Dutch inheritance tax, as if you still lived here. What you give away in those years, to your children for example, falls under Dutch gift tax. So review your will and your gift plans before you leave. For a gift in the first year after you leave, this even applies to everyone who lived in the Netherlands, also without Dutch nationality.
- deemed residence
- 10 years
This is not tax advice
These are the rules that apply to your situation, not the outcome of them. With France one thing is added. Tax is calculated not per person, but per household. So what these rules together mean for you also depends on who moves with you. That makes the sum more personal than anywhere else. Working out that sum is the job of a tax adviser who knows both the Dutch and the French system. Take this list to that conversation. Then you know which questions to ask.
Still deciding between countries? Put the rules of two or three countries side by side
Then actually doing it
Knowing which rules apply is the first half. The second is applying them in time: in the right order, without missing a deadline, and with your documents at hand.
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for France: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for France change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.