Expat Academy

Courses

Retire to France on US income

Become a French tax resident, keep your US accounts, and pay tax once.

For Americans who will live in France most of the year: how French residence works, what France and the US each tax on Social Security, IRAs, 401(k)s, Roth accounts, HSAs and a brokerage account, how the US-France treaty credit works, what to do before you move, the visitor visa, healthcare, the French return and renting a home.

Thirty-seven lessons in three parts: the Core (what changes for any American abroad), Track B (living under two tax systems) and France. Every lesson works through three example households, or your own numbers, with the France tax estimator, the account comparison, the year-of-move planner, the visa checker, the two-home budget, the day counter and a pre-move checklist you tick off as you go.

Try it first: C1 The four kinds of "residence", F1 France's four residence tests (free).

What you keep

Download these while your access lasts: they're yours to keep, to print, and to take to your attorney and CPA. PDFs carry your name.

  • Workbook (Excel) France course workbook

    The France tax estimate, the two-home budget, the visa check, currency stress, an accounts register, the pre-move checklist and the compliance calendar, with one exchange-rate cell that drives every conversion.

  • Course book (PDF) France course book

    Every lesson of the Core, Track B and France, with the worked examples, for reading offline or taking to an adviser.

Printable guides and checklists (13)

  • Checklist (PDF) Your pre-move checklist

    The two years before you become tax resident in France, in order, with the tax moves marked.

  • Guide (PDF) How the tax treaty works

    Residence and source, the saving clause, credits both ways, and the forms (France).

  • Calendar (PDF) Your yearly compliance calendar

    Every US and French deadline in date order.

  • Walkthrough (PDF) Your French return: 2042, 2047 and 3916

    Where US income and US accounts go on the French return.

  • Steps (PDF) Joining French healthcare

    From private cover for the visa to PUMa, the carte Vitale and a mutuelle.

  • Comparison (PDF) Spain, Portugal and France side by side

    Visas, healthcare, residence rules, how each country taxes your US income, wealth, inheritance and paperwork, in one table per topic.

  • Guide (PDF) The four kinds of residence

    Immigration status, tax residence, state domicile and Schengen days on one page.

  • Guide (PDF) What the IRS still expects

    Form 1040, FBAR, Form 8938, PFICs and the June 15 extension.

  • Checklist (PDF) State domicile checklist

    What to change, file and keep when you move your US domicile.

  • Checklist (PDF) Documents and apostilles

    The papers to gather before you go, and the order to get them in.

  • Checklist (PDF) Coming home checklist

    Ending residence abroad and restarting a US tax home.

  • Fact sheet (PDF) France fact sheet

    The 2026 numbers: tax scale, social charges, visa resources, inheritance and wealth tax.

  • Glossary (PDF) French glossary

    The French words on every form, letter and lease, in plain English.

What's inside: 37 lessons

The Core: retiring abroad on US income

What changes for any American who retires abroad on Social Security, IRAs, a 401(k), an HSA and a brokerage account, whichever country and path you choose: the four kinds of residence, what the IRS and your state still expect, your accounts and benefits, money across the border, paperwork, two homes on one budget, healthcare and estate basics.

Module 1: Residence, and what the US keeps (3 lessons)
  1. C1 The four kinds of "residence" Free preview
    Your visa, your tax residence, your US state and your Schengen days are four separate tests, and they can point in four directions.
  2. C2 What the IRS never lets go of
    The US taxes citizens wherever they live. The return, the foreign-account reports and the fund rules all come with you.
  3. C3 Your US state after you leave
    States aren't bound by tax treaties, and some are hard to leave. Your domicile decides whether a state still taxes you.
Module 2: Your income and your accounts (4 lessons)
  1. C4 Your income, source by source
    Social Security, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, Roth, HSA, dividends, interest and gains each follow their own rule abroad. Here is the grid the country lessons fill in.
  2. C5 Keeping your US accounts open
    Some US brokers restrict or close accounts with a foreign address, and EU rules block buying US funds. Plan where your money will live before you move.
  3. C6 Social Security and Medicare abroad
    Social Security follows you to France; Medicare mostly doesn't. Decide about Part B before you go, because dropping it can cost you later.
  4. C7 Money across the border
    Your income is in dollars and your life in euros. How much the exchange rate moves your budget, how to move money cheaply, and how much to keep in euros.
Module 3: Setting up (2 lessons)
  1. C8 Identity numbers and paperwork
    Each country gives you a tax number before almost anything else works, and wants US documents with apostilles and translations. Here is the order to get them in.
  2. C9 Opening and keeping a local bank account
    Being American makes banking abroad harder because of US reporting rules. How to open an account, and how to stop it being frozen over a missed letter.
Module 4: Living in two places (3 lessons)
  1. C10 Running two homes on one budget
    Some costs follow you; others keep running in the home you've left. Separating them is what makes a two-home budget honest.
  2. C11 Healthcare models compared
    Medicare at home with travel cover, private cover abroad, or the public system there. Which one fits each track, and what each visa demands.
  3. C12 Estate basics across borders
    Wills in two countries, forced heirship, and inheritance tax where you die. The basics now; a full estate module comes later.

Track B: becoming tax resident abroad

For the student who will live abroad most of the year and become tax resident there while keeping a US domicile: when residence starts, the years before the move, a pre-move checklist, the treaty, income taxed twice but paid once, wealth and inheritance, reporting, the visa, a long-term home, public healthcare, withdrawal order, the yearly calendar and coming home.

Module 1: Before you move (4 lessons)
  1. B1 When your residence starts
    France and Portugal tax you from the day you arrive; Spain treats you as resident for the whole year or not at all. Your move date changes your first two tax years.
  2. B2 The years before the move
    While only the US taxes you, fill low brackets with Roth conversions or realize gains at 0%. The planner shows how much, and what it costs.
  3. B3 Cutting state domicile cleanly
    A Track B mover needs a US domicile in a state without income tax, with enough real ties to stand up, and a clean break from the old state.
  4. B4 Your pre-move checklist
    Everything to do in the two years before you become tax resident abroad, in order, with the tax moves that only work while the US is the only country taxing you. Tick items off as you go.
Module 2: Two tax systems (4 lessons)
  1. B5 How the tax treaty actually works
    Residence and source, the saving clause, and credits flowing both ways. What the treaty gives an American abroad, and what it can't.
  2. B6 Your income, taxed twice, paid once
    Every line of your income, with the French tax, the treaty credit, the US tax and the US credit, added up. The calculator does it for your own mix.
  3. B7 Wealth, exit and inheritance taxes
    The taxes on what you own rather than what you earn. Which ones reach a retiree in each country, and why many expats rent.
  4. B8 Reporting your US accounts abroad
    The FBAR in reverse. Your new country wants a list of your US accounts every year, and the penalties are per account.
Module 3: Settling in (3 lessons)
  1. B9 Your visa and residence permit
    Retirement visas test passive income, demand private health cover and forbid local work. How the income test works when your income is in dollars and you have no pension yet.
  2. B10 Renting your first long-term home
    A year-round lease is your proof of address, your first big euro commitment and evidence of residence. What landlords ask of a retiree with no local job, and what it costs to move in.
  3. B11 Joining the public health system
    Residents can usually join after a waiting period, at a cost far below US prices. What you need, when, and what a top-up policy is for.
Module 4: Year by year (3 lessons)
  1. B12 Withdrawal order when two countries tax
    The usual US rule of thumb (taxable first, then traditional, Roth last) changes once a second country taxes your accounts differently. Where you hold bonds matters too.
  2. B13 Your yearly compliance calendar
    Two tax years, two sets of forms, a residence card and a Social Security questionnaire. Every deadline in one year, in order.
  3. B14 Coming home
    Many Track B retirees come back, often around Medicare age for a younger spouse or when health needs grow. Ending residence abroad cleanly, and restarting at home.

France

The French rules in detail: the residence tests, the visitor visa, income tax and the treaty credit on US income, social charges, how each kind of account is taxed, wealth and inheritance tax, the French return and Form 3916, identity numbers and banking, healthcare, the cost of living and renting.

Module 1: Becoming resident (2 lessons)
  1. F1 France's four residence tests Free preview
    Any one of four tests makes you French tax resident. How each works, how the treaty breaks a tie with the US, and how Track A students stay on the US side.
  2. F2 The visitor visa, step by step
    France's long-stay visitor visa is the usual route for retirees. The resources test, the insurance, the application, validation on arrival and renewal.
Module 2: Tax (5 lessons)
  1. F3 French income tax on your US income
    The French scale, the household quotient, the pension deduction, and the treaty credit that removes French tax from US pensions and Social Security, line by line.
  2. F4 Social charges (prélèvements sociaux)
    The 18.6% on investment income is the French tax the treaty may not remove. What it is, what it covers, the debate over the credit, and how to keep it down.
  3. F5 Each account in France, and the moves to make before you go
    How France and the US tax a dollar from a pre-tax account, a Roth, an HSA and a taxable account, why the rates differ so much, and what to do while only the US taxes you.
  4. F6 Wealth and inheritance tax in France
    The IFI reaches only real estate, with five years' relief for new residents. Inheritance tax is where France is expensive, especially for children. What the estate treaty and forced heirship change.
  5. F7 Your French tax return and Form 3916
    Form 2042 with Form 2047 for US income, Form 3916 for every US account, the first return on paper, and the monthly form for foreign dividends.
Module 3: Daily life (4 lessons)
  1. F8 Identity numbers and banking in France
    The numéro fiscal, the RIB, the social security number and the carte Vitale, and opening a French account as an American, including the legal right to a basic account.
  2. F9 Healthcare in France
    Private cover for the visa year, then PUMa after three months, a carte Vitale, a declared GP and a mutuelle. How reimbursement works and what it costs.
  3. F10 The cost of living in France
    Where the money goes for a retiree in France, how cities differ, which costs are lower or higher than at home, and how to build your own budget in euros.
  4. F11 Renting in France
    Lease types, the rental file, guarantees for a retiree, legal caps on deposits and agency fees, rent control, insurance and notice. And every cost of moving in.