Expat Academy

Spending part of the year in France without becoming a tax resident

How Americans can spend three to six months a year in France and stay US tax residents only: visas, France's four tests, housing, healthcare and US tax.

Updated · Expat Academy · Education, not advice

Plenty of American retirees don't want to move to France; they want a long season there every year, then home. Done well, you keep US healthcare, a simpler tax life and your house, and you never file a French return. The goal is simple to state: spend real time in France while every residence test still points to the US.

Two sets of limits

How long you may stay is an immigration question. As a visitor you have 90 days in any rolling 180 across the Schengen area, now counted at the border by the EU's Entry/Exit System. For longer seasons, France offers a temporary long-stay visitor visa for a single stay of about four to six months. See the Schengen 90/180 rule.

Whether France taxes you is a separate question. France makes you resident if any one of four tests points to France: your household, your main place of stay, your main work, or the centre of your economic interests. Staying under 183 days isn't enough on its own: the household test, for example, looks at where your spouse lives, not at your own days. If France ever claimed you, the treaty tie-breaker would look at your permanent home and then your centre of vital interests. See France's tax residency rules, and answer the questions in the free France Residence Check.

The choices that matter

  • Housing: a seasonal let, a lease you keep all year, or a home you buy each sends a different signal, and each has its own local tax.
  • Healthcare: Medicare doesn't pay in France, and Medigap's foreign-travel benefit only covers emergencies early in a trip, so a long season needs its own cover. See Medicare and health insurance for Americans in France.
  • Paying for the season: your US tax return doesn't change, but the money you withdraw for the months abroad can raise your federal and state tax, make more of your Social Security taxable and raise Medicare premiums two years later. Where the money comes from matters.
  • Evidence: if a question of residence ever came up, the answer turns on facts you'll want to have kept, year by year.

When to get advice

If one spouse plans to stay on in France without the other, if your French days start to approach your US days, if you're selling your US home, or if a letter about residence arrives from the French tax office, talk to a cross-border adviser before your next season.

What the course adds

The part-year France course (Track A) takes each of these in turn: the temporary visa step by step, each residence test with the evidence that answers it, seasonal lets against a year-round lease and the residence tax on a second home, banking and healthcare as a visitor, and what the months abroad cost in US tax and Medicare premiums, with a calculator for your own income and state. It comes with a yearly checklist, a days log in the workbook, and the "Staying non-resident in France" playbook to keep with your papers.

Questions

How long can I spend in France each year without becoming a tax resident?

There's no safe number of days on its own. Staying well under 183 days and spending clearly more of the year in the US is necessary, but France also looks at where your household lives and where your economic interests are. Any one of its four tests can make you resident.

What visa lets me stay in France for four to six months?

The temporary long-stay visitor visa (VLS-T). It covers a single stay of more than three months, up to about six, isn't a residence permit and can't be renewed in France. You apply again for each season.

Do I need to file a French tax return if I'm only there part of the year?

Not if you aren't a French tax resident and have no French-source income. If you own or rent a home there all year, local taxes such as the residence tax on a second home can still apply.

Does Medicare cover me while I'm in France?

Generally no. Medigap plans C, D, F, G, M and N pay for emergencies that begin in the first 60 days of a trip, up to a lifetime limit. Most part-year residents buy travel medical insurance for the whole season.

Go deeper

  • A1 The day-count trap Free preview: Two different limits count your days in Europe, Schengen's 90 in 180 and each country's tax tests, and the EU now counts them for you at the border. How to plan a season around both.
  • A2 Visas that don't make you resident: France's temporary long-stay visa covers four to six months without starting residence. Why the year-long visitor visa, Spain's non-lucrative visa and Portugal's D7 are Track B routes, and where Portugal's Golden Visa fits.
  • A3 The tests that aren't about days: France can claim you with far fewer than 183 days. The household, main-stay and economic tests, the treaty tie-breaker, and the evidence that keeps your life centred in the US.
  • A8 Healthcare for months abroad: Medicare doesn't pay in Europe, Medigap's travel benefit stops after the first 60 days of a trip, and a visa needs its own cover. How to put together insurance for a season.

Sources

Education, not advice. This guide explains general rules as of the date above. Rules change every year; confirm your own situation with a qualified adviser in the US and in France.