Living under the radar in Europe

[Joinfrance]

I have no idea, but I got one!

[Joinfrance]

Maybe it shouldn’t be called a rebate but something else?

[Spardo]

Just out of interest I should say that I have always declared my income (all from the U.K.) here. I had a tax allowance in the U.K. but my income would have been taxed, whereas filling in a french tax form gave me a much higher tax allowance and Ihave never paid a cent in tax, and last year I even got a rebate!

My experience too, Jo, even when I was working and am still amazed that I could get a rebate of tax I had never paid.

[Ally]

How would you know the difference between the folk you describe and me?

Because if I look up your registration plate I would hope it would come up as legal.

Although I thought it wasn’t possible to have cars of two different countries registered as you can only register a car in your country of residence? I really though only UK residents could register a car in the UK....

Really? A person with homes in two or more countries can't have locally registered cars at each? Mmmm?
Looking up a cars registration does not tell you if it is legal. Look mine up now, if you knew it, and it will say MoTed until October and it has a statutory off road notice. It has been off the road since 11 March and it hasn't been on a British road for over six months. None of that is illegal. I learned that from DVLA. Rest assured it won't be back on any road until it is legal to do so. Later today as it happens. Hopefully.

[exile]

WE too got a repayment from the French tax authorities before we had paid a sou.
OH moved here permanently in the 5th year since we bought our house and there was a tax rebate for the first 5 years of a mortgage being in place, so we got 1 year's benefit in our first tax return - which since I was working and being taxed in Germany meant the French government got nothing but gave a few hundred euros for my trouble.

[TriciaF]

We also had a 'tax' rebate for the cost of an eco central heating boiler when we hadn't paid any income tax.
I wondered if it was because we had paid the full price for the boiler when we could have had a discount eg 'purchase' tax. But the only way to refund us was via the personal tax system.

[b33jay]

No. you can register a car in another country. What you cannot do legally is drive the car registered elsewhere in your country of residence - in some cases there will be some degrees of freedom to allow you a set time to re-register such a car. But of course not in the UK.

I wonder what genius thinks up all these crazy rules. If I understand correctly, from what you say, I, as a French resident, can drive a UK reg car anywhere but in France? Or is it only in the UK?

So if I was to get myself to England, hire a UK reg car and drive it to Dublin via ferry of course, that would be OK, would it? But if I wanted to do a round trip via France to return it back to England, that would be illegal?

Or is there a special rule which absolves hired cars from this nonsense? And if there is would it include leased vehicles? I reckon not as that seems to be the way the world is going these days.

Just so pleased that I am not going to be in such a position again in this lifetime.

Yes, hire cars are exempt from the ownership/residency rules. There are some exemptions for foreign students/workers using their own cars.

As a British resident cannot drive a foreign registered car in the UK. My local Roads Policing Unit are picking up, every day, foreigners who are working and resident in the UK (some for many years) but driving foreign registered cars. Car seized £200 'no insurance' penalty + further 'no tax' penalty from DVLA. Car can be re-registered or removed from UK by a non-resident driver but in the case of non-compliance it's crushed.

[Catrose]

Looking up a cars registration does not tell you if it is legal.

It doesn’t tell you if it’s legal, but it can tell you if the car isn’t legal. One rainy afternoon on holiday in the south west I amused myself checking the plates of UK cars that passed in front of the café where I was sitting. Quite a few of them had no MOT and no SORN notice...

Apart from a few exceptions, you can only be resident in one country at a time and attached to the social security system of one country at at time (where you are resident doesn’t have to be the same country as your SS affiliation of course). AFAIK many/most european counties all agreed to only allow registration of cars to their own residents to limit car crime.

The fact that it is quite easy to bypass this - particularly in UK where they will accept a UK driving licence as proof - it completely irrelevant.

[Le Démerdeur]

, but it can tell you if the car isn’t legal. One rainy afternoon on holiday in the south west I amused myself checking the plates of UK cars that passed in front of the café where I was sitting. Quite a few of them had no MOT and no SORN notice...

They could all have been legal and legitimate

They may have been awaiting their carte grise from ANTS after having passed a control technique and being insured temporarily by a French insurer on the UK number plate.

And pigs might fly

[exile]

Apart from a few exceptions, you can only be resident in one country at a time and attached to the social security system of one country at at time (where you are resident doesn’t have to be the same country as your SS affiliation of course). AFAIK many/most european counties all agreed to only allow registration of cars to their own residents to limit car crime.

The fact that it is quite easy to bypass this - particularly in UK where they will accept a UK driving licence as proof - it completely irrelevant.

I am pretty certain that that is quite wrong but if you can provide a link to confirm that view I m more than ready to concede the point. I will also be pointing out to several British second home owners here that keep a French run around that they are not legal.

I am however convinced that they are legal. If a vehicle remains in France for more than 6 months in any 12 it is required to be registered in France.