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LIVING IN FRANCE

Tax sanctions, visas and tiny cars: 6 essential articles for life in France

What might happen if you missed France's income tax declaration deadline, problems with visas and residency cards, very small cars and summer drinky tips all feature in The Local’s practical must-reads for residents in France this week.

Published: 9 June 2024 08:35 CEST

The Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower for the upcoming Paris 2024 Games. (Photo by Sameer Al-Doumy / AFP)

Deadlines for the annual French tax declaration have now passed, so what happens if you either miss the deadline or fail to file your return at all? We take a look at the range of sanctions – and what you can do if you’ve not yet made your declaration.

What you risk by missing French tax deadlines

If you are a foreigner living in France – and do not hold European or French citizenship – then you need to hold some form of carte de séjour (residency card).

But, while it may sound like a similar generic term, the ‘carte de résident’ is a particular type of ‘carte de séjour’ that is only available to certain people. We explain more, here.

Explained: What exactly is France’s carte de résident?

Earlier this year, Spain announced the scrapping of its ‘golden visa’ scheme for high net-worth individuals, prompting the question: what’s the situation in France for people who make a significant investment in the country?

Does France have a ‘golden visa’?

The Olympics, in case you didn’t know, are coming! And the somewhat complicated regulations about who will need a security QR code in Paris during the Olympic and Paralympic Games have left a lot of people confused.

Here we answer the most common questions about the rules and the security restrictions in the French capital.

Paris Olympics QR codes – your questions answered

They’re small and don’t go very fast, but they’re also cheap, easy to park and can be driven by teenagers and people who don’t have a driving licence – welcome to the world of France’s ‘voitures sans permis’.

Meet France’s tiny cars that you don’t need a licence to drive

Despite the forecast for the week ahead, it is officially summer in France. And forecasters still predict it will be a hot one, overall. So, we finish up this week’s must-reads with a selection of answers to one of the serious questions of the season – what would you like to drink?

Rosé, spritz and pressé: 5 things to drink in France this summer

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How to vote in France's snap parliamentary elections

France will elect new MPs in the Assemblée Nationale in the coming weeks, with voting on June 30th and July 7th.

In France, voters are expected to turn up in person. Those who cannot, for any reason, can nominate a proxy to vote in person on their behalf (more on this below).

Here are the answers to common questions about voting in France;

Who can vote?

Although non-French citizens can vote in European and local elections, when it comes to parliamentary elections like this one (or presidential elections) only people with French citizenship can vote. This includes dual nationals.

In order to vote in a parliamentary election you must be aged 18 or over and be a French national.

Those who gained French citizenship aged 16 or under (including those who were born French) are also required to have completed their ‘citizen service’ in order to be inscribed on the electoral roll. This does not apply to people who gained French citizenship as adults.

You also need to ensure that you are on the electoral roll in order for you to receive your election card in the run-up to voting.

If you voted in the European elections then you know that all is well, however domestic elections usually have a significantly higher turnout than Europeans, so there will be plenty of people who didn’t vote in the European elections who will want to have their say on June 30th and July 7th.

If you have not previously voted in France, or you have moved house since you last voted, you can check whether you are on the electoral roll HERE.

You may be registered without realising – anyone who has become French since 2019 benefits from automatic registration in the liste électorale. This means that most people can be eligible to vote shortly after acquiring French nationality.

Is it too late to register?

If you find that you are not listed on the electoral roll, then unfortunately it is too late to register for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Even though the elections were announced with short notice, the normal rule – that registration is only possible until six Fridays before the first round – was still applied, meaning that people who were not already registered when the election was called on June 9th cannot vote.

Where do I vote?

When checking your status with the electoral roll, you can check the address of your polling station, as well as your national electoral number. If you want to, you can also download your certificate of registration on the electoral roll (attestation d’inscription sur les listes électorales).

What to bring when voting

When you go to vote, you need a form of identification in most towns, although municipalities of less than 1,000 inhabitants do not have this obligation. However, the head of the polling station in small towns might ask you to prove your identity in another manner.

For an ID, you have several options, including: a French national identity card (valid or expired for less than 5 years), a passport (valid or expired for less than 5 years), your Carte Vitale (as long as it has your photograph), a valid French military card (Carte du combattant), a valid French disability card (as long as it has a photograph), a valid driver’s licence, and even a hunting licence (as long as it has a photograph and was issued by the National Office for Hunting and Wildlife).

Technically, your voter registration card is not required to vote, but it is highly recommended.

How do you get a voter card?

The electoral card (carte électorale) is sent by post to your home at least three days prior to the first round of an election or referendum.

If your electoral card has not been distributed to you before the election or referendum, it is kept at the polling station. You can collect it by presenting an identity document.

What actually happens on the day?

After the voter registration card and/ or ID documents have been checked, voters head to a table which holds a pile of envelopes and several piles of ballot papers – one for each of the candidates.

They must take an envelope and at least two candidate ballot papers into a booth, where they put the paper of the candidate they wish to vote for into the envelope and seal it. Voters who want to exercise their right, but don’t want to vote for any of the candidates can cast a vote blanc – by sealing an empty envelope.

Then, they take their sealed envelope and head to a locked, transparent ballot box, where staff check their ID again and confirm that they have just one envelope to put in the ballot box.

The ballot box is double-locked before voting begins, and each of the two keys is held by a separate election official to prevent tampering.

A poll worker pulls a lever that opens a slit wide enough to accept the voter’s envelope.

The voter posts their vote through the slit into the transparent box. The poll worker then closes the ballot box – and a simple mechanical counter adds one vote to the total tally. It’s a simple and straightforward way of maintaining an accurate count.

At the same time, the poll worker who closes the ballot box will say – or, perhaps intone or declare – a voté (has voted).

There’s no particular reason for this, other than tradition in a country that, despite a drop-off in polling numbers in recent years, still takes the voting process seriously.

Before the voter leaves the polling station, they can have their carte éléctorale stamped as confirmation that they have cast their vote – this is optional and doesn’t give you any special privileges (you don’t even get a free coffee once you reach 10 elections).

Second round

Once you’ve got over the excitement of voting once, you may get to do it all over again.

If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round, then a second round of voting is held a week later (on July 7th). Presidential elections virtually always have a second round while local elections usually do in big cities, while sometimes smaller places with only a few candidates see one person get the required 50 percent in round one. In parliamentary elections first-round wins are rare, but they do happen in some areas.

If there is a second round, you get to go down to the local polling booth and hear a voté for a second time.

Setting up a proxy vote

If you will be out of town during the election, then you can request a proxy vote, or procuration. Postal voting has not been allowed since 1975.

The fact that the second round of these elections take place during the school holidays, as well as the last-minute nature of the election call, means that there has been a big increase in requests for a proxy vote.

Anyone else noticed the queues outside police stations in France? (Or is just Paris?) People registering for proxy votes ahead of the elections. 550,000 so far.. massive increase on last parliamentary elections.. Mainly due to short notice of vote, summer hols and big interest… pic.twitter.com/KWy2eWC35Y

— Ben McPartland (@McPBen) June 19, 2024

You can select anyone as your proxy – friend, relative, neighbour etc – but they must be eligible to vote in France and registered to vote on the local electoral roll. You will need their date of birth, voter number, as well as their full name and the commune where they vote.

You will also need to know your own voter number (if you aren’t sure, you can find it here).

There are a few ways to do set up a proxy vote. The paper option involves printing out the procuration request (found here). Once you have filled it out, you can bring it with you (and your ID) to a police station (Commissariat de police), gendarmerie, or another location defined by local authorities for requesting proxy votes.

Then there are two options to do so online by logging onto maprocuration.gouv.fr.

This first is mostly online, with some in-person steps. Once logged onto ‘maprocuration’, you should receive an email with the reference number for your application.

You can take this with you, as well as your French ID card, to a police station, gendarmerie, or other location defined by local authorities. Afterwards, you will receive email confirmation.

To do it entirely online, you will need to be registered with France Identité, a digital identification tool created by the French government.

To access France Identité you must have the new format bank-card sized French ID card (Carte nationale d’identité known as CNI), be over the age of 18, and have at least an Android 8 phone (with NFC technology) or at least an iOS 16 iPhone.

Download the ‘France Identité’ application to your smartphone, then scan your French ID card. Once your identity is verified, you will be able to create a personal PIN to access the app.

Then you need to have your France Identité account certified. Within the app you can apply for certification (demande d’une certification) and make an appointment at the mairie to get your France Identité checked. Be sure to bring along your ID card and your smartphone to the appointment.

Within 48 hours, you should be informed by email and on the application if your request was approved.

Once you have done all of these steps, now you can return to the maprocuration.gouv.fr website to enter your proxy’s information. Then you will indicate your own voting location and verify your ID using France Identité.

Afterwards, you should receive en email with your proxy request and one saying that it was accepted.

There is technically no deadline to register for a proxy and you can even do it on polling day – but it’s strongly recommended to do it further in advance, as soon as possible in fact, as you risk your proxy not being able to vote on your behalf if the application is not processed in time.

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