Well, let´s get this straight: I didn´t search for and read all the topics on the subjects I am asking about. Before calling me egotistic and lazy (which I might be) let me say I didn´t find many that relate to my situation, this one being one of the nearest Help on Tax and social secuirty between France and Switzerland

I am a EU physician working in France near the German and Swiss borders for the last year and a half. I have been thinking about moving to Switzerland (with my wife and 20 months old toddler) for various reasons, being one of the top ones taxes and, most of all, social security.

I could possibly get to work as a physician also in Switzerland (Jura?) though for several reasons I would probably want to keep on having an activity in France. I might even set up a business in Switzerland, (loosely) related to medicine or not.

I have recently learned that one can pay social security in Switzerland but still be a fiscal resident (and pay taxes) in France, which seems to be more advantageous in some cases. On the other hand, most of my net worth is invested in financial assets (investments funds) which are crazily taxed in France, where you have to pay social security on earnings and afterwards you are taxed on top of that. It is my understanding that you do not pay a dime on earnings derived from financial assets in Switzerland.

I wonder whether I can pay social security in Switzerland, taxes in France and still benefit from the Swiss tax regime for my financial assets, or at least (legally) avoid the French one. Otherwise I may still choose to be a fiscal resident in Switzerland if given the opportunity. Also, if I ever work in Jura, would I be taxed there or where I live (France, Basel...)? If all that is doable... how? How and where can I make all the calculations? I know this can be quite complex as there are a myriad of factors playing (and different rules in each canton). One of the things that appeals to me is the possibility to tailor my social insurance in Switzerland. Being as I am not to keen on taking insurance I would probably go for the required minimums (which will likely cover further more than mere catastrophic risk) and self-insure the rest. Another question and like suggested in the aforementioned thread, could I as a company established in Switzerland provide services in France and thus pay my social security in Switzerland?

There are other things that appeal to me about Switzerland (education, language learning for my offspring, etc) and while Strasbourg (where I don´t live in but which could be an option if I rested in France) is quite nice I may still prefer Basel.

I guess I have too many questions and no so much time/energy. I am a normally do it yourself guy (who did his freaking complex accounting and taxes by himself just upon arriving in France with very limited language skills) but I feel this whole situation (work, family and trying to switch countries (again) in the most tax efficient manner possible) is a bit too much for me in the sense that I am not sure I am going to be able to efficiently and timely do it on my own. It took me days to find the time and energy to write this! Thus, while I'll be most grateful for whatever help, advice, tools and resources you can share I guess I'd also take recommendations on professionals that could put me out of my misery on an also efficient and more or less painless fashion.

Thank you for reading!

I am not going to read through this thread very closely, but here are some useful points:

One only needs to file a US tax return (as a "US Person") if income is more than $10,000 in a given year
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501...link1000270109
How that fits with the requirements for OVDP and Streamlined and other cases to file back returns I leave to others to rationalise.

In general, one can't force a bank to accept a US Person as depositor, even a dual national. But Frédéric Lefebvre has raised this issue for French citizens resident in the USA who, he says, have a statutory or constitutional right to maintain a French bank account: http://www.frederic-lefebvre.org/fatca-agissons/

There are millions of American citizens living abroad and only a few hundred thousand file tax returns and only a few tens of thousand have renounced, filed OVDP or otherwise addressed their noncompliant status. The IRS is in fact a collection agency and is unlikely to pursue tax debtors abroad except in the most notorious cases. However:

¶ New tax treaties will provide for reciprocal collection of tax debts by partner countries (only Canada does so now, and then not for Canadian citizens; that is likely to be true of other countries as well. Think: ordre public)

¶ New extradite treaties will provide for extradition for tax crimes. At present, only tax crimes that can be indicted as common-law fraud or money laundering are extraditable.

Even those new provisions are unlikely to result in very many of those millions of American citizens being pursued. On the other hand, that won't help you open a bank account in Switzerland unless you happen to have a Swiss ID card in which case the bank will not necessarily know you are a dual national. Of course it might be that your French passport is ambiguous as to country of birth. I have seen British passports belonging to dual-national Americans where the city of birth named could be anywhere.

There is another area of uncertainty: No FBAR/FinCEN Form 114 need be filed if foreign financial assets on deposit do not exceed $10,000, but a box on Form 1040 Sched. B needs to be checked "yes" if any such account exists. Whether a return needs to be filed just because a dual national resident abroad has $1 in a foreign account is an interesting question. The IRS is unlikely to pursue such a case, but could they?

There are constitutional questions in the USA (9th Amendment I think: rights not specifically enumerated which would include the right to expatriate) whether the $2,350 expatriation user fee effectively prevents expatriation by many citizens. Foreign countries do not need to recognise "US Person" claims by the IRS, and the IRS does not have standing to assert US citizenship against someone who has never availed him/herself of an attribute of US nationality. Those points may not help you but they may be helpful to some. That some Swiss banks have been known to demand a Certificate of Loss of Nationality from former American citizens who lost their citizenship at a time and under circumstances where no such CLN would be issued seems to be beside the point.

Thanks for your reply but... does this really belong here?

He is an EU physician so what has US tax rules and regs got to do with his query? Perhaps you should read more closely. Of course, if he's also an American then it's very relevant.

I have no idea about your financial questions, but to work here you'd need a) to have your qualifications recognised by the Swiss Red Cross and b) would need to speak a Swiss language to a very high standard to work in the medical profession here. If you're thinking of Basel then that language would be German, Jura would be French.

Replied to wrong thread??

No, I think he got the impression from the link that Teotonio posted originally. That's about an American wanting to set up a branch of his US company in France, but live in Geneva.

Thanks for your reply, Medea. No, I am not American. That must be a posting mistake on Potrzebie's side.

I am in the process of having my qualifications recognized. It´s a useful step but as I see it not necessarily required for my plan, which would perhaps just be easier if allowed to practice in Switzerland.

Though my French is far from perfect, it´s pretty decent since I've been practicing in France for almost a year. I barely know German. German is more of a mid term goal for me and my offspring. I don´t (and probably won´t) necessarily live where I work and Basel just looks more interesting and could be in a middle point between my French and Swiss (should I have one) job.

That must be it. I said that was the nearest thing that I found in that the poster was recommended to establish her business in Geneva and sell services in France.

That´s what I thought as that was a likely response for "Henry", the friend of our American poster friend.

Almost a year and a half.

If you want to work here in the medical profession then your qualifications have to be recognised, end of story. I don't know for sure, but even if you set up a company here and only take patients from France I think that would be the case. You'd have to check with the cantonal migration office in Basel-Stadt or Jura depending on where you base yourself though.

As far as taxes go, you'd be taxed where you live so if that's France that's who you'll be taxed by. Even if you get a job in a Swiss hospital and tax is initially deducted here I think some or all of it would be paid back to France under various tax treaties.

That I know. I have a quite clear picture of what I need in order to practice in Switzerland and I am aware that following decisions and regulations in effect from summer 2013 I am likely to not be allowed to do it. Or at least not as I want to. There are many places in Switzerland where I just won´t be allowed to practice and some where I might.

I am probably not making myself clear: I may not care whether I practice or not in Switzerland. To be able to practice in Switzerland may be the easiest way but not the only way. Though it´s one of my main skills, practicing is not my only skill (by the way, nor is my only qualification/credential). Never talked about practicing in Switzerland (or anywhere) without my qualifications being recognized.