Hi Nick,

From 1rst july of 2014 they will automotically charged your gross salary to 8% if you are frontalier. In the longterm they plan to increase it at 12.8% as all others French who live and work in France. But they don't precise the date when they will increase from 8% to 12.8%. We just know from 1rst of july u will be charged 8%.

Living in France and work in Switzerland is no longer interesting for few reasons. If you are frontalier :

1) u are charged 8% on ur salary so around CHF 500 in your case (and a lot more in the future when they increase it to 12.8%). On top of that u aren't pay back from ur health insurance for doctor hospital...in switzerland. You would also need to buy a complementary insurance as it only pay u back 65% of ur health cost in France. So you will loose few hundred CHF in your case compare if u were living in Switzerland and u have better medical services in Switzerland. U can in your case save CHF 1'000-CHF 2'000 per year

2) France has a lot of hidden cost that Switzerland doesn't have. For instance in France u have to pay for rubbish tax, for water, local tax on your appartment which is normally between 1-2 times ur  monthly rent per year depend the city u live. If you add all of this u can add easily CHF 3'000 cost per year compare to Switzerland.

3) When u are frontalier u have to waste easily 2 hours commuting (this has no price but lower ur quality of life) and cost you a lot of money in gasoline, parking.... If you live in Geneva canton you can take 1 year unlimited transportration pass (CHF 600 sor around CHF 50 per month) cost u a lot less than if you live in France. You can easily save another CHF 2'000 per year if you live in Switzerland for ur transportation cost)

4) An employer tend to hire first Swiss resident. If you are Swiss resident you find a job a lot more easier.

If you live in Geneva canton and want to save money u can still buy ur food or whatever in France even if u live in Geneva. The only thing you will have to pay more in living in Geneva is ur rent which is around 20% higher in Geneva canton. If you live in a 2 bedrooms appartment in Geneva it will cost u an average of CHF 1'800. The same at the boundary in France CHF 1'400. So you loose around CHF 400*12=CHF 4'800 if you live in Switerland for your rent

So overall you save a bit some money living in Switzerland compare to France and on top of that you have a lot better quality life (no need to spend hours commuting, find job easier, better medical services, easier if you want to go out.....). One of my friend that is frontalier made all those computations and told me it is not interesting anymore to be frontalier. It cost you more and you have all th disavantage of the frontalier.

 Best

4

Interesting post but there are two inaccuracies.

-The change of healthcare provider will not take place on the July 1st for everybody. It will take place between the July 1st and the June 30, 2015, at the anniversary date at which you signed your contract with your private French health insurance. For example, you signed your contract on February 12, 2008; you will be transferred to the CMU on February 12, 2015.

Note that if you chose a Swiss health insurance in the first place, you are not concerned. This only applies to people who have a private French health insurance.

-The amount will not be 8 and later 12.8% of your salary. It will be (reference fiscal income minus 9534 euros) x 6% until May 30, 2015, then it will be (reference fiscal income minus 9534 euros) x 8%.

Best

Many thanks to both Bustan and Benoit,

I do subscribe to French private Frontalier Insurance so both your replies are relevant for me.  Tempted as we are to live in Switzerland, I'm not sure that the cost of living does compare (unless one is looking to buy property).  However, M.Hollande's new tax would significantly change the dynamic.  If,as Bustan suggests, there is a a year's 'stay of execution' on this I think we will stay in France.  I read the article that Benoit alluded to and noticed that it was dated from 2012 - does anyone know if this is still the case?

Thanks again all of you,

Nick

You can clearly see on the article below they plan in the long term to increase the health tax from 8% to 13.5% as every french are taxed. I read many times that their goal is to increase it to 13.5% in the long term but first step is 8% and then 13.5% but we don't know when.

Also a frontalier is usually taxed more than what a swiss resident is. If you stay 5 years in Switzerland then get a permis C so your are taxed as every Swiss at the end of the year. This is usually (depends on your salary and other factors) lower than the "impot a la source" of the frontalier. I experienced personnally a big difference when I was living in Saint geny Puilly (FR) then in Genève. Especially when u are taxed normaly in Switzerland you can deduced many things like 3rd pilier for retirement, tramsportation cost...It was much lower for me on the Swiss side.

Bielive me even if I am French I have lived on both side of the boundary but would never go back to the French side. And things are getting worse years over years in France. 

Jusqu’en 2014, les frontaliers ont encore le choix entre les 3 régimes d’assurance. Si on intègre la fin du régime privé, il ne reste plus pour les frontaliers que le choix entre le régime LAMal pour frontaliers et la CMU. Et le choix n’est aujourd’hui pas simple :  ceux qui font le choix de l’assurance santé privée bénéficieront de tarifs et de couvertures en général intéressants, mais dès 2014, si rien ne change, basculeront à la CMU, avec des tarifs pour la plupart exorbitants, notamment les personnes ayant les salaires en Suisse les plus élevés. Selon notre compréhension, il est fort probable qu’une négociation se fasse sur le taux (actuellement de 8%, mais prévu dans la loi à 13,5%). Le calcul de la CMU, avec un taux à 8% semble déjà élevé, avec un taux à 13,5%, ce ne sera pas vivable pour la plupart des frontaliers (dans ce cas, un frontalier avec un revenu net fiscal de 80 000 euros paierait plus de 9 580 euros par an d’assurance, auquel il faudrait ajouter une complémentaire).

http://www.travailler-en-suisse.ch/assurance-sante-frontalier-la-cmu-ce-sera-finalement-pour-2014.html

The French Ministry of Social Affairs and Health announced a few changes yesterday:

-The amount you’ll have to pay for your CMU will be (reference fiscal income minus 10% allowance for occupational expanses minus 9534 euros) x 6% at first. The novelty lies in this minus 10% allowance for occupational expanses.

-The date at which it will be increased to 8% has also been postponed: it will be January 1st, 2016 rather than June 1st, 2015.

-It will be possible to choose a medic in Switzerland. You won’t need prior authorization if it’s out-patient care.

It’s a little relief, that doesn’t change the overall picture. Being a frontalier gets less and less beneficial, as blin20 rightly pointed out.

I know this is an older discussion, but I have a couple of questions.

How is the reference fiscal income figured? I changed jobs last year, so my income in 2013 was quite a bit higher than it is in 2014. I am interested in switching to the French social security system in June, because 6% of what I earned even last year is better than the 600 euros a month I now pay for private insurance.

Secondly, any suggestions for companies that offer complementary insurance?

Finally, is the 10% for occupational expenses done across the board, or will we have to show paperwork for expenses?

Many thanks.

Just my small pennyworth : we live in Evian [and are extremely happy here]. However being retired is obviously vastly different to your situation. However, all our neighbours commute cross-border every day and are happy to live in France because of the very high cost of living in CH. Here, for essentials, like food especially the cost is way below that of supermarkets in CH, as is such essentials like car insurance, household insurance etc.

I don't really know from where your contributor gets the information regarding rubbish : we can [and do] put our rubbish into vast underground containers which costs us nothing at all, whereas all our friends who live in CH have to pay for specialist rubbish bags which cost them between 2.-- and 3.50. In fact, there was such an outcry in Mettmenstetten in Kanton Zürich where our closest friends live where the cost of each bag was 3.50, the local council actually brought down the price to 2.50 as they had a near-riot on their hands.

It's horses for courses. Our advice would be to stay in France, but then, we are biased

Good luck whatever your decision.

@sheila

This is your opinion I lived 20 years in France and 15 years in Switzerland and still believe you don't save money living as a Frontalier as you have a lot of different taxes and expenses you do have in France and not in Switzerland.

I am not even counting the waste of time (and cost) to cummute every day from France. France tax are higher than Switzerland, also you have many taxes you don't have in Switzerlandas taxe d'habitation...I am even not speaking about inherance and wealth taxes. And now with the Security social taxes at 8% it's really not interesting to live in France, especially for high salary. Overall I save more money and time now living in Switzerland.

Regarding the rubbish, your statement is inexact. In Canton de Geneve you dont need to pay a rubbish tax. What you are speaking (CHF 2/bag) is for vaud canton. Everything depend on canton you are living. But the person asking about this question was asking for canton de Genève. So no rubbish tax here.

and I am not biaised as I am French living in Switzerland so can compare both side. 

A couple of corrections

3) Diesel is cheaper in France. Petrol is cheaper in Switzerland.

4) Health Insurance in France is now set at 8% of your income (new laws) so the cost varies with salary.