May 2026
From Wikipedia:
“Yesterday” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon-McCartney. It was first released on the album Help! in August 1965.
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be
There’s a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go I don’t know, she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday
Why she had to go I don’t know, she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday
I feel almost foolish putting down this information, including the lyrics, as my inclination is to assume that everybody knows the Beatles and this song. But I know better, since I am in my late 60s and the song is over 60 years old.
It feels, at least to me, that at all stages of our lives we experience this melancholic moment: “It was so much better before – I miss yesterday.” Similarly, the band Jethro Tull has an album called Living in the Past, which I like very much.
Such thoughts come when things do not go our way, when we are disappointed, when we face hardship – in short, when the future looks grimmer than the past.
All conservatives base their message on this starting point. Their platforms may mention new policies, but only as long as they are explained to the public as a way to restore the old situation. By definition, all political platforms involve intentions to fix what is wrong, to improve the current situation, and so on.
This feeling of missing yesterday is human, and there is nothing wrong with it. In many ways, past moments should be cherished. But building our lives on attempts to recreate the past is fundamentally wrong because it is impossible.
For immigrants, in particular, it is important to understand that fixing a problem means moving forward, learning from experience. The “yesterday” that we cherish in the country of our previous life is long gone. Even when an immigrant moves back for good reason, everything has changed, the country has changed, and the immigrant has deeply changed.
The only solution is to say, “How can I fix the situation efficiently?” This requires adapting to the new situation, giving up the old reflexes, and getting out of your comfort zone.
The USA is known to value failure as the best teacher. Americans say “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” France abhors failure, and many of its problems as a country and a people stem from the resulting lack of initiative, risk-taking, and trying new things, all of which entail a significant possibility of failure. At the time when I lived in the USA, the country operated by taking risks; people wanted to improve their lives and move ahead. Today, my impression is that people living in the USA are scared of the future; they seek security, stability, and predictability. There are many reasons why the country ended up in this condition. I believe it started 20-some years ago as one of the consequences of 9/11. This seems to me to be one of a lot of challenges the USA faces, both the most critical and the most difficult. So it is time to let “Yesterday” just be what it should be for all of us: one of the most beautiful songs ever written.
ELECTRONIC BILLING, CONTINUED
Below is my translation of the message we have all been receiving from the tax office. I have received it multiple times because I run more than one business.
Hello,
Electronic invoicing will become mandatory on September 1, 2026.
As of that date, all businesses must be able to receive electronic invoices sent by their suppliers.
That is why your business must select an electronic invoice reception platform approved by the Directorate General of Public Finance.
According to the information available to the administration, your company has not yet made this choice. We advise you to take the necessary steps now to secure a solution tailored to your organization.
Depending on your situation, simply contact:
– a certified public accountant, a management firm, or another trusted intermediary;
– an invoicing, accounting, or payment tracking software provider;
– or an approved platform directly.
The list of platforms approved by the tax authorities is available at www.impots.gouv.fr . … You can visit the “Switching to electronic invoicing” page on impots.gouv.fr for more information. You can also contact the tax authorities at 0 806 807 807 (Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. – toll-free + cost of call) for additional information.
What this message says is both true and misleading. Below is another message on the same topic, from URSSAF :
Effective September 1, 2026, electronic invoicing will become mandatory for all businesses subject to VAT.
To support this transition, particularly for microbusinesses, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the self-employed, the Directorate General of Public Finance has published a list of the first 101 approved platforms that allow users to issue and receive electronic invoices in compliance with regulations.
Review this list now to prepare for this change and choose a solution tailored to your business.
To learn more about this reform and view the list of approved platforms, visit the dedicated page on the www.impots.gouv.fr website.
The page from the Ministry of Finance linked below will help you learn if in fact you must comply by September 1, 2026, or the same date in 2027. The latter date is the case for those meeting the following guidelines, a profile common to most of my self-employed clients:
Small businesses or similar entities with fewer than 10 employees and (revenue or total assets ≤ €2 million)
Clients are individuals living in France and/or outside France
Provides services only
Holds the “franchise” status, i.e., below the VAT/TVA amount of sales of between 37,500 € and 41,250 €.
I strongly advise all self-employed people to go through the questionnaire offered below so they know where they stand regarding this matter.
www.impots.gouv.fr/facturation-electronique-qu-est-ce-que-ca-change-pour-moi
REPORT BY THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE INVESTIGATING FRENCH PUBLIC MEDIA
On October 28, 2025, an investigative committee established by the National Assembly started work on the neutrality, functioning and financing of French public media. It closed down on April 27, 2026, after holding 70 hearings and producing a 400-page report. The investigation covered seven TV stations:
- France 2
- France 3 (which has local channels)
- France 4
- France 5
- Arte
- La Chaîne parlementaire, made up of two channels covering the National Assembly and the Senate
- France Info.
It also covered seven radio stations run by Radio France:
- France Inter
- France Culture
- France Info
- France Bleu (with 44 local stations)
- France Musique
- Mouv’
- FIP.
Radio France and France TV, which control most of the TV stations investigated, are larger than any of the French private networks. Their combined annual budget is 4 billion €. Radio France is headquartered at the Maison de Radio in the 16th arrondissement. It is a round building with a circumference of 700 meters and, at its center, a tower 68 meters high. It houses 1,000 offices and 63 recording studios, making it a major economic hub. Its main auditorium is a concert hall with over 1,400 seats.
Sadly, what I heard about the committee’s report sounded too familiar: The money involved is way too much for what these public companies produce. The programs are elitist and out of touch with the people, and the guests all come from the same liberal political camp.
Yet given the vast diversity of programs aired by the TV and radio stations, a large portion of the public is represented. Therefore, clearly, the political views of the media professionals and their audience must not play a significant role when some of programs’ ratings are so high. Indeed, several programs win even on the rating metrics of the private sector. The private media sector owners, who lean heavily conservative, are absolutely furious about this and claim fraud must be involved.
Everything is perfectable. The French public media faces valid criticism. For example, it subcontracts a lot of programming to private companies, which make a lot of money. It also seems to color its educational aims with some disdain for the lower class.
To me, this investigation, launched by the right, was a political stunt aimed at an easy target that the conservatives have wanted to tackle for ages. The quality of the programs is not the point. I believe that we missed a good opportunity to improve the French public media and question recent decisions regarding its leadership.
500 TEMPS BEING HIRED AT PREFECTURES TO SPEED PROCESSING
On April 4, 2026, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who previously served as Paris police prefect, gave an interview to Ouest-France newspaper detailing significant changes in the immigration procedures. Le Parisien newspaper summarized the interview:
Residence Permits: Laurent Nuñez Plans to Hire 500 Additional Temporary Staff to Reduce Processing Times.
The minister of the interior states that he has presented a plan to the prime minister to increase the capacity for processing residence permits at prefectures by 20%.
More staff to reduce processing times: Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told Ouest-France on Saturday that he had presented the prime minister with a “massive plan” that includes the hiring of 500 temporary workers to reduce processing times for residence permits at prefectures.
When asked by a reporter from the regional daily about processing delays that “keep getting longer,” the minister emphasized that he would “boost staffing levels in the residency departments of the prefectures by hiring 500 temporary workers on a full-time equivalent basis,” thereby increasing “the resources allocated to this task by 20%.”
Simplifications
In addition, the validity period for biometric fingerprints will be extended from five years to ten, and the requirement for holders of long-term residence permits to report a change of address will be eliminated, he explained.
The new official software, however, does not allow for changing anything. Any discrepancy will lead to a problematic accounting situation, multiplying what one’s accountant must record and hence increasing the fee owed. Additionally, the software itself is quite expensive, which could deter anyone crazy enough to want to master it and retain some control over their accounting.
What I consider to be the worst consequence linked to the complexity of the new software is that all micro enterprises will need to hire an accountant.
The government’s official reason for the change is to help businesses achieve legal and clean accounting. I see an obvious desire to control the auto-entrepreneur type of business, based on an assumption that they cheat and hide some income.
I am optimistic that the lobbies protecting tiny businesses will be fighting this legislation at full strength in an effort to exclude businesses that have no employees or are exempt from paying TVA, for example.
We will see. My advice is that even though the deadline is September 2027, it’s a good idea to get to know what the new system is and what it means in terms of change for most people.
Adding that many people will help, but I do not expect striking differences, such as ANEF answering in a couple of weeks. The other decisions seem minor at first, but can significantly improve the procedure: Digital fingerprinting is often complicated because the machine has a hard time reading the prints when the applicant is elderly, his/her manual work wears away the fingertips, and so on. I always have the impression that it is set for people who have worked in an office and whose hands are in good shape. The change should help a lot.
As for the address, in the old days, the police put a sticker on the carte de séjour with the new address, but today changing the address means reissuing the carte de séjour or carte de résident. This essentially means starting a new cycle, possibly close to the card renewal date. The change will save a lot of money for immigrants and the administration, as well as significantly reducing the prefecture’s volume of work.
It seems that, for once, this Cabinet position is held by someone who actually knows what immigration procedures entail because he ran the Paris prefecture for years! One can hope for further practical, commonsense policies.
CAPITAL GAINS EXEMPTION WHEN SELLING PRIMARY LODGING
France’s entire income tax structure is built on the concept of the household. In its Napoleonic ideology, the household is made up of a father, a mother, and children. For tax purposes, a married couple is considered a unit, especially when money is owed. In the days when divorce was not legal, this system worked well. But now that couples can readily divorce, it leads to unfair situations. For instance, the woman may end up having to pay the income tax on her ex-husband’s income. The system is slow to fix such situations.
A recent ruling takes into consideration the reality of modern couples, not just the strict application of the law. In this case, the husband had moved out and started a new family, with children. The house the former couple had owned was now the wife’s primary residence (they were not divorced!). She was entitled to a capital gains tax exemption that applies to selling the primary residence. Although, legally speaking, the old household still existed, the Conseil d’Etat (the superior court hearing civil law cases) ruled that the actual situation was obvious, so she was entitled to the exemption and he was not as he was part of a new household!
Here is my translation of the Le Monde article about the case:
When separated spouses remain subject to joint taxation, thereby forming an indivisible tax household, it would appear that the exemption from capital gains tax on the sale of their main residence should apply in full.
The Council of State ruled otherwise in a decision of December 15, 2025, concerning the situation of separated, but not divorced, spouses, where the wife remained in the couple’s main residence while the husband moved in with another partner, with whom he had two children.
As they did not meet the conditions for separate taxation, the couple remained a single tax household for administration purposes. Several years after their separation, the property that had once been their main residence was sold. ….
[The court ruled that] in the case of spouses no longer living under the same roof, only the spouse who can demonstrate that the property is in fact his or her primary residence is entitled to claim the exemption, and only to the extent of his or her share of the sale price.
MY FEES WILL INCREASE ON SEPTEMBER 1st, 2026
I will be increasing my fees by 20% at the beginning of the next scholastic year, after the 2026 summer vacation. Here are the new rates:
1st meeting/1st work: 420€ euros for 2 hours
Extra hour(s): 180 euros per hour
Handling mail at my office: 50 euros per month
Surcharge for out-of-office meetings: 90 euros, assuming less than 30 minutes’ transportation
Surcharge for meetings and phone calls at the client’s request after 7PM weekdays, all weekend, on national French holidays, and during vacations: 30%
Clients paying by wire to an American account must add $20 to the fee to cover the bank charge for processing a wire transfer.
Bounced checks incur a charge of $20 or 20 euros.
THE SHIP STUDIO IS AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL IN JULY 2026
The SHIP studio is currently available on July 1st if the current tenant does not extend the lease. I am finally getting a lot more requests and have had to refuse a few lately, as it was already rented. When people contact me about renting it, I send them to the website. I hope it shows how cozy the accommodations are. The monthly rent of 1,400€ is all-inclusive. While I continue to favor rentals lasting between two and six months, under certain conditions, I have accepted one-month rentals.
https://www.jeantaquet.com/home-in-paris
OFFICE CLOSED FOR SUMMER VACATION
The office will be closed for seven weeks over the summer, from the evening of Friday, July 3rd, to the morning of Monday, August 24th. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed, and Sarah or I will honor prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a few other engagements. Like last year, I should be away from the office for most of the time, but I will stay in France, specifically in Burgundy.
Best regards,
QUESTION
REGISTERING FOR FRENCH PUBLIC HEALTH COVERAGE
I spend half the year in the USA and the other half in France. I own a small house in the southwest of France. I manage to renew my visa every year by showing my French bank statements, my American taxes, and some American savings, and I’ve never had a problem.
For about a year now, I have tried to get coverage by the public health system, and they always ask for more documents. The last letter I received in February is a request from CPAM for an updated residency document and a better copy of my birth certificate. So I was obliged to purchase a new copy of my birth certificate from Michigan and wait for that to arrive, and it took a really long time to get to me in France.
At about the same time, I received their notification that I missed their deadline, and therefore, my application is closed. I wrote to them ASAP, sending all the other documents they asked for, and explained that the birth certificate was going to take a very long time.My question for you is, since I missed the deadline, is there any point in appealing, or would it be better to initiate a new application? If the latter, I know the proof of habitation and so forth will have to be updated, but it would be a good place for me to start. Should I wait to get my birth certificate to reapply, or should I do it now? Are there any other considerations that I should be aware of?
ANSWER
I understand your frustration and discouragement, but I’m afraid you must adapt to the CPAM procedure, which is bureaucratic and obscure. One thing is for sure: CPAM will never adapt to your situation. So I need to explain several things about CPAM before addressing your concerns and explaining what you need to change to comply with French law in this situation.
Three parts of the French administration are involved in this registration, and after that comes the possible consequence of the way you document the renewal of your immigration status.
The first is CPAM (Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie). In the American system, it would be the provider. It issues universal and global coverage to anybody who meets its two requirements:
– Is the applicant living in France legally? The prefecture has the power to issue the immigration status.
– Is the applicant really living in France physically? This is the only thing CPAM has the power to check. It does it in two very different ways. The main result is that there are no pre-existing conditions, no delay of coverage. This is what universal coverage means.
1. It sends requests repeatedly by postal mail, often asking for the same documents. If the applicant lives there and is actually there, he/she gets the letter and answer in a timely fashion and have the documents requested. If the applicant is absent for a long time, such as half a year, the envelopes stay in the mailbox unopened. Sooner or later, CPAM concludes that the applicant is not a true French resident and closes the registration request. This may be what happened to you.
2. CPAM seems obsessed with asking for proof of presence in France. The letter can ask for documents for months they consider undocumented. They can ask for specific things. It is common that there is an issue with the name, the location of birth, and so on. It is illegal in France to modify any part of your name without a court decision that requires “very valid grounds” given at a hearing. Using a married name is barely tolerated as a nom d’usage that a married woman has a right to use because her husband allows it.
Now that you know, you can act accordingly. Given the way CPAM is about the birth name, your birth certificate is the most critical document in the file. You should wait to receive it before sending the new file. Also, note that the French social security number is made up almost exclusively of information from your birth certificate: 10 of the 13 digits are linked to the certificate.
The second part is URSSAF, the collection agency that funds the French social program. The vast majority of social charges are linked to work revenue as an employee or self-employed. People with PUMA coverage are supposed to pay the premium linked to this coverage. Its name is the Cotisation Subsidiaire Maladie, and it equals about 6.5% of your worldwide income, which includes your American taxable income. The calculation is complex, so use this ratio only to arrive at a ballpark figure. The latest I have seen in the French news and the expat community about paying for this coverage is that with the current method of calculation, retired people living exclusively on retirement money do not owe anything. The French Parliament is trying to find a way for everybody to contribute fairly to the system. URSSAF gets the amount of your taxable revenue from the French tax office.
The third part is the tax office, since being covered and not paying into the system would be considered tax cheating. It is likely that soon everybody covered by PUMA will have to pay something. This opens another aspect of the debate. To be covered by PUMA, one must be a French fiscal resident. Furthermore, one must stay more than six months a year in France in order to manage the procedure to be registered and approved by CPAM. You should have declared your worldwide income from the beginning of your stay in France as an immigrant.
Going back to how you have renewed your immigration status thus far, I hope you can see that adding your US Form #1040 to the prefecture file does not do any good. Showing your French bank statements and some American savings is enough to comply with the financial requirement for renewal. The US form is not understandable for the vast majority of people in France. Should you be successful with registering with CPAM, then you must declare and have the French income tax documents in order. It could be a good thing to put the French avis d’imposition sur le revenu in the file for the prefecture review.
The bottom line for you is simple. Either you continue trying to register with CPAM and eventually get into the French fiscal system, or you decide to declare your income only to the IRS, and you stop any attempt to be covered by CPAM.
QUESTION
THE RIGHT TO WORK AS A MINOR
I have been living in France for a few years, renewing my visa. My daughter, Virginia, turned 16 in February. She was asked by an ice cream shop on Boulevard Saint Michel if she could work during school vacations and the summer, especially this upcoming July and August, pretty much full-time. I read online that in France, teenagers from the age of 16 can work with parental permission.Aside from these summer months, is it possible for her now to do some part-time work during breaks from school?
ANSWER
The most important thing to keep in mind is that a minor does not hold a carte de séjour. There is not even a legal obligation for her to hold any immigration ID. Holding a Document de Circulation pour Étranger Mineur allows the minor to travel internationally without trouble, as it proves French residency and allows the holder to travel back to France.
The minor’s rights in France are linked to the length of the stay in France and the parents’ immigration status. She may already have the right to work, but it may be that the employer needs to ask for it through the generic procedure, which is a lot more complicated.
For information, although minors are not required to hold a residence permit, they may have a temporary “private and family life” permit if they are in one of the following categories:
• Entered France through family reunification
• Has habitually lived in France with at least one parent since age 13 or younger
• Has been in the care of the Aide Sociale à l’Enfance (under certain conditions) since age 16 or less
• Was born in France, has lived there continuously for at least eight years, and has attended school for at least five years in a French educational institution from age 10
• Has a parent who has been granted residence in France as a long-term resident of another EU country (subject to conditions)
• Has a parent who has been granted stateless status
• Has parents who have been granted subsidiary protection.
Minors may also hold a resident card if they fall into one of the following categories:
• Entered France through family reunification and has resided in France continuously for at least three years
• Is the child of a French national and has entered France on a long-stay visa
• Is the beneficiary of a French death pension due to a parent’s work-related accident or occupational disease
• Has been granted refugee status or has a parent holding this status
• Has a parent who has been granted stateless person status and has resided in France for at least three years
• Meets the conditions for acquiring French nationality by virtue of birth and residence in France
• Has a parent who holds a multi-year talent residence permit (family).
When the foreign minor does not hold a residence permit in one of these categories, the employer must apply for a work permit.
https://administration-etrangers-en-france.interieur.gouv.fr/immiprousager/#/authentification
Now, the French administration has to understand that this is a minor student attending high school who wants a summer job. Therefore, the veto right does not apply, and the specific reasons why the employer wants to hire this minor should not really matter. But my advice is to document as well as possible what she would bring to the job. Given the shop’s location, I would state that she is a native English speaker and was born and raised in the USA, and the shop is in a tourist area. This means she could bring about a significant increase in tourists as clients who need extra help from a fluent English speaker.
I have no idea how long it might take to get the permit. Judging by ANEF’s current schedule, it could take about two months to open the file, plus however long it takes to review the file and make the decision. In other words, if this is the procedure needed for your daughter, she might not get the permit in time.
On the other hand, if you and she have both lived in France for more than three years, it should be allowed, and all that is needed is your authorization, as you mentioned.
DISCLAIMER
Please forward this message to all those who would be interested in its contents. The information contained in this newsletter is intended only as general information. I strongly urge readers to seek professional guidance concerning the legal and tax matters mentioned. This newsletter is intended as a general guide and is not to be taken as professional advice.