Leaving France

Three moments. Mixing them up is how a refund or a benefit gets missed.

1. 1
   Before the flight, or in the first weeks — New address on impots.gouv.fr. Tell CPAM, CAF and France Travail. Ask the bank whether the account can stay open. Start consular registration as soon as you have proof of an address in Israel.
2. 2
   The spring after the year you left — File the French return for the year of departure. That is where you confirm the departure date and the address in Israel. Your old tax office keeps the file until that return is processed.
3. 3
   After that, only if France still pays you something — Rent, a pension, a capital gain: French-source income can stay taxable in France. The rest of your life (an Israeli salary, Sal Klita) is no longer declared in France.

While your tax home is in France, France taxes your worldwide income. From the day you move that tax home to Israel, France taxes only French-source income. The year you leave is therefore split in two.

• Report the addressFrom your account on impots.gouv.fr, give your new address abroad. Mentioning it again on the return does not replace ticking the move: the tax office asks for it even if you already wrote through the secure mailbox.
• Form 2042: 1 January to the day you leaveAll income in that window, French and foreign. Foreign income for that period goes on form 2047, then onto the 2042.
• Form 2042-NR: only after you leaveOnly French-source income still taxable in France, from the day after departure through 31 December. Rent on a flat you kept, a French pension, a real-estate gain. If you have none, file only the 2042 and say so plainly.
• The departure date mattersEnter it on the return. It is what splits the two periods. A sale signed after that date is not “before” income.
• A spouse, a civil servant, property in FranceIf your spouse stays French-tax-resident, or you are a public employee posted abroad while the household stays in France, you may remain taxable in France for the whole year. Do not copy a single person’s checklist.
• Exit taxA large stake in a company, or a sizeable securities portfolio, can trigger French exit tax when you stop being a French tax resident. That is not most departures. If you sell securities just before or just after Aliyah, ask before you sign.

Israel is outside the European Union. Rights that depend on living in France stop. Health care after you arrive is the Kupat Holim — not the Carte Vitale.

• CPAMTell your local health fund you are leaving. French health-insurance rights lapse when you settle outside the European Union. The Carte Vitale does not cover care in Israel.
• CFE, optionalThe Caisse des Français de l'étranger is a voluntary plan. It does not replace the Kupat Holim: if you join, you pay it on top of the Israeli system. It matters mainly if you want to keep a link to French health insurance, especially in case you move back. Decide before you leave, on cfe.fr, rather than after French rights have already closed.
• CAFFamily benefits, RSA and housing aid (APL) assume you live in France. Declare the move on caf.fr. Do not budget for those payments once the household is in Israel.
• France Travail and AREExporting unemployment benefit (form U2) exists inside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland. It does not apply to a move to Israel. Tell France Travail before you leave. Do not build the first months on ARE.

You do not have to close every account. One French account still open receives a tax refund, a pension, and transfers to Israel. The trap is finding out too late: some banks, especially online ones, refuse non-residents.

• Ask before you leaveWrite to the bank while you still have a French address. Ask whether the account can become a non-resident account, and on what terms.
• Keep a single oneThe one that will receive any tax refund and, later, a pension. The foreign-pension guide covers the pension funds themselves.
• Do not leave a card nobody can reachUpdate the address, the limits, and who to contact. An idle account with no reachable owner is often frozen just as the refund arrives.

For French citizens living in Israel, identity and civil-status paperwork goes through the Consulate General of France in Tel Aviv. Registration on the register of French nationals abroad is not mandatory. It is free, valid for 5 years, and recommended once the stay exceeds 6 months.

• Where to registerOn service-public.fr, path “Je pars vivre à l'étranger”, service “Registre des Français établis hors de France — Inscription consulaire”. The Tel Aviv consulate validates the file.
• DocumentsFrench national ID card or passport, valid or expired for less than 2 years. A photo less than 6 months old. Proof of residence in the consular district: a lease, an electricity bill, or a host attestation.
• Passport and ID cardOnce you live in Israel, renewal is at the consulate, by appointment or by post according to the post’s instructions — no longer at a town hall in France.
• Voting from IsraelRegistering puts you on the consular electoral roll. It is renewed with the register, every 5 years.
• A child born in IsraelThe Israeli birth record does not update French civil status by itself. Transcription is requested at the consulate. Do it then, not when you need a passport.

• A French pensionIt keeps being paid in Israel. You still change the address with each fund and return the life certificate. That is the foreign-pension guide.
• Tax in IsraelOlim’s foreign income falls under the 10-year exemption, with its limits. That is the 2026 tax guide, not a second French return.
• The Kupat HolimThat is what covers care after you arrive. Signing up is not a French step.