Cast your bread upon the waters and what do you get? Soggy bread. Nicolas Sarkozy has invested heavily in better Franco-US relations. He has spent the six months since he was elected out-Bushing Bush on the subject of Iran and its nuclear weapons programme. “Everybody knows that Iran is developing nuclear weapons,” he proclaimed while he and his Foreign Secretary Bernard Kouchner talked of the possibility of an Iranian nuclear bomb, bombing Iran and war. He advised French companies to show restraint in dealing with the Mullahs. This exercise in alignment with the war party in Washington has displeased quite a few members of his own party who were proud of Jacques Chirac’s defiance of the United States over the invasion of Iraq.

Once you become tax resident in France you should review your financial planning to establish if you need to make any changes to suit your new residency status. Any investment structures you had in your home country, eg, ISAs and PEPs in the UK, certainly need to be looked at because any income or gains arising in these funds are not taxfree in France. Often it makes sense to sell these funds and re-invest them in structures which are tax-efficient in France. Your financial adviser in France can advise on what arrangements would be suitable for your aims and circumstances.