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Agreement Between The United States And France
Agreement Between The United States
And France
Contents
Introduction 1
Eliminating dual coverage for employment 2
Certificate of coverage 4
Monthly benefits 5
A French pension may affect your U.S. benefit 8
What you need to know about Medicare 8
Claims for benefits 9
Authority to collect information for a certificate of coverage
(see pages 4-5) 10
Contacting Social Security 10
Introduction
An agreement effective July 1, 1988, between
the United States and France improves social
security protection for people who work or
have worked in both countries. It helps many
people who, without the agreement, would not
be eligible for monthly retirement, disability or
survivors benets under the Social Security
system of one or both countries. It also helps
people who would otherwise have to pay
Social Security taxes to both countries on the
same earnings.
For the United States, the agreement
covers Social Security taxes (including the
U.S. Medicare portion) and Social Security
retirement, disability and survivors insurance
benets. It does not cover benets under the
U.S. Medicare program or the Supplemental
Security Income program.
This booklet covers highlights of the agreement
and explains how it may help you while you
work and when you apply for benets.
The agreement may help you, your
family and your employer
• While you work—If both the U.S. and
French social security systems cover your
work, you (and your employer, if you are
employed) would normally have to pay
social security taxes to both countries for
the same work. However, the agreement
eliminates this double coverage so you
pay taxes to only one system. The section
SocialSecurity.gov
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Agreement Between The United States And France
titled “Eliminating dual coverage for
employment” explains these rules.
• When you apply for benets—You may
have some social security credits in both
the United States and France but not have
enough to be eligible for benets in one
country or the other. The agreement makes
it easier to qualify for benets by letting
you combine your social security credits in
both countries. For more details, see the
section on “Monthly benets” beginning on
page 5.
Eliminating dual coverage
for employment
Before the agreement, employees, employers
and self-employed people could, under certain
circumstances, be required to pay social
security taxes to both the United States and
France for the same work.
Under the agreement, if you work as an
employee in the United States, normally you
and your employer will pay Social Security taxes
only to the United States and not to France.
If you work as an employee in France, you
normally will pay only French social security
taxes and neither you nor your employer will
have to pay U.S. Social Security taxes.
On the other hand, if your employer sends you
from one country to work for that employer or an
afliate in the other country for ve years or less,
you will continue coverage in your home country
and you will be exempt from coverage in the
other country. For example, if a U.S. company
sends an employee to work for that employer or
an afliate in France for no more than ve years,
the employer and the employee will continue to
pay only U.S. Social Security taxes and will not
have to pay in France.
Special rules apply to self-employed people
who, without the agreement, would have to pay
social security taxes to both countries (see the
table on pages 2-3).
Summary of agreement rules
The following table shows whether U.S. or
French social security covers your work. If U.S.
Social Security covers your work, you and your
employer (if you are an employee) must pay
U.S. Social Security taxes. If the French system
covers your work, you and your employer (if you
are an employee) must comply with the French
contribution requirements. The next section
explains how to get a certicate of coverage
from the country that will prove you are exempt
in the other country.
Your work status Coverage and taxes
You are working in France:
For a U.S. employer who:
• Sent you to work in France for ve years or less U.S.
• Sent you to work in France for more than
ve years
France
• Hired you in France France
For a non-U.S. employer France
For the U.S. government and you are a:
• U.S. national U.S. (either Social Security or federal
retirement program)
• French national France
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Agreement Between The United States And France
Your work status Coverage and taxes
You are working in the U.S.:
For an employer in France who:
• Sent you to work in the U.S. for ve years or less France
• Sent you to work in the U.S. for more than
ve years
U.S.
• Hired you in the U.S. U.S.
For a non-French employer U.S.
For the French Government and you are a:
• French national France
• U.S. citizen U.S.
You are self-employed and you:
• Work only in the U.S. U.S.
• Normally work in the U.S., but transfer your
business activity to France for two years or less
U.S.
• Work in both countries, but your principal activity
is in the U.S.
U.S.
• Work only in France France
• Normally work in France, but transfer your
business activity to the U.S. for two years or less
France
• Work in both countries, but your principal activity
is in France
France
If this table does not seem to describe your situation and you are:
• Working in the U.S. Write to the U.S. address on page 11 for
further information.
• Working in France Write to the French address on page 11 for
further information.
NOTE: As the table indicates, the agreement can assign U.S. coverage to a U.S. worker
temporarily working in France only if he or she works for a U.S. employer. A U.S. employer
includes a corporation organized under the laws of the United States or any state, a partnership
if at least two-thirds of the partners are U.S. residents, a person who is a resident of the United
States or a trust if all the trustees are U.S. residents. The term also includes a foreign afliate of
a U.S. employer if the U.S. employer has entered into an agreement with the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) under section 3121(l) of the Internal Revenue Code to pay Social Security taxes for
U.S. citizens and residents the afliate employs.
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Agreement Between The United States And France
Certicate of coverage
A certicate of coverage issued by one country
serves as proof of exemption from social
security taxes on the same earnings in the
other country.
Certicates for employees
To establish an exemption from compulsory
coverage and taxes under the French system,
your employer must request a certicate of
coverage (form SE 404-2) from the United
States at this address:
Social Security Administration
Ofce of International Programs
P.O. Box 17741
Baltimore, MD 21235-7741
USA
If preferred, send the request by FAX to
(410) 966-1861. Please note this FAX number is
only to request certicates of coverage.
To request a certicate, the request must be in
writing and provide the following information:
• Full name of worker (including maiden name
for married woman);
• Date and place of birth;
• Citizenship;
• Country of worker’s permanent residence;
• U.S. Social Security number;
• Date of hire;
• Country of hire;
• Name and address of the employer in the
United States and France;
• Date of transfer and anticipated date of
return; and
• A statement, signed by your employer,
certifying that you, and any family members
who live with you in France, are covered
by an employer-sponsored or other private
health insurance plan while in France (see
the following NOTE).
In addition, your employer must indicate if
you remain an employee of the U.S. company
while working in France or if you become an
employee of the U.S. company’s afliate in
France. If you become an employee of an
afliate, your employer must indicate if the U.S.
company has an agreement with the IRS under
section 3121(l) of the Internal Revenue Code to
pay U.S. Social Security taxes for U.S. citizens
and residents employed by the afliate and, if
yes, the effective date of the agreement.
Your employer also can request a certicate
of U.S. coverage for you over the Internet
using a special online request form available
at www.socialsecurity.gov/coc. Only an
employer can use the online form to request a
certicate of coverage. A self-employed person
must submit a request by mail or FAX.
NOTE: In addition to retirement, disability and
survivors benets, French social security taxes
cover several other benet programs including
France’s national health insurance program.
As a result, a worker exempted from paying
French social security taxes by the agreement
cannot receive free health care services or other
benets under the French health insurance
system. If you meet all of the other requirements
for exemption from French social security taxes
while working in France, you or your employer
must arrange for private health insurance before
the exemption may apply.
French certicates
To establish your exemption from coverage
under the U.S. Social Security system, your
employer in France must request a certicate of
coverage (either form SE-404-1 or SE-404-2)
from the local French agency for sickness
insurance that collects your social security taxes
in France.
You need the same information required for a
certicate of coverage from the United States to
get a certicate from France except that:
• You must show your French social security
number rather than your U.S. Social Security
number; and
• Your employer does not need to certify that
you and your family are covered by private
health insurance.
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Certicates for self-employed people
If you are self-employed and would normally
have to pay social security taxes to both the
U.S. and French systems, you can establish
your exemption from one of the taxes.
• If the United States covers your work (see
table on pages 2-3), write to the Social
Security Administration at the address on
page 11; or
• If France will cover your work (see table
on pages 2-3), write to the local French
agency that collects your French Social
Security taxes.
Be sure to provide the following information in
your letter:
• Full name (including maiden name for
married woman);
• Date and place of birth;
• Citizenship;
• Country of permanent residence;
• U.S. and/or French social security number;
• Nature of self-employment activity;
• Dates the activity was or will be performed;
• Name and address of your trade or business
in both countries; and
• If you are requesting a certicate from the
United States, a statement certifying that
you, and any family members who live with
you in France, are covered by a private
health insurance plan while in France (see
NOTE on page 4).
Eective date of coverage exemption
The certicate of coverage you receive from
one country will show the effective date of your
exemption from paying social security taxes in
the other country. Generally, this will be the date
you began working in the other country but no
earlier than the effective date of the agreement.
The employer in the United States should retain
a copy of the certicates of coverage issued by
France in case of an audit by the IRS. Do not
send a copy to the IRS. The employer should
not send copies to the IRS unless specically
requested by IRS. However, a self-employed
person must attach a photocopy of the
certicate to his or her income tax return each
year as proof of the U.S. exemption.
Social Security will provide copies of certicates
of coverage issued by the United States for both
the employee and the employer. It will be the
employee/employer responsibility to present
the certicate to the French authorities when
requested to do so. To avoid any difculties,
your employer (or you, if you are self-employed)
should request a certicate as early as possible,
preferably before your work in the other
country begins.
If you or your employer request a certicate of
coverage, you should read the Privacy Act and
Paperwork Reduction Act statements at the end
of this booklet.
Monthly benets
The following table shows the various types
of social security benets payable under the
U.S. and French social security systems and
briey describes the eligibility requirements that
normally apply for each type of benet. If you
do not meet the normal requirements for these
benets, the agreement may help you to qualify
(see pages 7-8).
This table is only a general guide. You can
get additional information about U.S. benets
by visiting Social Security’s website at
www.socialsecurity.gov. You may also visit
any U.S. Social Security ofce or our toll-free
number at 1-800-772-1213. You can get more
detailed information about the French system
by writing to the French address on the inside
cover or by visiting the French social security
system’s website at www.cleiss.fr.
Under U.S. Social Security, you may earn up to
four credits each year depending on the amount
of your covered earnings. The amount needed
to earn a work credit goes up slightly each
year. For more information, see How You Earn
Credits (Publication No. 05-10072).
The French system measures credits in
calendar quarters. To simplify the information,
the table shows requirements in years of credits.
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Agreement Between The United States And France
Retirement or old-age benets
United States France
Worker—Full benet at full retirement age.*
Reduced benet as early as age 62. Required work
credits range from one and one-half to 10 years (10
years if age 62 in 1991 or later).
Worker—Full pension at age 62 if worker has
between 37 ½ - 40 years of contributions; depending
on the year of birth. Workers with less than 37 ½ -
40 years of contributions receive a reduced amount.
Only one calendar quarter of contributions is needed
to qualify under the French general system. Longer
periods of contributions are needed under special
occupational systems.
Disability Benets
United States France
Worker—Under full retirement age* can get benet
if unable to do any substantial gainful work for at
least a year. One and one-half to 10 years credit
needed, depending on age at date of onset. Some
recent work credits also needed unless worker
is blind.
Worker—Two types are payable: total disability
(loss of all working capacity) and partial disability
(loss of two-thirds of working capacity). To be
eligible, worker must be under age 60, have been
registered in social security system for at least
12 months and have credit for at least 800 hours
of work during the four calendar quarters before
disability (including 200 hours during the fourth
quarter before the disability).
Family benets to dependents of retired or disabled people
United States France
Spouse—Full benet at full retirement age* or at
any age if caring for the worker’s entitled child under
age 16 (or disabled before age 22). Reduced benet
as early as age 62 if not caring for a child.
Spouse—No provision. However, a spouse’s
supplement may be payable to an old-age
beneciary with a dependent spouse.
Divorced spouse—Full benet at full retirement
age.* Reduced benet as early as age 62. Must be
unmarried and have been married to worker for at
least 10 years.
Divorced spouse—No provision.
Children—If unmarried, up to age 18 (age 19 if in
an elementary or secondary school full-time) or any
age if disabled before age 22.
Children—No provision. However, a child’s
supplement may be payable to an old-age
beneciary with a dependent child.
*Full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to age 67 for people
born in 1960 or later.
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Survivors benets
United States France
Widow(er)—Full benet at full retirement age* or at
any age if caring for the deceased’s entitled child
under age 16 (or disabled before age 22). Reduced
benet as early as age 60 (or age 50 if disabled)
if not caring for child. Benets may be continued
if remarriage occurs after age 60 (or age 50 if
disabled).
Widow(er)—Full benet at age 55 or disabled and
not remarried. If under age 55 and not disabled,
small income-tested allowance payable for three
years if worker had been covered during three
months before death.
Divorced widow(er)—Same as widow(er) if
marriage lasted at least 10 years.
Divorced widow—Same as widow(er).
Children—Same as for children of retired or
disabled worker.
Children—No provision.
Lump-sum death benet—A one-time payment
not to exceed $255 payable on the death of an
insured worker.
Death benet—A at-rate payment made one time
only. Worker must have had some recent coverage.
*The full retirement age for survivors is age 66 for people born in 1945-1956 and will gradually increase to
age 67 for people born in 1962 or later.
How benets can be paid
If you have social security credits in both the
United States and France, you may be eligible
for benets from one or both countries. If you
meet all the basic requirements under one
country’s system, you will get a regular benet
from that country. If you do not meet the basic
requirements, the agreement may help you
qualify for a benet as explained below.
• Benets from the United States—If you
do not have enough work credits under the
U.S. system to qualify for regular benets,
you qualify for a partial benet from the
United States based on both U.S. and
French credits. However, you must have
earned at least six credits (generally one
and one-half years of work) under the U.S.
system for the United States to count your
French credits. If you already have enough
credits under the U.S. system to qualify for a
benet, the United States cannot count your
French credits.
• Benets from France—Under French law,
a worker can qualify for an old-age pension
based on as little as one calendar quarter
of contributions but the benet amount is
reduced for workers with less than 150-160
quarters (depending on year of birth). Under
the agreement, France will compute an
old-age pension based on French credits
alone as well as a prorated benet based
on U.S. and French credits, and then pay
whichever is greater.
If you do not have enough work credits under
the French system to qualify for regular disability
or survivors benets, you may be able to qualify
for a partial benet from France based on both
U.S. and French credits. However, to have your
U.S. credits counted, you must have at least
one year of coverage under the French system.
How credits get counted
You do not have to do anything to have one
country count your credits in the other country. If
we need to count your credits under the French
system to help you qualify for a U.S. benet,
we will get a copy of your French record directly
from France when you apply for benets. If
French ofcials need to count your U.S. credits
to help you qualify for a French benet, they will
get a copy of your U.S. record directly from the
Social Security Administration when you apply
for the French benet.
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Although each country may count your credits
in the other country, your credits do not actually
transfer from one country to the other. They
remain on your record in the country where you
earned them and you can use them to qualify for
benets there.
Computation of U.S. benet under
the agreement
When a U.S. benet becomes payable as
a result of counting both U.S. and French
social security credits, we determine an initial
benet based on your U.S. earnings as if you
completed your entire career under the U.S.
system. The United States then reduces this
initial benet to reect the fact that French
credits helped to make the benet payable.
The amount of the reduction will depend on the
number of U.S. credits: the more U.S. credits,
the smaller the reduction; and the fewer U.S.
credits, the larger the reduction.
A French pension may aect your
U.S. benet
If you qualify for social security benets from
both the United States and France and you did
not need the agreement to qualify for either
benet, U.S. law may reduce the amount of
your U.S. benet. This is a result of a provision
in U.S. law that can affect the way the United
States computes your benet, if you also
receive a pension based on work not covered
by U.S. Social Security. For more information,
visit our website at www.socialsecurity.gov,
and get a copy of Windfall Elimination Provision
(Publication No. 05-10045) or call our toll-free
number, 1-800-772-1213. If you are outside
the United States, you may write to us at the
address on page 11.
What you need to know
about Medicare
Medicare is the U.S. national health insurance
program for people age 65 or older or who are
disabled. Medicare has four parts:
• Hospital insurance (Part A) helps pay
for inpatient hospital care and certain
follow-up services.
• Medical insurance (Part B) helps pay for
doctors’ services, outpatient hospital care
and other medical services.
• Medicare Advantage plans (Part C) are
available in many areas. People with
Medicare Parts A and B can choose to
receive all of their health care services
through a provider organization under Part C.
• Prescription drug coverage (Part D) helps
pay for medications doctors prescribe for
medical treatment.
You are eligible for free hospital insurance at
age 65 if you have worked long enough under
U.S. Social Security to qualify for a retirement
benet. People born in 1929 or later need 40
credits (about 10 years of covered work) to
qualify for retirement benets.
Although the agreement between the United
States and France allows the Social Security
Administration to count your French credits to
help you qualify for U.S. retirement, disability
or survivors benets, the agreement does
not cover Medicare benets. As a result, we
cannot count your credits in France to establish
entitlement to free Medicare hospital insurance.
For more information about Medicare, call
our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213, or visit
Medicare’s website at www.medicare.gov
and ask for the publication, Medicare
(Publication No. 05-10043).
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Claims for benets
If you live in the United States and wish to apply
for U.S. or French benets:
• Visit or write any U.S. Social Security
ofce; or
• Phone our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213,
7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.
People who are deaf or hard of hearing
may call our toll-free TTY number,
1-800-325-0778.
You can apply for French benets at any
U.S. Social Security ofce by completing an
application form SSA-2490.
If you live in France and wish to apply for U.S. or
French benets, contact:
• The Federal Benets Unit at the U.S.
Embassy in Paris (phone 1-43-12-4705)
or the U.S. Consular Agency in Nice
(4-9388-8955) to le for U.S. benets; or
• Any French social security ofce to le for
French benets.
You can apply with one country and ask to
have your application considered as a claim for
benets from the other country. Information from
your application will then be sent to the other
country. Each country will process the claim
under its own laws—counting credits from the
other country when appropriate and notify you of
its decision.
If you have not applied for benets before, you
may need to provide certain information and
documents when you apply. This includes:
• The worker’s U.S. and French Social
Security numbers;
• Proof of age for all claimants; and
• Evidence of the worker’s U.S. earnings in the
past 24 months and information about the
worker’s coverage under the French system.
You may wish to call the Social Security ofce
before you go there to nd out if you will need to
provide any other information.
Payment of benets
Each country pays its own benet. The U.S.
Department of the Treasury issues U.S.
payments each month which covers benets for
the preceding month.
Under the French system, France makes
payments at different times for different periods
depending on the type of benets. For more
information, contact the French authorities at the
address on the inside cover.
Absence from U.S. territory
Normally, people who are not U.S. citizens
may receive U.S. Social Security benets
while outside the U.S. only if they meet certain
requirements. However, under the agreement,
you may receive benets as long as you
reside in France regardless of your nationality.
If you are not a U.S. or French citizen and
live in another country, you may not be able
to receive benets. The publication, Your
Payments While You Are Outside The United
States (Publication No. 05-10137), explains the
restrictions on U.S. benets.
Appeals
If you disagree with the decision made on your
claim for benets under the agreement, contact
any U.S. or French social security ofce. The
people there can tell you what you need to do to
appeal the decision.
The French social security authorities will
review your appeal if it affects your rights
under the French system, while U.S. Social
Security authorities will review your appeal if
it affects your rights under the U.S. system.
Because each country’s decisions are made
independently of the other, a decision by one
country on a particular issue may not always
conform with the decision made by the other
country on the same issue.
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Authority to collect information
for a certicate of coverage
(see pages 4-5)
Privacy Act
Section 233 of the Social Security Act as
amended, [42 U.S.C. 433] authorizes us
to collect this information. We will use the
information you provide to determine if your
current work should be covered only under the
U.S. Social Security system in accordance with
an international social security agreement. The
information you provide on this form is voluntary.
However, failure to provide all or part of the
requested information may prevent us from
making an accurate and timely decision on your
request for a certicate of coverage. Without
the certicate, current work may continue to be
subject to coverage and taxation under both the
U.S. and the foreign Social Security systems.
We rarely use the information you provide
on this form for any purpose other than for
the reasons explained above. However, we
may use it for the administration and integrity
of Social Security programs. We may also
disclose information to another person or to
another agency in accordance with approved
routine uses, which include but are not limited to
the following:
• To enable a third party or an agency to assist
Social Security in establishing rights to Social
Security benets or coverage;
• To comply with federal laws requiring
the release of information from Social
Security records (e.g., to the Government
Accountability Ofce, General Services
Administration, National Archives Records
Administration, and the Department of
Veterans Affairs);
• To make determinations for eligibility in
similar health and income maintenance
programs at the federal, state, and local
level; and
• To facilitate statistical research, audit, or
investigative activities necessary to assure
the integrity of Social Security programs.
We may also use the information you
provide in computer matching programs.
Matching programs compare our records with
records kept by other Federal, State, or local
government agencies. Information from these
matching programs can be used to establish
or verify a person’s eligibility for federally
funded or administered benet programs and
for repayment of payments or delinquent debts
under these programs.
A complete list of routine uses for this
information is available in our System of
Records Notice entitled, Earnings Records and
Self-Employment Income System, 60-0059.
This notice, additional information regarding
this form, and information regarding our
programs and systems, are available online
at www.socialsecurity.gov or at any Social
Security ofce.
Paperwork Reduction Act Notice
This information collection meets the clearance
requirements of 44 U.S.C. section 3507,
as amended by section 2 of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. You do not need to
answer these questions unless we display a
valid Ofce of Management and Budget control
number. We estimate that it will take you about
30 minutes to read the instructions, gather the
necessary facts, and write down the information
to request a certicate of coverage.
Contacting Social Security
Visit our website
The most convenient way to conduct Social
Security business from anywhere at any
time, is to visit www.socialsecurity.gov.
There, you can:
• Apply for retirement, disability, and
Medicare benets;
• Find copies of our publications;
• Get answers to frequently asked
questions; and
• So much more!
11
Call us
If you don’t have access to the internet, we
offer many automated services by telephone,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you’re in the
United States, call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213
or at our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778, if you’re
deaf or hard of hearing.
If you need to speak to a person, we can answer
your calls from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through
Friday. We ask for your patience during busy
periods since you may experience a higher than
usual rate of busy signals and longer hold times
to speak to us. We look forward to serving you.
For more information
To le a claim for U.S. or French benets
under the agreement, follow the instructions on
page 9.
If you live outside the United States, write to:
Social Security Administration
OIO–Totalization
P.O. Box 17769
Baltimore, MD 21235-7769
USA
For more information about France’s social
security programs, visit any social security ofce
in France. If you do not live in France, write to:
Centre des Liaisons Européennes et
Internationales de Sécurité Sociale
11, rue de Tour des Dames
75436 Paris Cedex 09
FRANCE
If you do not wish to le a claim for benets
but would like more information about the
agreement, write to:
Social Security Administration
Ofce of International Programs
P.O. Box 17741
Baltimore, MD 21235-7741
USA
For additional information, visit our website:
www.socialsecurity.gov/international
Social Security Administration
Publication No. 05-10187
September 2017
Agreement Between The United States And France
Produced and published at U.S. taxpayer expense
