Where is official post sent in France whilst we travel in motorhome?
Although mail can be forwarded or collected on your behalf there are challenges
There are restrictions for some nationalities including Britons and Americans when travelling within the Schengen zone
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Reader Question: My partner and I want to sell our home in France and spend a couple of years driving around Europe in a campervan. What do we use for our address, for our mail and taxes?
You can forward your mail for up to one year via the La Poste réexpedition service.
This requires a fixed address, but you can use a trusted friend or family, or alternatively an address abroad.
Read more: Can La Poste forward my letters to me outside France?
Mail and parcels can also be picked up for you by someone who has power of attorney.
Read more: Can neighbours collect our parcels if we are not at French home?
Need to have a fiscal address
However, if you intend to remain resident in France for tax purposes, then you need to declare that you do not have a current address in France but wish to remain attached to the taxation system (unlike if you were moving away from France permanently).
The usual way to do this is to attach your fiscal address to the local mairie or its centre communal d'action sociale (CCAS, community centre).
This service is typically used for homeless people or those without a stable address, but people travelling for extended periods can also opt for the service if they plan to return.
To be eligible for this, you need to have a link to the commune (place of marriage or birth etc), however you can usually apply for the service at your last place of address.
You will not pay property taxes if you do this, and the mairie / CCAS can also collect your mail.
You will need to contact the mairie or CCAS every three months to confirm your location and that you want to keep the service intact. You will have to re-register for this each year.
If you also ask for the commune to collect your mail, you will need to go back and manually collect it every three months.
However, you can give someone a power of attorney to do this for you.
Read more: Who can I appoint as my power of attorney in France?
If you declared yourself as living with a friend or other close family member in France this would make you part of their household and propably increase the taxes they need to pay.
It could also mean they lose certain benefits.
In addition, bear in mind that if you are living in France under a long-stay visa/residency card and you are, for example, British or American, then you only have the right to spend up to 90 days in any 180-day period visiting other parts of the Schengen area.
