Why HR and global mobility teams choose Expand CPA
Both sides of the corridor, in one firm. French chartered accountancy and US tax expertise under one roof, so global mobility tax compliance is reconciled before it reaches your assignee — not argued between two providers.
Individual tax is our core practice, not a bolt-on. We already prepare a substantial volume of French and US individual returns for internationally mobile taxpayers. Your programme joins an established practice.
Bilingual, both directions. Your assignee is briefed in their language; your HR team is briefed in yours.
When an employee crosses a border, two sets of obligations open at once
The employee acquires a personal filing position in two countries.
The company acquires payroll, social security and reporting obligations — sometimes in a country where it has no entity, no payroll provider and no local finance team.
Nobody owns the overlap. Neither side can resolve the other’s problem, and in most organisations nobody is responsible for the gap between them. That gap is where mobility programmes fail — and it is the gap this practice exists to close.
The questions HR teams bring us
- Do we have to withhold French income tax for an employee working in France if we have no French entity?
- Does our assignee stay on US social security, or contribute in France — and who applies for what?
- Our assignee may qualify for the impatriate regime. What has to be in the contract, and by when?
- What happens to unvested RSUs when someone relocates mid-vest?
- We promised the assignee they would be no worse off. What does that cost us each year?
- An employee moved to France without telling us. What is our exposure?
Why the France–US corridor is harder than most
The US never lets go. It taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, so an American assignee never stops filing at home.
France reaches further than you expect. A residence test, a broad set of reporting obligations, and a withholding system that can reach employers with no French establishment.
Two agreements, two vocabularies. The tax treaty and the social security agreement do not define their terms the same way. An employee can be tax-resident in one country and socially covered in the other at the same time.
Generalist providers are usually strong on one side of that pair. We work on both.
Our global mobility tax services for employers
Individual tax compliance for your mobile population
We prepare and file the personal returns — French, US, or both — on your instruction and to your deadlines, with one point of contact for the mobility team rather than a separate relationship per employee. Typical scope: annual French returns for inbound assignees, US federal and state returns for Americans abroad, arrival- and departure-year returns, foreign account and asset reporting, and catch-up filings where an assignee has fallen behind.
Assignment structuring, before the move
The decisions that set an assignment’s cost are made before the employee boards the plane: assignment type, contract structure, where the impatriation premium is documented, which social security regime applies, and whether equity will be caught. We review the package while those choices are still open, and give you a cost projection you can take to the budget holder.
Employer obligations in France
Payroll withholding, reporting and registration for a foreign employer with staff in France — including the cases where a company with no French establishment still has French obligations.
Tax equalization and policy support
Hypothetical tax calculations, equalization settlements, gross-up mechanics, and a review of your assignment policy against what it actually costs to deliver.
Resources for HR and global mobility teams
- Relocating an employee to France: what HR needs to know — the obligations that land on the company, and the three decisions to make before the start date.
- The impatriate regime, explained for HR and Reward teams — the exemption that changes what an assignment costs, and the deadline HR controls.
- Does a US employer have to run French payroll withholding? — when a company with no French entity still has French payroll obligations.
- Sending an employee from France to the US: a tax checklist for employers — the outbound direction — residency, state tax, social security and the French departure year.
- The France–US social security agreement: an HR guide — which system covers a relocated employee, the certificate each way, and the health cover most policies miss.
- Getting a work visa in France: a guide for employees of US groups — intra-company transfers, postings and local hires, written for HR teams.
- France–US tax filing: avoiding double taxation — the employee’s side of the same question, to share with your assignees.
- Foreign residents in France: optimising personal taxation — what your inbound assignees will want to know.
Other areas of expertise
- HR expertise for a foreign company in France
- Accounting for foreign companies in France
- US taxation for Americans based in France
- Foreign companies in France: administrative services
- French tax advisor
- Setting up a company in the USA