Yearly tax

I renewed my cds at the Préfecture today, and though it mostly went well, I thought I'd just share what I learned.

I had carefully prepared all the documents requested on the list, with just a slight concern about what I should use as proof of B and me living together. The list suggested tax returns, rental agreements, and insurance with three dots suggesting that other documents would be accepted too. I had copies of our rental agreement and our taxes, but I didn't have a lot of other things with both our names on it. B and I do have a joint bank account, but we almost never use it. We've continued with our separate accounts, sometimes transferring money between them when needed. Our insurance also only lists one person: me on the property insurance and B on the car insurance. I decided to copy our car registration as a back-up third proof of living together because both our names are on it and our address.

At the préfecture I hand over all the copies and then get to proof of living together documents. Rental agreement and taxes are good, but not enough. And even though our car registration was made just a few feet away by the woman's colleagues, she says it doesn't count as proof (!). It turns out, I didn't need both our names on some mail. I could have brought our separate "Attestation de Sécurité Sociale" with the same address, or bank statements for our separate accounts. The préfecture just wants to see that we both receive mail at the same place. In the end she nicely accepted our mutuelle card and made a copy of it herself, which is very nice because usually they make you use the copier in the hallway that's 20¢ a page.

When the woman started asking for more documents proving our common address, I pointed out that they weren't listed or explained on the document. She explained that I had the old version of the list and that now they ask for more documents. I nicely told her that that's about the best way to give a heart attack to a foreigner: ask them for documents you forgot to ask for. I'll have to remember next year to ask for the more up to date list of documents to provide when I make my appointment. It's worth a shot at least.