Live on one side, work on the other: a cross-border worker’s guide to the Basque Country

In the Basque Country (Euskal Herria), crossing the border is like going to another part of town: you live in Hendaye (Hendaia), work in Irun and do your shopping in San Sebastián (Donostia). But when it comes to tax and social security, you had better know the rules.

A cross-border area

• The Basque Eurocity Bayonne–San Sebastián — launched by an agreement signed on 18 January 1993, then set up as a European Economic Interest Grouping in 1997. It stretches along just over 50 km of coastline, from the mouth of the Adour to Getaria, and brings together 42 municipalities — more than 600,000 inhabitants:
  • 25 French municipalities: Ahetze, Anglet, Arbonne, Arcangues, Ascain, Bassussarry, Bayonne, Biarritz, Bidart, Biriatou, Boucau, Ciboure, Guéthary, Halsou, Hendaye, Jatxou, Lahonce, Larressore, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, Saint-Pierre-d’Irube, Sare, Souraïde, Urrugne and Villefranque.
  • 17 municipalities in Gipuzkoa: Aia, Andoain, Astigarraga, Errenteria, Getaria, Hernani, Hondarribia, Irun, Lasarte-Oria, Lezo, Oiartzun, Orio, Pasaia, San Sebastián, Urnieta, Usurbil and Zarautz.
  • Note: this is the list of the Eurocity, not that of the tax border zone (see below), which is defined by other legal texts.
• The Bidasoa-Txingudi cross-border consortium — set up on 23 December 1998 by Irun, Hondarribia and Hendaye to run joint projects (tourism, culture, economic development). The three towns have a combined population of nearly 100,000.

Tax: the cross-border worker regime

France and Spain have a special tax regime for cross-border workers (frontaliers). Workers who prove their cross-border status with the cross-border worker’s card (carte frontalière) provided for by the Franco-Spanish tax treaty are taxed on their salaries only in their country of residence.

• Who does it apply to? You must live in the border zone of one country and work in the border zone of the other, for example live in Hendaye and work in Irun, or vice versa.
• Which municipalities? The zone extends for about 20 km on each side of the border. The official list of municipalities is set out in Annex I of the Franco-Spanish agreement of 25 January 1961, extended by exchanges of letters in 1964 and 1965. This list is not published online in an easy-to-consult form: ask your tax office (service des impôts) whether your municipality (and your employer’s) is on it before you commit.
• What do you need to do? You must apply to the tax authorities for a certificate every year and hand it to your employer.
• Outside this regime, the general rules of the 1995 Franco-Spanish tax treaty apply.

Watch out on the Spanish side: in Euskadi (the Basque Autonomous Community), tax is managed by the provincial councils (Diputaciones Forales) (see moving to the Spanish Basque Country).

Health insurance

For social security purposes, you are a frontier worker if you return to your country of residence every day or at least once a week.

• You are insured in the country where you work.
• To receive healthcare in your country of residence, ask for the S1 form and register it with the local health insurance body: you are then covered on the same terms as someone insured locally.
• This means you can get treatment in both countries. Your family can also benefit from this in your country of residence.

Transport

• The Topo (Euskotren line E2) links Lasarte-Oria with Hendaye via San Sebastián and Irun. There are four trains an hour between Lasarte-Oria and Irun, two of which continue to Hendaye.

In a nutshell

1. Check whether your municipality is in the border zone and apply for the cross-border worker’s card.
2. Ask for the S1 form so you can get healthcare where you live.
3. Declare your income in the right place (and, in Euskadi, to the right Hacienda Foral, the provincial tax authority).

Sources

• impots.gouv.fr — Am I a cross-border worker? (in French)
• BOFiP — Tax treaty between France and Spain (in French); Légifrance — Franco-Spanish treaty of 10 October 1995 (in French)
• CLEISS — Your healthcare rights as a cross-border worker (in French)
• French Wikipedia — Eurocité basque Bayonne - San Sebastián (list of municipalities); English Wikipedia — Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián; MOT — Cross-border territory of the Basque Country
• French Senate — Government answer on the Franco-Spanish border zone (2021) (in French); Alliance solidaire des Français de l’étranger — Tax treaties and cross-border workers (PDF)
• Bidasoa-Txingudi cross-border consortium (in Spanish)
• English Wikipedia — Euskotren Trena

Ongi etorri — and safe travels!