EuroTrash
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Posts posted by EuroTrash
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"But....living off an income from a UK business to live in France !!! Hmmmm......it does sound dodgy to be fair. "No come on ALBF, that's not fair. If it's done correctly and you have the correct French registrations and paperwork there is nothing dodgy about it. I'm sure lots of people do it.And for the right type of business, micro entreprise is a perfectly good business structure as long as it's set up and run in good faith. You can turn over up to 64,000€ or thereabouts for a non commercial activity and 100,000+ for a commercial activity. Hardly beer money, unless you drink an awful lot of beer.
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"Some of the posts actually offended me as they implied that I am somehow "dodgy""If that's mine that you're referring to, I apologise, no offence intended. All I was saying was that most people who move to France with a UK business in tow find that there is period of several months at least when they're betwixt and between. That is pretty much inevitable and there is nothing dodgy about it, but IMHO it would be safer to wait until everything is fully in place in France with all the loose ends tied up before applying for anything here. French admin is surprisingly joined up.
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"There is a bit about living with your family in France but working back in the UK here. https://www.french-property.com/guides/france/public-services/health/getting-health-cover/living-abroad"If they physically return to the UK to carry out their activities, that is cross border worker or frontalier. There's no time limit for frontaliers, it can be a permanent arrangement, but again it's an EU arrangement. And you do need to spend all or nearly all of your working time physically on UK soil.
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"I was under the impression that if they had worked fort wo consecutive years paying tax and NI then they will have an S1 that will cover them up to a maximum of 2 years anywhere else in the EU."I think you're thinking of the "posted worker" status. It's a bit more complicated than that. First HMRC has to agree to issue the S1. Posted workers are supposed to be on temporary secondment for a period of up to two years so if it looks like a permanent move, the chances are they will reject the application. Secondly, in the case of employees the employer has to notify France of the seconded worker via the SIPSI system. France doesn't like posted workers because of the risk of "social dumping" and it comes down like a ton of bricks if it finds a posted worker that hasn't been notified to it and doesn't dot all the i's and cross the t's. Ask me how I know...France's rules about posted workers/travailleurs détaché herehttps://www.service-public.fr/professionnels-entreprises/vosdroits/F32160and there's quite a good blog about France's attitude herehttps://ecipe.org/blog/posted-workers-in-the-eu-social-dumping-vs-competitive-advantage/But the major issue with that is that it's an EU arrangement, and after Brexit it's very possible that the UK will no longer be included in the scheme. I guess it would be an EU decision but Macron certainly won't encourage it. It's not known yet where posted workers stand as regards residence rights. Posted workers and cross border workers are generally regarded as the two statuses most at risk from Brexit.
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@CT"They will also be drawing a salary and therefore will get a P60 every year which they can use to prove they have paid tax in the UK. That is what they need to declare."But I don't see how this is going to prove that they're correctly exercising freedom of movement in France in order to get a CDS. All it would prove to me is that they used to live in the UK, and possibly still do. Which of those documents proves that they have now moved to France, have exited the UK system and entered the French system and are now residing here as workers?."At the end of the day is it not more about you are who you say you are, your covered for healthcare, you are contributing to the system" - yes but how does drawing a salary in the UK cover you for healthcare in France and contribute to the French system?"and that you have sufficient funds so as not to be drain on the French social system." This bit doesn't apply to workers, only to inactifs/retirees.
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@ALBF "I can't see how you can employ people on a French contract from your house without changing the status of your house into a business."Because being an employee of your own company is not the same as being self employed/non salarié. It's an entirely different statut. If the business is set up as a personne morale, ie a separate entity, it has its own siège sociale, its own accounts, its own money which the directors can't embezzle, They only get salary and benefits specified in their employment contract. The business submits its own tax returns and pays its own taxes, it might even pay its tax in a different country. The salaried director/employees declare their salary on their personal tax return in the country where they live and work.As opposed to a travailleur indépendent/non salarié where the business is a personne physique, ie the person is the business. They're not employees so they don't have any employment contract. They declare all the business income on their personal tax return and that money is their money to spend as they wish.. And if they work from home, then that's the address that the business will be registered to and CFE (business tax) will automatically be charged on that address, if applicable.I think the confusion comes from the UK having this vague term "self employed" that people use for all kind of different statuses, and it conveniently makes it sound as if you're an employee and not an employee at the same time. Calling it non salarié, non salaried, makes it easier to understand the difference, I think. You get people saying things like "I work self employed for a UK company" - no you don't, either you're a salarié of that company or you're a non salarié and in that case you don't work for a UK company; that company might be one of your clients but there must not be any link of subordination or anything to suggest an employer/employee relationship. Re your final point, I don't know. I'm not convinced he's thought it through.
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@NomossLOL. Yes there have been some good ones lately haven't there.I suppose I've switched my troll-sensors to a low setting because inevitably there are Brits trying to cobble together last minute plans for getting their hands on cartes de séjour before Brexit, so you would expect a certain amount of wishful thinking and if they are genuine questions it seems unkind not to try and help. The property tycoon certainly did set a new high in wishful thinking.
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@ALBF"But they would have to be employed on a French contract and all the intricacies that involves. Or rather nightmares. 35 hr week. and everything else. You would have to provide ticket resturants LOL." - Exactly."Not sure how that would be done. You would have to employ a company to draw up the contract/contracts I guess."- No, URSSAF make it easy. They have a special platform for foreign firms employing workers in Francehttps://www.urssaf.fr/portail/home/employeur/creer/quelle-urssaf-pour-votre-entrepr/firmes-etrangeres.htmlwhich takes you through it step by step. I believe it provides contract templates and everything, and I think there's a service you can use to generate payslips as well, not sure if that's a paid service or if it's free.Off topic but I see Macron has increased SMIC by 100€ a month and is telling employers it won't cost them anything. However I suspect foreign employers won't benefit from whatever compensatory measures Macron is thinking of so it will cost them 100€ + the extra social charges. Ouch.
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It's more about cotisations than income tax. Everyone who lives and works in France (except posted workers and there are different arrangements for them) has to contribute to the French social security system, this is French law.There are various ways to do this, either through setting up your own business and paying cotisations to URSSAF through that, or you can be an employee of the business in which case the business pays the employer contributions and deducts the employee contributions from your salary. A UK company doesn't need to set up a French business structure as such in order to employ workers in France, but it does need to register itself and its employees with URSSAF. So one way or another, if you are resident here then URSSAF needs to know about all the income-generating work you do while your bum is physically in France, because any money you earn that URSSAF doesn't know about, is earned "on the black".Maybe the OP has all this sorted, but the fact that she seems to be relying on a brand new micro entreprise to prove she is exercising freedom of movement correctly, kinda suggests not. Or she would be going along with a new siret number but a trading history from the UK to prove that it's a viable business, or alternatively, with her employment contract with the company and maybe a first payslip.There's also the issue that in France one person is not allowed to run two separate businesses. Again, maybe this is not the case, maybe the UK business is her husband's, but "We have a UK-based company" rather suggest that she's a partner in it. However, running an ME and being employed by her husband's business wouldn't be a problem.None of this is strictly to do with applying for a carte de séjour but it is all to do with living legally in France, and if in fact they haven't got all the household ducks in a row yet, personally I would think twice about popping my head above the parapet until I had. So what with that, if it does apply to the OP, and having zero income to show, I would take an appointment in February, if then even. But, I know I'm a more than averagely risk averse person.EDIT - crossed with Nomoss' post. You may be right Nomoss but in that case I don't understand how this micro entreprise fits into the picture.
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I'm sorry, but I'm going to point out that for self employed people the prefecture is supposed to verify that it's a "regular, genuine and effective" business ("Justificatif d’activité : tout document relatif à l’exercice régulier, effectif et durable de l’activité") as opposed to an "activité tellement réduite qu’elle se présente comme purement marginale et accessoire" i.e. a hobby business. If you haven't actually banked any money yet, it's hard to see how the prefecture is going to be able to make that decision. Saying that, since it would in any case be a one-year CDS, they might issue it and review your accounts after the first year.Also, this:"PS....I would be more worried about your UK company and how you account for that income in France."You say "We have a UK-based company which provides the majority of our income" - is this business being run from your home in France and if so does URSSAF know all about it? If it is and they don't, then as ALBF says, the last thing you want is the prefecture enquiring into what other household income you have.
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"Impayé" means unpaid. As Norman says, this insurance is to cover tenants who default on their payments. I trust you have looked into French rental law. If you have, you'll know how difficult it is to evict a tenant even if they do stop paying. Tenants have a lot of protection and It can take literally years to get them out. In order to evict them you have to follow a strict procedure and timescale, and you can't evict them during the winter months. Experienced defaulters know exactly what month to stop paying rent for it to be just too late for you to get them out before winter starts, because then you won't be able to start procedures until the following spring. That's a year's rent, and if something goes wrong with the eviction process the following year it can happen all over again. Hence why a lot of landlords do take out this insurance. It will mean that the insurance company will vet every tenant to make sure they meet the criteria - usually they have to have a permanent employment contract with a French company, earning at least three times the rent. If they don't meet the criteria then the insurance won't cover them. So in a way it will limit your choice of tenant, but at the same time, you wouldn't want to be taking sub prime tenants in any case if you're relying on them to pay the mortgage.
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Sorry, I didn't read your post carefully enough.I guess it's an inevitable problem of setting prices in a currency that is not the currency of the country where the business is being run.I still don't see this as a massive burden to tourists though."Next year, our tourist nights will be 161. If we remain unclassified we will have to use the complex formula (3% of daily rate x number of nights x number of adults) and our TdS will increase to 192.78 €."versus" I think if you are camping next year during high season you may discover you are no longer paying peanuts, especially if your campsite is not classified! "Well, I'm one adult, typically I pay between 8€ at an unclassified campsite to 18€ per night at a three or four star campsite, so with respect I think to most people, 3% even of 18€ per night would be peanuts. No doubt you charge more, but proportionally I don't think 3% is going to break anyone's budget. I agree with WoolyB, I don't at all begrudge contributing to a commune where I've enjoyed taking advantage of the facilities and attractions they provide - often for free: signposted walks, visitor information centres etc - over and above what I pay to the campsite.
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I'm not in this line of business so apologies if my comments are irrelevant, but first reaction is:"As I quote my prices in £ for the UK market and the TdS is paid in euros, I asked her what exchange rate to apply. It had never occured to her. So I suggested I would take the rate our accountant uses for our tax returns and she was happy with that. I think this is a level of detail they are not that interested in. "- why would they be interested? It's your business how you collect it, all they are interested in is receiving the correct amount.Why not inform guests what the tds is in euros, and ask them to pay it in euros at the end of their stay. Unless they stay for months on end, it's going to be peanuts, less than the cost of one meal out. If you get the odd awkward customer who insists on paying by UK cheque, it's easy enough to use the exchange rate for that day.I think you are making unnecessary complications for yourself by getting the exchange rate involved in tds.Am I right in thinking that in any case tds has to be itemised separately on the invoice? It invariably is, when I stay at campsites.
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"A little cold, wet weather will calm some of the spirits of the GJs."I'd like to think so, trouble is they might decide they need a nice roaring fire to keep them warm.
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Gardengirl, what made me feel most sick, watching the videos of what happened in Paris, was the soundtrack. The violence was shocking, and those carrying it out were laughing and cheering and having the time of their lives. They didn't care that people were getting injured. Mob behaviour has got hold, and now they want more of the euphoria they felt. It's hard to see how it will end well.
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Thanks for posting that, Norman.I find it a bit odd though that the article chose to start by focusing on a single parent with four kids. I don't see her as typical of what the movement is about since a big thrust of the movement is unfair taxation and she presumably isn't a net contributor to the economy; and bringing up four kids on a low wage is going to limit your pouvoir d'achat in any country. People do have to take responsibility for their lifestyle choices, you can't lay it all on the government, Now it's very possible that it wasn't a lifestyle choice and there are good reason why she has ended up in this situation with apparently no support from the father, or life insurance as the case may be, but I feel it would be better if the article had mentioned that, or chosen a better example of which there are plenty to choose from..
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Bison Futé also has real time updates on slow moving traffic and incidents and blockages.
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Just came across this, tangentially related to the gilets jaunes protest. " quand on demande aux Français de choisir entre écologie et pouvoir d'achat, les cadres votent à 56% pour la préservation de l'environnement, alors que les catégories populaires privilégient massivement le pouvoir d'achat, à 71%."I have to declare a bias here because part of my work is in the environmental sector, I see a lot of reports and a lot of statistics and I do believe that sacrificing the planet in favour of short term convenience and comforts is irresponsible, we should think about our kids and their kids and what our choices today are doing to their futures. As individuals we try to shrug off the responsibility by saying "what little me does won't affect the big picture" but if we all think that then it will make a huge difference, because the choices that individuals make as consumers determine the global consumption model. It's not looking good for the planet if 71% of the popular class say "s0d the planet, me-me-me comes first" - and that's the ones who admit to it, there are also plenty who vote for what their conscience tells them is right, but when it comes to it, they do the opposite.Any voters?
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Macron: "Les coupables de ces violences veulent le chaos, ils trahissent les causes qu'ils prétendent servir" and he is right. What's happening in Paris is nothing to do with what the movement started off as and what it still is at the local level in most places I think. It's obvious now that the gilets jaunes success has got hijacked; it's just turned into France in riot mode again, and I think they will lose public sympathy fast from now on.
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Especially if a cheap adsl package isn't going to do the job, I really do think there's a case for arranging things so you have convenient access to professional shared workspace. Not prohibitively expensive and you get state of the art services and a motivational working environment where you can network with other freelancers. Espaces de coworking seem to have caught on in France, I've had occasion to use several up and down the country. I expect they have in the UK too, haven't seen any but then it's a long time since I was in a UK town of any size.
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Time will tell, Norman. You may be right. But for now, I just see it as the annual protest. I think that by Christmas it will be forgotten about, and next year it will happen all over again, with a slightly different focus but basically about the same thing, and so we will go round again.Last year's protests were in fact more ugly and more violent, as I recall - the difference was everything was focused in Paris, they were bussing people in from the regions, so we didn't personally experience much of it across France.Certainly there is discontent with Macron. Of course there was with Hollande, Sarko etc. I think one reason why there has been such a swing against Macron is that he started out popular. When people have high expectations and they are dashed, people react more bitterly than if they hadn't had high expectations in the first place. Actually I feel that way myself. I thought Macron was going to be good for France, and I feel very disappointed and let down. I hope he turns it round but I'm not optimistic, I think he's blotted his copybook too badly.
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"sooner or later there will be protests"Well that is always a safe bet in France!
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Sorry, I know I should resist but yet again I've fallen for it."in you your ideological world ET, what happens if you can only physically (or mentally) in this case not work any harder?"Firstly, my "ideological world" pay the bills quite nicely, thank you. But to answer the question, it's very basic business sense. You work out how much work you can/want to/are prepared to do. You decide how much you want to earn. You set your fees so that your desired working pattern achieves your desired income level. If it doesn't compute then you've probably chosen the wrong profession. But in the main it does work, because the other professionals working in your field will by and large have the same constraints and the same work capacity so will by and large arrive at the same fees structure. And if that's the going rate then clients will pay it.It's not like the UK where in some professions it has become a race to the bottom, with everyone trying to undercut each other's prices to steal their customers and therefore everyone has to work harder and harder for less and less money and work/life balance gets sacrificed.
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I may be way off beam but to me, something clicked into place with May just before Chequers. I think maybe she actually sat down and took in what the EU had been telling her for years, checked out facts, maybe read treaties, maybe she even got a proper source in to explain things to her, and the scales fell from her eyes and she saw reality. It hasn't turned her into a charismatic diplomat but she does now seem to have the edge over the rest of the government in understanding Brexit. It's a shame she isn't more charismatic and persuasive because getting the rest of her bone-headed party to experience the same eureka moment is going to be a challenge for her.
Carte de sejour appointment - keep or cancel?
in French Legal Issues
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