Gen-eva

My husband (dual citizen Australia/French) and I, his Australian wife, wish to move to France. He speaks fluent french (not writing though) and I am currently learning French. We realise we will not get decent paying jobs in France. So we will eventually probably buy a business. In the meantime, we wish to get some work, which by now I can assume will be temporary. Herein my question lies.   His relatives advise that we would be eligible for pole emploi assistance (for up to a max of 3 years), but we should we find some casual work first. In speaking to several people in a recent trip, this seems fairly easy to find temporary work in restauration or something or other. So assuming we find some temporary work of one sort or another, what happens at the end of the temp work? I've been told we would each be eligible for pole emploi, and this would be around 1000 euros a month each.  We have been told our situation is not much different to the thousands of other immigrants in france, as france as some pretty high unemployment amongst its various ethnic groups. Yet, I do not see them starving or stealing, for living in France is far better than their desert homelands. I have been told this information by several people, yet when I went to the local pole emploi office, they were not willing to talk to us, as we were not yet resident in France. To me it seems good planning to know -- exactly where you stand. I don't want to turn round and come back to Australia. Work is incredibly difficult to find in Australia. Self employment in small food industries is pretty much non existent in Australia - unlike France. He will be 50 and I will be 44 by the time we arrive in France, and we have no children. We have both been in Australia since we were children. And we don't like it.

I was reading on a document from the french tax office that investments held by french citizens (as in shares, equities and the like) do not attract capital gains tax when they are disposed of, provided they are held continuously for at least 8 years. Is this true? As I understand it, dividends are subject to both social tax (around 12.1%) and you can elect one of two types of income tax regimes. But equities held for this long are free of capital gains tax. Would social tax still be due on the capital gain? It just strikes me as a massive loophole, when, everything else in france, is quite heavily taxed.   In the same vein, I have read that capital gains made on businesses sold are capital gains tax free (but not free of social taxes) if held for 5 years or more. Is this still the case?

I have heard from  my travels in Haute Savoie, of people living in france and working over the border in Geneva, not having to pay income tax? I've heard this quite a few times. Is this correct? I thought anyone domiciled in France was taxed on his worldwide income. Does it depend on citizenship? I also know of a relative living in france, who pays no income tax (or very little) because he works overseas most of the year (middle east, Brazil, etc).  Also what of social taxes - what would the situation be.

From time to time I see ads for french property for sale via leaseback. Has anyone actually purchased any of these properties, and what have your experiences been? Are they marketed mostly to the english, or the french too? One of our relatives is a project manager on a construction site, and he'd never heard of this concept. This is strange, because they're plastered on many french real estate sites. Anyway, the yield is more or less 4-5%, loan payable off over around 20 years, during which time the property is leased to a tourism operator.   Do owners have positive or negative experiences? From the income that you receive, do you have to deduct social charges & the like, or just income tax? If you have to take out social charges, then it would hardly be worthwhile. In fact, it might be negative. Also, is the loan interest only tax deductible (like a normal investment), or can you deduct the capital component too? Any what of the experiences with the operator? As I understand it, Pierre & Vacances is the largest operator in this sector, but there are others. Love to hear your stories

I am coming from Australia, with my dual-citizenship husband, and am interesting in buying a food business. As I intend to spend quite a bit of money, I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge of valuation methodologies used by french banks for the valuation of businesses (not the underlying real estate, mind you). I've trained as an accountant in Australia (but not working in it). So I am guessing its Discounted Cashflow Flow methodology, because thats what I learnt at uni. Also, does France use Chartered Surveyors (members of RICS) to value these enterprises - cafes/restaurants/pubs and the like. I've had a look at Christie.com, which lists these types of enterprises around the world. If anyone can give me an idea of discount rates (to feed into the denominator in the equation), I'd be eternally grateful. And am I looking at the sum of the 5 years? What about other valuation methodologies? And for the numerator are we looking at the normalized cashflow (after social contributions, but before income tax). Help, this is such a confusing thing, even for me.    Also what about vendor financing? Is this quite common? Or will banks lend against the business itself as security? Now I am talking fairly decent businesses with a couple of employees, not tiny businesses.

I was wondering if any members could suggest any books or where I can find documents that explain the french tax system. I have received a 100 or so page english guide overview from impots.gouv.fr (tax office) and have read several of David Hampshire's excellent books (Making a Living in France, Move to France etc) which gives a reasonable amount of detail. I really have several specific questions regarding the tax deductability of certain items for business, and understanding where I stand in relation to putting into the pension system, not to mention tax credits on mortgages for principal place of residence. I am coming from Australia and my husband is a dual citizen (france-australia).  I've trained in accounting in australia (though not working in it), so I'm looking for a fair bit of detail I can read up on. We hope to buy a business when we arrive.