LesLauriers

P said "My reading of that is that calls made from my ordinary FT line are now going via Free, and charged at their rates. Of course, this might have been something else I signed up for; I'm a bit of a buggar for ticking boxes on these forms!" P  - you have plugged a phone into the back of the Freebox haven't you? That's the one that gives you free phonecalls - the FT line via Free gives you discounted phonecalls.

If you live in france and have capital to invest, then it is an excellent way of investing. Your capital grows tax free until you withdraw it and when you withdraw it is tax advantageous. You can invest in the stock market world wide by way of unit trust investments or alternatively in capital safe "fonds en euros" investments. After 8 years you can withdraw 9200€ per year as a couple tax and social charge free. You can bequeath 152000€ to as many people as you wish tax free in addition to the normal inheritance allowance. You can invest at 0% charge and 0.6% annual charge, with arbitrage at a fixed 15€ if you go direct. Take a look at www.boursorama.com or www.mesplacementsvie.com.

If I was you.... I would... Make absolutely certain that all telephones are unplugged in the property and therefore all sockets are unused - very important! Plug in the Freebox and test to see if it will pick up the ADSL signal - if needs be try each of your sockets. If you cannot pick up a signal then the next steps are.... 1. Make sure that Teleconnect have disconnected their preselection system. 2. Phone FT on 1013 and see if they will check the line. Having set up numerous Freebox systems it may be that FT are having difficulty in providing the ADSL connection, past experience with FT has shown this to be a possible problem. Yes if Teleconnect have disconnected then you are paying FT for calls - www.telerabais.com is a good short term provider with no sign up required as they bill via your normal FT facture.

This posting may be of interest to you, sorry but you will have to cut and paste the link. http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/707962/ShowPost.aspx

Neuf deal only matches Free if you live in or very near a major city (degroupage) otherwise Neuf is more expensive. The Neuf headline rate of 29.90€ is not available to everyone, whereas the Free headline rate of 29.99€ is available to everyone who can get ADSL - if you cannot get ADSL Free give you 20 hours a month dial up at no charge.

Will said "Why should those who choose not to work, many of whom are, in reality, far better off than me, be entitled to what amounts to state aid in France? (I'm not talking about those with E121, rather those whose E106 has expired)." Will - what on earth are you on about,  

Re Exclusive Healthcare We have been with them for four years - excellent service - very, very prompt repayment. New cards being issued now mean that there is no need for repayment as all charges go direct where the carte vital is used. When the salesman from Societe Generali visited and attempted to sell us his policy, I showed him our Exclusive policy - he did not attempt to sell us his policy - his only comment was "could I take out a policy with them"

Condensation.

I had the same problem with the Halifax  - they finally found the money in a German bank, but it took some time. They said it wasn't lost - they just didn't know where it was! In my case it was around 100k GBP and it was "not lost" for around 10 days.

[quote user="Gyn_Paul"]How, exactly, would it change? Surely the T d' H is calculated on the sqm of habitable space isn't it ? So if you use a corner of a bedroom you've not altered the total. I'm confused, me p [/quote] Looking at our H1 form, they appear to use a point system - each sink has points - each wc - each bath - even fitting a shower above a bath adds extra points. Terraces add points, abris add points - pools add points - sheds and garages - even the condition of the decor adds points. And what do points make - in this case a bigger bill!!!

Social charges of 11% will be payable on all interest as well as income tax as described.

The network key is set up through your account page on free.fr, if you look for Espace Abbonés then Functionalitiés WiFi de la freebox then Pour activer et configurer la fonction WIFI de votre Freebox click here. This page will show you your network name and key if you have already set it up - otherwise you can set it up.

[quote user="Mutts"]Yes, it's ING fr - thanks for pointing that out; yes to French tax, but no to French resident. I got the forms in duplicate and the amount of interest received is shown under "Autre revenus (credit d'impot inclus)" No other figures (other than zero) are shown on the form. On opening the account, non-PLF was chosen. Can I assume I've been paid gross?       [/quote] Oui!

Do you mean ING? Tax return for France or UK?

Every time I have had this problem the "fault" has been on the FT line - you can call 1013 but trust me they will do everything in their power to do nothing! Just ask them to check the line for ADSL normally they deny any fault is there - then the ADSL comes back ? Check your connections and test that the FT line is present on the outlet you are using to plug in the Freebox - it could be the freebox but that's never been my experience.

[quote user="aj_dr"]Thanks, Lee, still had nothing not even an e-mail, perhaps it FT taking a long time. I had a look at Free's web site but can't see where you can check the progress. aj [/quote] If you have not had an e-mail then I suspect you may not have completed the application - did you apply on line and send off the prelevement or did you download the application and send it by post along with an FT facture. I applied on line for a friend - the e-mail was almost instant - applied 30th June - line live 5th July - freebox posted 5th July- you can follow progress on line but only after you have your e-mail with the log on details. You can also follow the delivery of your freebox via collisimo.

[quote user="Mark"]LesLauriers wrote: "Debra, 2006 is correct. Zeb, read the previous posts, CPAM payments are not connected to fiscal residency in France in the way that you imply, they are based upon income from the year two years before. In the worst case scenario you could end up paying 8% after the first 6965€ based upon a year when you received redundancy, pension lump sum, Isa or Tessa income and a maturing endowment policy. All of which are tax free in UK but could add towards the CPAM charge if you manage to get your timing wrong." Could I just check something regarding my own circumstances?  I am probably moving to France in October of this year, and would therefore aim to start my E106 from January 2007 to maximise its period of validity.  When the E106 expires in 2008, I would therefore pay 8% tax on any income from 2006, as well as on any redundancy payment, AND incur higher cotisation costs as a result of this measurement against my 2006 income even though my post-October 2006 income is likely to be negligible.  Correct?  If so, when are the cotisation costs reassessed to reflect actual income?  Annually?  Scary!  [:'(] Thanks in advance.  Mark. Correct, however you may well find that your E106 lasts for two years - it depends upon your NI record of payments in the years prior to asking for the E106 - you should phone Newcastle to determine your entitlement. If it does cover 2007 and 2008 then in 2009 you will show your RFR from the French tax return you complete for 2007. Remember that you will have to complete a tax return from your arrival in Oct 2006 to 31st Dec 2006.  Cotisations are reassessed annualy.   [/quote]

[quote user="chessfou"]Looking ahead, les lauriers said: <i>Par exemple : - Si vous faites une demande de CMU de base entre le 1er janvier 2006 et le 30 septembre 2006, c'est le revenu fiscal de référence indiqué sur votre avis d'imposition, ou de non imposition, de l'année 2004 qui sera pris en compte. - Si vous faites une demande de CMU de base après le 1er octobre 2006 et jusqu'au 30 septembre 2007, c'est le revenu fiscal de référence de l'année 2005 qui sera retenu.</i> Our E106 runs into Jan 2008, so it will be our revenu fiscal de référence de l'année 2006 that will be relevant. Do you know ... is that: (a) the tax return (spring 2007) covering our first tax year in France (from arrival May 2006), or; (b) the tax return (spring 2006) which might otherwise have been made (had we arrived here last year - 2005)? [/quote] Neither - Its your worldwide income for 2006 1st Jan to 31st Dec. Part of which (May 06 to 31sr Dec 06) you will have an RFR after you declare in spring 2007 - for  the rest, which  will be pre arrival and declared as a declaration on honour but they will probably ask for proof.

[quote user="Gail Smith"]There must be hundreds of you out there who have registered your gite with the impots. Can you answer my query? Having just submitted our french tax return we have been sent some forms to complete as we have declared some income from our gite...apparently we have to register the activity. The form is Form P0-i Can anyone tell me which Option Fiscale I should adopt for gite income. We obviously sumbitter our gite income in the correct box on the tax forms (so we gwt the 78% tax relief and then taxed on the rest. My only real concern is that I don't choose a fiscale regime which gets me taxed on a different basis to that. I assume I choose to register as  a B.I.C but do i tick 'Micro', Reel Simplifee' or 'Reel Normal'. Like I said, my only real concern is wheher my choice will affect detrimentally the 78% allowance i get on this type of income. thank you [/quote] According to this http://www.lemoneymag.fr/Kalideo/Site/Application/Fiche_Pratique/s_FichePratique/0,1729,7-12958-12960-5207-5742-5738-FIC,00.html It's "Reel Normal" but it is confusing so let's see some more replys!   Edit No it's Micro Bic, I got confused thinking it had to be Micro Bic and either Reel or Simplifie, should have followed SusanAH's advice in the first place.!

[quote user="SusanAH"] The tax relief is 72% but will decrease to 68% next year (the French Govt don't like micros very much!) [/quote] It's not that they don't like micros in fact the 4% reduction compares well to the loss of the 20% abatement salaried and pensioned people currently get. The reason for these reductions in allowances, is that the rates of taxation are reduced for the 2007 return covering 2006 income.

[quote user="Debra"]They said they moved over in October 2004, leslauriers, so if they sell their house after the new double taxation treaty is in effect, then the house sale proceeds will come under the new rules and they'll have to pay CGT to France (depending on whether the house has been owned for more than 15 years or not).[/quote] Yes that's why I said "if it was subject to capital gains tax" the treaty as far as I know is liable to ratified end 2006 but more likely 2007, I am also unaware of their circulmstances regarding how long they have owned the property. So thanks for explaining my somewhat cryptic reply yours is probably more helpful to them - possibly best that they sell quickly if necessary.

[quote user="Poppy"] Suze I am very sorry to hear about your father in law but very pleased that he received excellent care. My point in my previous posting was that if you havent got any previous bad health history it seems to cause a problem to the French health service. We have been in France for 16 years and never had a positive experience with the French health service. If you pardon the pun it worries me sick the thought of being ill in France. [/quote] Then why on earth do you not move to somewhere with a better health service! It's your life and if you really feel that strongly then you would be a fool to yourself if you do not do something about it!

[quote user="Poppy"]The French health service is my pet hate. Have you read the thread titled medical nightmare. My husband was very ill and given only half an hour to live by the time they decided to operate. Before they would put him in the ambulance I had to prove we had adequate health cover for the cost of transport and hospitalisation this involved a delay of over an hour as we weren't at home when he took ill.[/quote] Always carry your Carte Vitale with you and you won't have a problem.

[quote user="bigjimbishop"]Hi Clair I buy and install PCs and laptops for retired folk here and always get good deals from www.cdiscount.com Infact the Acer you want is here [/quote] Recently bought the same laptop with DVD writer and 14" screen, for 50€ more, this is a CD writer/DVD player with a 15" screen and includes a free case - it's a very good deal and an excellent product.

You are more likely to get a response if you say where abouts in France you are.