[CPAM info requirement]

Only if it was subject to Capital gains tax and could therefore be considered as taxable income - so the answer is most likely no, but I do not know your circumstances.

[Electricity Supply]

The upgrade will (normally) be free.

The abonnement will increase depending on which tarif you are on:

Base: 60.78€ increases to 172.10€

Heures Creuse: 105.82 increases to 272.89

On Tempo a 12/15 or 18kw supply is 222.36€

Tempo is almost always a money saver if you are not 100% reliant on heating by electricity in the winter.

[CPAM info requirement]

To be more precise (or pedantic) if you apply between Oct 1st and 31st Dec it is based on the year before.

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.

From what you have said its unlikely to help you though.

[CPAM info requirement]

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.

[CPAM info requirement]

.. so why should our income for that year be of any consequence to the French systems??

Because that's the rule!

It means of course that if you earned a shed load in 2004 the you will pay a shed load for your cover, but that's the rule!

It's all to do with the fact that the Tax year and the CPAM year are not in sync thus for 2006 the 2005 RFR figure is not available so the 2004  RFR figure is used. RFR being Revenue Fiscal d'Reference ie taxable income.

They do, by the way, reserve the right to ask you to provide documented proof that your declaration is accurate, in a friends case they came back two years later to ask for bank statements etc.

[Freebox phone calls]

Sorry - not 0800 but 08XX.

[Freebox phone calls]

[quote user="Slast"]"I signed up - I got free calls. It does what it says on the tin."

- so you went to the section "creer ma ligne telephonique Feebox", this asks you to choose a phone number from a list of numbers starting with 087 then 269 to 274 with a space after it. I selected some and got assigned the number 087274abcd as my Freebox line. What does this actually mean? Do I have to do anything with it? Tell people to use it or is it just a number Free uses internally? sorry to be dim... !!

Steve[/quote]

You now have two telephone lines and two phone numbers, you can use either or both for incoming calls the charge is the same for your callers.

For outgoing calls your FT line costs you as usual, the Free line costs you nothing - difficult choice really!

If you want to be a real smart alec you buy a box from www.voxtoo.com for 75€.

You plug your FT line into the box and your Free line into the box, then you plug your DECT master phone into the box and if you have several DECT phones in the house each phone will ring regardless of which line is called.

When you dial out it automatically selects the Free line unless you over ride it and demand to use the FT line (useful for UK 0800 numbers).

If the ADSL goes down you still have the FT line available.

[Freebox phone calls]

[quote user="Andymr"]

Hi Guys, can I clarify please I have a Wanadoo livebox and in my compte it shows a number for telephone illimite. However I am being charged for these calls.

Andy

[/quote]

You are talking about a totally different product here -

The Livebox from Wanado / Orange / France Telecom gives you free calls inside France.

The Freebox from Free gives you free calls inside France and free International calls to 16 countries.

[Freebox phone calls]

I signed up - I got free calls. It does what it says on the tin.

[mandatory to pay tax in france?]

[quote user="Ab"]

  MUST THEY PAT TAX TO FRANCE NOW AND NOT TO THE U.K.?

HAS THE LAW CHANGED RECENTLY AND  HAVE WE  ALL MISSED IT.[/quote]

Both UK and France!  The Teachers pension declared and taxed in UK,

and declared in France along with details of any UK tax paid, the OAP

and private pensions declared and taxed in France.

Probably not, but then 17 years is a long time, more likely that the original Impots person did not understand the rules, but, as is often the case, simply made it up as they went along.

[New Freebox deal?]

In an attempt to clear up the confusion in these posts I would make the following points:

The single Freebox system is for use in non degroupage areas - most of France.

The "new" double Freebox system is only for use in degroupage areas - major conurbations only, the second box is for HDTV.

The single Freebox will accept the WiFi card but will not operate until it is switched on - to switch it on you go to www.free.fr site and follow the instructions for activating it through your account management log on. Remember to switch it off before plugging the card in.

When you activate the Wifi you will be given a WEP key which is entered into any Wifi products you wish to connect.

When a Freebox is switched on, having been previously switched off, it updates the software with the latest download and if you are leaving it off for a long time it may be that there are a number of updates to download which would explain the delay .

A Livebox is the Wanadoo version of Free's Freebox and is a different product.

[French equivalent of ISA's?]

[quote user="Gastines"]

Our UK building society sent us a reminder to top up our ISA's before the end of the UK tax year. As far as we were aware,if you are not a UK resident,you can't invest in them.and a French tax payer. Duly returned the form plus a few bob. 2 months later,"You can't invest in ISA's "!!!! Well as you advised us, we thought we'd make use of the offer.!! In the end we bought a block of Premium Bonds, which you can legally buy, and first draw got £500.tax free and thankyou very much. We took up one offer as advertised of 7%p.a.  sounded very good but they forget to tell you that there is a 1.1% management fee etc etc. If you've got a spare week to read the book of rules and can understand them, I suppose you should find all this out in the first place. Biscuit tin sounds favourite, no tax on that,YET.

Regards. B&B St.Malo.     ourinns.org

[/quote]

Premium Bond wins are taxable in France.

[Exchange rate for tax forms]

As no tax has been deducted from your win I would enter £200 in TS, 0 in CA and 0 in TA, (in Euros of course).

[Exchange rate for tax forms]

No, I think the French have a different understanding of the word "dividends". Dividends as we would understand them are subject to allowances and are entered into box DC. Premium Bond wins are treated as interest received and are entered into box TS where they are subject to both tax and social charges without any allowances.

[ADSL?]

Di, I find these "financially sponsered" ADSL sites to be a bit hit and miss yesterday ADSL facile was showing Club Internet as being a remarkably low cost provider as did the Club internet site however as soon as you apply the rate is decidedly expensive in comparison to the advertising strap line. The majority of internet providers, in common with the mobile phone industry, use misleading advertising strap lines to get you in the door, it's almost a case of smoke and mirrors.

In response to your particular question, whilst it is possible that you are in a "Degoupee" area it is unlikely, these are usually restricted to the very large cities. To discover if you can get ADSL I suggest going to the following web sites and entering your phone number to test for eligibility.

www.adsl.free.fr/ and www.wanadoo.fr/bin/frame2.cgi?u=http%3A//abonnez-vous.wanadoo.fr/index.php%3Fdams%3Dc_HD

Good luck.

[Exchange rate for tax forms]

[quote user="Spg"]

But this is assuming that premium bond wins are dividends - and they aren't, are they?

Sue

[/quote]

From Taxation In France by Charles Parkinson

"France does not tax lottery winnings, but correctly regards the prizes on Premium Bonds as interest, because the bond is a negotiable instrument (and therefore the "gambler" can recover his "stake)."

[best bank interest-uk or france?]

[quote user="Fay"]Caisse d'Epargne savings account (Livret A) is also 2.75% and you can bank online (but I imagine have to open the account at a bank).[/quote]

No, the Livret A pays 2.25%, there is a Livret d'Epargne Populaire which pays 3.25% but you can only have this if your income tax bill is less than 709€ for the year.

[Laguna v. Xantia]

I bought a brand new Xantia 1.9Lx Diesel - good car, great ride, everything perfect - but I could not get used to the seats - almost at the point of being unable to walk through back pain I sold it after 6 months.

If you like the seats it is a very good car and with depreciation they are great second hand buys.

[Phone and ADSL recommendations please]

Why go with "Alice" when "Free" give you free international calls?

[4 x 4 LHD]

Kate, the best site I have found is www.transeuropean.co.uk - lot's of photos for each vehicle and a frequent change of stock.

4X4's tend to move quite quickly though unless they are very expensive.

 

[Email from Free.fr]

It says that you can now see their terms and conditions on their internet site, the long bit is the legal process that states they now have to do this.

[Shutters - Open or Closed??]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Just thinking out loud, here, because Julie reads the forum and we have argued about this in the past...

We have double glazing, but the house still gets very cold on winter evenings. I have suggested closing the shutters, but she wants them open all the time for the light (even at night???). Will I get a warmth benefit if I close them? Or will I just get a kicking, as usual?

[/quote]

You may still get a kicking but at least you will be warm!

[Re: For the Record]

You can play the game or you can referee - you can't do both!

Well, not without attracting criticism.

[Re: For the Record]

I would hate to be thought of as one who is "keeping their head down" so ;

Dick keep going.

Miki hang on in there.

Mods if you wish to moderate don't participate in the forum - how else can you be dispassionate and clear thinking.

As for Dick being warned off for using Le Buffon's sign off - that really takes the biscuit given the postings Le Buffon made in his many guises.

Strikes me that Archant will wish to take some action if they are to save the forum from  disappearing  altogether.

What a sorry mess.

Free the St Malo 1

And yes - I AM HERE IN FRANCE.

[Top Up after Retirement age]

Will said; "my understanding is that one can still be liable for CSG/CRDS on pension income."

No, once you are in posession of an E121 social charges can no longer be applied to non French sourced pensions, however unearned income is still subject to social charges.

I agree that a top up insurance is always advisable.