Jo Taylor

The legal definition of chambres d’hôtes is a room or rooms in the owner’s house for tourists staying one or more nights, including breakfast. Five is the normal maximum for the number of rooms. In some departments you may have six, but the sixth must have disabled access. If you offer more rooms than this, your business won’t be defined as a chambres d’hôtes by GdF, Clévacances or the tourist board and must comply with stringent fire and safety regulations in line with those for hotels, in accordance with the rules governing Établissements Recevant du Public. The difference between CdH and a hotel is not just a matter of how much tax you pay; there are numerous other factors to be considered - it's a different business altogether.

That's a 'piece of string' question, really! It depends what's there already, what standard of accommodation you're planning to offer, what facilities...

To avoid complications, make it a day less than three months! Property letting is subject to the regulations in the Code Civil (Articles 1708 – 1762), which can be found on : www.legifrance.gouv.fr (click on the Union Jack next to ‘Les codes’ to find the English translation). The Code Civil defines three categories of letting: l Long-term unfurnished letting – normally for a minimum of three years, but under certain circumstances for as little as one year. l Long-term furnished letting – normally for more than three months. Tenants renting for between three months and a year must have their principal residence elsewhere (you should see proof of this); those whose principal residence is the property rented are entitled to a minimum lease of a year, there are no exceptions. (Until January 2005, this applied only to properties let by landlords who habitually let four or more properties; it now applies in all cases.) The lease is automatically renewable for the same period and under the same conditions, and there are stringent regulations, similar to those for unfurnished letting, restricting the landlord’s right to reclaim the property. If you wish to terminate a lease, you must give the tenant three months’ notice. If the tenant wants to end it, he has to give only one month’s notice. Letting contracts must be in French. l Short-term (holiday) furnished letting – less than three months. (You can use the normal gîte contract; but again, you must ensure the tenant has a principal residence elsewhere.) Unfurnished letting is a whole 'nother can of worms.

As it's not your main source of income (and presumably won't generate in excess of €23,000!) you can simply declare it as supplementary income on form 2042C. You will have to register the activity with your mairie - see the thread entitled: "Decret du 4 Aout 2007 - Chambres d'hotes".

Jazzer,  If the gite income is your only income (hope not!), then it is more than 50% of your earnings - do you have another registered business, or a job? (Presume not, if you're on an E106 and not in the system.) It's a bit difficult to advise here as your statements don't really add up - you can't be living on €6,000, so there must be other income?

Here's another: http://www.hafro.is/ordabok/?op=list&wanted=6&PHPSESSID=bd82bd6e47777b515cc79fad179fc020

[quote user="Lynn Jennings"]I was thinking about using my Paypal account to try and get round being scammed but now you are worrying me that this is open to fraud.  What are the other pitfalls, please tell.  I was going to ask you via private message but don't know how to do it der![/quote] Hello Lynn, your post appeared while I was typing the last one (and taking dogs out!). As above, you're fine for accommodation payments; I was having a 'der!' moment there. The other pitfalls apply only to people selling tangible goods.

People who steal credit cards don't tend to book holidays (unless they are totally stupid) Yes, of course - silly me, I was having a senior moment there! They normally do it for tangible goods, there'd be no point 'stealing' a holiday!  I know this because I bought something on Ebay once and it never arrived and PayPal could not get the money back because it had already been transfered to the sellers bank account. This would only occur if the seller's listings don't have 'Buyer Protection' (top right, beneath 'Meet the Seller' / Informations sur le vendeur' there's 'Buy Safely - See how you're pretected' / Achetez en confiance - Vérifiez la protection applicable à cet achat'). Properly verified sellers will have a level - say €1,000 - up to which you are covered; even if the seller empties their account PayPal will recompense the buyer (and freeze the seller's account until they've recovered the funds).

[quote user="PEPPA"]I  have had conflicting advise on whether to stay as a micro Bic or register as a Chambre d'Hotes and just need to be certain on the best option to avoid a costly mistake![/quote] This is a confusing statement - a Chambre d'Hotes can be registered under the MicroBIC regime. Is your existing business the farming activity? For which you are already registered and in the MicroBIC tax regime? In which case, as Shawny said, you simply declare the supplementary letting income on form 2042C. If, however, the B&B constitutes more than 50% of your income, or generates more than €23,000 it should be registered as well as your main activity. Please clarify - it's difficult to see exactly what it is you need to know!

[quote user="Quillan"] If you are not sure that it is a scam then the best test is to open a PayPal account and tell them to send their deposit or whatever by credit/debit card. [/quote] Best not - they might 'pay' and later - much later - instigate a CC chargeback, which results in funds in one's PayPal account being frozen until the outcome is decided (which may or not be in your favour depending on how well the scammer knows how to play the system). There are other pitfalls too, but I won't detail them on a public forum!

[quote user="Copper"]Well that's a laugh.  Don't they know the rules for French B&B - MAX 5 bedrooms!!!![/quote] Sawday's guide covers hotels and other types of accommodation, also in countries other than France.

Come to think of it, it was probably more than two years ago that I had the figure of 200€! I think I telephoned them. Clients do have the perception that Sawday's listings are 'better', I do know one person who did very well from them (hers was a very lovely place). She was also with Karen Brown (who, at the time I enquired, did not charge but they did inspect thoroughly). Wasn't Alistair Sawday on one of those 'people doing things in France' programmes, inspecting someone's establishment? I vaguely remember shouting at the telly...

[quote user="pale pink specs"]   another with Dawn French called Jam and Jerusalem I think... and it was filmed near my sister's house in mid Devon... a small town called South Molton... [/quote] It was North Tawton, not South Molton... and it was hilarious if you knew the area; I did think at the time that a lot of it wouldn't have made sense to 'vurriners'.

You had disc brakes on a 2CV? All 2CVs were fitted with front disc brakes from 1982. The 'Dolly' version as referred to was introduced in '85 - all Dollies had disc brakes.

Sawday's was from 200€ ( a couple of years ago); they appear to be updating the owners' pages at present - why not just email them and ask? They're very approachable.

Tenants renting for between three months and a year must have their principal residence elsewhere (you should see proof of this); those whose principal residence is the property rented are entitled to a minimum lease of a year, there are no exceptions. (Until January 2005, this applied only to properties let by landlords who habitually let four or more properties; it now applies in all cases.) The lease is automatically renewable for the same period and under the same conditions, and there are stringent regulations, similar to those for unfurnished letting, restricting the landlord’s right to reclaim the property. If you wish to terminate a lease, you must give the tenant three months’ notice. If the tenant wants to end it, he has to give only one month’s notice. Letting contracts must be in French.

"...no foam...." This probably means that you shouldn't just have a sheet of foam rubber (naked yellow bubbly stuff) - latex/foam proper mattresses should be fine. I haven't a copy of the gite standards handy but the CdH ones state: "Sommiers tapissiers ou à lattes ; matelas tapissiers ou mousse épaisse (laine, crin à exclure) : épaisseur 12cm minimum, densité : 27kg/m3 au minimum". So avoid anything stuffed with wool or horsehair!

[quote user="Nick Trollope"][quote user="Jo Taylor"] but you cannot then use the MicroBIC tax regime even if your gross turnover is less than the qualifying ceilings.[/quote]Yes you can.[/quote] I have edited my post above, as I can't find the source of the info - but http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/pme/F1110.xhtml does say "L'option pour le paiement de la TVA emporte exclusion du régime micro pour l'imposition des bénéfices." [quote user="jetlag"]The chap at the Chamber of Commerce said that gites and B&B were classed as services and therefore the ceiling was 27000e, but some conflicting info on forums etc suggest that gites are commercants/ventes with the ceiling of 76000e.[/quote] Gite letting and other forms of furnished letting (location meublée) most definitely fall under the commercant heading with the higher ceiling of €76,300. (Income from unfurnished letting is classed as revenu foncier and subject to a far lower ceiling along with many other pitfalls!) See http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1995.xhtml [quote user="jetlag"] So now I am getting confused as to which it is, I have also had conflicting advice about the REEL option which has a minimum turnover of 26000e, whereby you cannot join this option if you are an enterprise individuelle or have less than the minimum, can anyone shed any light on all this please!! .[/quote] That does sound a bit peculiar, I don't know of a minimum turnover, nor of any requirement to be anything other than an entreprise individuelle. (If you have an SCI you cannot use the MicroBIC regime.) If your gross letting income is below €76,300, you can choose to register under the Réel system rather than Micro-BIC (see above), but it would be to your advantage only if the costs incurred on your property exceeded 68 per cent of your rental income.

"As a micro, the headline figure is €27,000" That's for services / professions liberales etc. If you're a commercant, buying and selling (also includes letting properties) the ceiling is €76,300. TVA ceilings are €30,500 for services, €84,000 for commercants - you can choose to register (there are several situations where this can be advantageous).

You can list on any eBay site you choose (e.g. a French resident can list on com, uk, de, fr, au, ca, etc.). You can do all this from one ID, which is registered in the country where you live, tax on the income will be payable there. In the UK, if you buy to sell, you must tell HMRC even if you're not making a profit.  If you're tax resident in France you must register at the CdC and pay charges like any other commercant. 

And here: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/990803/ShowPost.aspx

Taxe professionelle is normally payable by individuals and companies carrying out non-salaried work. It’s levied at between around 15 and 20 per cent (the exact percentage varies with the commune) of a ‘base’, which is currently 8 per cent of your annual income, including VAT. For example, if you earn €30,000 per year, your tax base will be €2,400; if taxe professionelle is levied at 20 per cent in your commune, you will pay €480 per year. Taxe professionelle is assessed as follows: in your first year of French residence, you pay nothing; in your second year, you pay according to your earnings in Year 1 (pro rata if you moved to France part way through the year); in Year 3, your tax is again based on your Year 1 earnings, in Year 4 on your Year 2 earnings, and so on. A gîte owner is exempt if the property is registered with Gîtes de France or another official organisation, e.g. Clévacances or the Comité Départemental de Tourisme. Exemption also applies where the property is your principal residence, provided the rental is ‘reasonable’. In effect, most bed & breakfast (B&B), gîte and letting businesses aren’t liable for taxe professionelle, but check with your accountant or local trésor publique. Jo Taylor

Patrick, taxe professionelle is something completely separate, not to be confused with income tax or business registration. Taxe professionelle is normally payable by individuals and companies carrying out non-salaried work. It’s levied at between around 15 and 20 per cent (the exact percentage varies with the commune) of a ‘base’, which is currently 8 per cent of your annual income, including VAT. For example, if you earn €30,000 per year, your tax base will be €2,400; if taxe professionelle is levied at 20 per cent in your commune, you will pay €480 per year. Taxe professionelle is assessed as follows: in your first year of French residence, you pay nothing; in your second year, you pay according to your earnings in Year 1 (pro rata if you moved to France part way through the year); in Year 3, your tax is again based on your Year 1 earnings, in Year 4 on your Year 2 earnings, and so on. A gîte owner is exempt if the property is registered with Gîtes de France or another official organisation, e.g. Clévacances or the Comité Départemental de Tourisme. Exemption also applies where the property is your principal residence, provided the rental is ‘reasonable’. In effect, most bed & breakfast (B&B), gîte and letting businesses aren’t liable for taxe professionelle, but check with your accountant or local trésor publique.

Phillipe, have a browse through the topics on this forum - most of your queries have been covered. As for your 'biggest questions': Is it possible to own and operate a Gite from the UK? Yes, but you'll need a responsible caretaker. What are the pitfalls? Many. Who claims my tax, the French goverment or the English goverment or both!!!! ?  All letting income is taxed in France. It must also be declared in the UK but there is a double-taxation treaty which means you won't be taxed twice. I have read other threads in this section and have read things like Gites being left dirty and over populated areas. Are there any other problems? Vandalism? Theft by clients? The first is why you need a caretaker. Over-populated areas - you'll need to research what is letting, where and why. If you're buying purely for investment rather than as a second home this will be your most important task. Vandalism and theft, I think most will agree, are rare, but again highlights the need for a responsible caretaker.

[quote user="ltf"][quote user="Jo Taylor"] ltf: Sorry, but eslier has given the correct information. If your letting income (gross) exceeds 23,000 euros OR is more than 50% of your income, you must register with the CdC. Some departments have not yet caught up with this requirement, which may be why you have been given incorrect advice. [/quote] Jo Taylor, please could you quote me the relevant texte that says inscription with the Ch de Com is compulsory. [/quote] CODE GENERAL DES IMPOTS, Article 151 septies, sectionVII.