[Four Letter Word - DIET]

[quote] I've put on 100g [/quote]

1. I bet your scales are not that accurate.

2. 100g = 1 small glass of water (or other liquid - 1 litre = 1kg).

3. If really desperate make sure you weigh yourself after going to the toilet (think about it) and before eating or drinking.

4. If all else fails, bear in mind that you are carrying around some

2kg of dead skin - since that will all flake off you could, arguably,

discount it - kind of makes up for all the dusting that is required to

get rid of the guff as it drops off (not sure of the rate but that's

what dusting is all about).

[which medical terms dictionary/phrase book?]

Glossary of Medical, Health & Pharmacy Terms

Compiled by: A.S. Lindsey

is approximately twice the price of:

Hadley's French Medical Phrase Book.

Both have been mentioned in these forums but (so far) no comparison of

them. Does anyone have any comments about the comparative worth/use of

them?

Maybe the answer is to buy both and compare them but ... if someone else has already done that ...

[Sandre??]

Yes, can be very good.

Eng.: Zander

a.k.a.: Stizostedion lucioperca [:D]

You can see what one looks like in the flesh (as opposed to on the plate) here:

http://thefoody.com/basic/fishuz.html

[FRENCH TAXATION]

[quote user="Will the Conqueror"]

I shall probably get abuse from the publishers for telling you this,

as they provide this forum in order to help publicise and

sell the magazine, but the link to the advertiser concerned is www.frenchtaxonline.com.

[/quote]

Oh, I do hope not. [:$]

As far as I can see, at a quick glance, the site is really just for

those who can't cope with the forms in French (as opposed to

"bureaucratese" [;)]) but I did spot something very useful there - a

rough and ready tax calculator which I think is very useful for

planning purposes.

So, thanks very much for the link.

[Votre fiscalité]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

If you are to become french residents on May

9th then spring time 07 or whenever the fisc wants it doing, you will

have to declare world wide income from the 9/5/06 until 31/12/06.

[/quote]

Well, yes, and thankyou but I knew that - the point of the post was to try and discover what counts now (or at least May 9/10) for the form (to open a PEA - Plan d'Epargne en Actions).

Do we effectively determine the initial date of our fiscalité francais or are we likely to have to wait until after filling

in our first tax return (in order to get a tax number or whatever)? Or

should we contact the Hotel des Impots a.s.a.p. in order to get the

equivalent of an Inland Revenue tax reference/number?

Does anyone have any experience of this?

[Votre fiscalité]

I have a (nother[;)]) form to fill in shortly*.

The form includes a section for "votre fiscalité" and I am assuming

that we (wife and I) will tick the box(es) for "je suis résident fiscal francais."

*Am I right in thinking that we can do this any time on or after 9 May (we depart UK May 8 and arrive in France May 9).

Or does anyone know of any specific reason/detail why this may not be

possible until (say) March-May 2007 and the completion of a French tax

return, or of any other mouche in the onguent?

[FRENCH TAXATION]

[quote]If you go to p65 of the New Year 2006 edition of Living France[/quote]

Is that available on-line or only in the print edition?

[Wanadoo Livebox without using USB "dongles"]

Is anybody using a Wanadoo LiveBox without USB dongles in their PCs?

Normal usage in our household (currently in UK) is 4 or 5 PCs

(laptops/notebooks/handhelds) at a time. All are WiFi enabled and all

but one of them is so enabled at chip level (I use a PCcard WiFi card

for the odd one out).

Obviously I don't want to mess about sticking useless USB connectors

into lots of PCs and can't do so with the IPAQ handheld (and wouldn't

want to anyway)..

If the LiveBox functions happily with "native" WiFi connectors then it (the LiveBox) may be a useful solution for us.

If not, then I would sooner just get a.n.other ADSL modem (for which I already have a spare wireless G router lying around).

So, hoping to hear of your experiences as time for decision-making is

reducing rapidly (phone line should be up and running by 1 Feb and

<8Mb ADSL by 1 March).

[to keep or not to keep?]

Naps, many thanks for those thoughts. Yes, questions invariably lead to more questions.[;)]

[quote]

How old is your car and how much would you lose selling it before you came?

What is the cost of an equivalent LHD  vehicle in France?

If you brought your car, would you be happy to keep it forever?

Does your car have aircon (will you need it in the area you're moving to)?

What

sort of driving are you expecting to do?  Overtaking on country roads,

toll booths and ticket machines can be a pain in a RHD car.[/quote]

Relevant car is 8 years old, so worth next to nothing (£1k or a little over).

It won't last forever but happy to keep it until it's ready for the knacker's yard (probably no more than 2-3 years or so).

It does have the necessary aircon.

This will be our 2nd car, so basically run around to local town,

shopping etc. when main car already bagged. Really not anticipating

much use at all.

Incidentally, I used (mid-late 90s) to drive quite often between East

Anglia and Madrid (usually via Calais) in a RHD and I rarely found the

toll booths and ticket machines a pain, albeit that was maybe because I

was only too glad to stretch the legs, however briefly.

[to keep or not to keep?]

There must be many of you with experience of keeping your old UK car

and re-registering in France (or wishing that you had done so). I'm

hoping to "cash in" on all that expertise.

We are moving to France in May. We had decided to give away (to one of

our children) one of our two cars, sell the other one and then buy in

France.

However, a combination of thoughts that we will probably still need two

cars for some years (initial location in France fairly rural) and that

it would be very convenient to drive to our new home (thus able to keep

with us all our main computers - I use 4 on a daily basis - and some

other valuables that we would rather not consign to the removals van)

have modified our current thinking (now: give one to son, re-register

one in France and buy main French one).

Having got that UK car to France, it seems it would be a real pain to

get it back to the UK to dispose of. Therefore, it seems to make sense

to re-register in France and use it as our second car.

Many of you must have faced a very similar problem. Do you have any

particular pointers? If you did what we are contemplating doing, did it

work out for you? If you followed a different route, do you think that

worked out better?

[first tax year in France!]

[quote user="chessfou"]

but after 8 years they are just like UK

ISAs (tax free and withdraw what you want when you want, although the

provider may have some limitations on that).

[/quote]

Drat. Sorry, that's wrong. I forgot that they just changed the rules

(see - it's not just Gordon [;)]) and net gains will be subject to the

11% when withdrawn.

[first tax year in France!]

According to my research:

(1) Premium Bonds can be retained in France (and quite a few other

countries but don't ask me which; it wasn't relevant - source: phone

call to National Savings). "Winnings" would not be tax-free in France.

(2) Ron's accountant may be wrong (at least he apparently is with respect to Stocks & Shares ISAs, I have absolutely no idea

about cash ISAs) as the general rule (according to all my sources -

brokers & IR, though source notes not kept) is that any ISA (ditto

PEP) wrapper can be retained although:

(2a) you will no longer be able to add funds to it/them (unless &

until you become UK resident again, so if there's a possibility of that

you may not want to burn your tax-free bridges);

(2b) all the gains - divis, interest & capital gains  - will be liable to French tax.

Therefore, depending upon your circumstances it may be a good idea to

investigate a PEA - Plan d'Epargne en Actions - (sort of French ISA

equivalent) which can contain pretty much any of the stocks you have in

your UK ISA. Like a UK ISA you can only pay cash (not transfer stocks)

into a PEA (in one or more lumps up to a lifetime limit of EUR 132,000

- that's cash paid in, not total value - and, if you're married, you

can each have one, so EUR 264,000 total). They have a couple of

disadvantages compared with ISAs (you get hit for CGT if you take money

out too soon - and/or the 11% social tax on your gains withdrawn -

basically you have to plan on running the PEA for an absolute minimum

of 5 years and better 8 years) but after 8 years they are just like UK

ISAs (tax free and withdraw what you want when you want, although the

provider may have some limitations on that).

Look here for brief details:

http://www.edubourse.com/guide/fiche.php?idFiche=148

and the full works here:

http://www.boursorama.com/patrimoine/guides/Bourse/PAT48.html

[capital backed mortgage?]

[quote user="makeiteasy"]

Well, if you prefer to invest your money on

a PEA than an Ass Vie, you would have to invest between 125 to 150% of

the mortgage amount to secure the possible loss of your investment.

[*]I remember you that to be able to get a PEA you should pay taxes

in France and minimum 75% of the shares invested should be european

shares.

[/quote]

Good - sounds like excellent news!

You see I have quite a good track record - making net gains of an

average 27% over the six years 2000-2005 (respectively +25%, +15%,

+42%, +30%, +22%, +30%) - which is obviously rather better than one

could possibly expect from an AV. Of course, there are no guarantees

but that record gives me good grounds for expecting this approach to be

worthwhile for us (even if my future performance is less good than my

past performance).

Are there many providers who will do this?

Will any of them do it as an "interest only" mortgage (paying interest

only during the mortgage term, the capital sum being paid off at the

end - after something like 10 years - at least 8 years because of the

restrictions on a PEA - I would want to keep the PEA open after

withdrawing the capital sum to repay the mortgage, and that means no

withdrawal before 8 years).

[PS. I thought 100% of PEA shares had to be EU shares (+Iceland &

Norway) but that is fine either way since probably 90% will be in UK

shares]

[capital backed mortgage?]

[quote user="makeiteasy"]

The only case where your income doesn't matter is if you have 100% of the capital you intend to borrow.

[/quote]

That is precisely the point (we actually have 200%-300% of the amount we may borrow).

But we don't want the money tied up in an AV, we want it to be

(preferably) in a PEA (Plan d'Epargne en Actions) or (second best - in

a UK ISA/PEP).

[capital backed mortgage?]

Can anyone point to any mortgage providers (preferably in France) who will lend against

capital rather than income for purchase of a property in France?

Essential information:

(1) We (wife and I) want to retain a capital sum (ca. EUR 150k-200k) in either P.E.A.

(once French resident) or ISA/PEP (or split between the two) - all "self-select" (i.e.

self managed);

(2) Mortgage (prob. EUR 100-150k, say 60% of purchase and renovation cost) can be

either repayment or interest-only (if that exists in France - I've not seen any yet);

(3) Probable loan duration - 10 years;

(4) we will be French resident from mid 2006;

(5) we are likely to want to purchase in 2007 (or 2008).

Objective:

Instead of using "cash" to purchase a property, to keep it working (earning far more in

ISA/PEP over the years and, therefore, within a PEA) while using it as security for the

loan.

[If absolutely necessary we will re-arrange things to have sufficient income to cover a

typical "mortgage à la Française" but we don't want to take that much income unless we

absolutely have to - we would much prefer to keep the capital working.]