Lbannister<P><a target=_blank href="http:www.carolynbannister.com">http:www.carolynbannister.com<A><P>

We're in a similar situation except my other half actually works in england, own ltd company etc, he's a sftware engineer. To be exempt from uk tax you have to be out of the country full the full tax year, so plan move carefully, only thing is i was under the impression that income earned in the uk had to be taxed in uk, or are you going to be working from your french address and being paid in euros? We were thinking of doing this but then you can't have a uk company you have to register with the french authorities and pay the proffesional taxes levied there and go through the apparently difficult process of getting a french registered company. Which apparently costs alot and is a very lenghty process. To get round this we have thought of keeping uk company and paying tax there and then declaring worldwide income here and paying the extra, or it could be the other way round and the uk would get nothing anyhow because of double taxation treaty, apparently country of residence can get first claim to tax even if it is earned else where. What i do know for certain at the moment is that its really complicated and we're going to have to take professional advice to make sure we don't make the wrong decision. In our case we might go for split residency, because Russell physically works most of the time in uk or some other country , we can apparentlytry this even if our main residence is here, sorry i'm getting sidetracked. If I find out anything that might be of help I'll let you know. We could always plead insanity Lyn. ps i apologise if i've got any of my facts wrong, still finding out myself!

Abbey national France will send out a mortgage pack if you ring them, can't remember number of the top of my head. The pack is very clear and self explanitory, gives a complete list of everything you need, we just folloed this and didn't have one query, and our finances are far from staight forward!! Even if you don't use them the pack is very informative and their rate is very good, we have just completed with a 4percent mortgage, best the agent could come up with was 6.5. When I told her the rate we had been quoted she was astounded, apparently this rate is only for Brits buying in France not regular french people, didn't know that at the time, not very fair I know but thats the way the cookie crumbles Hope this helps Lyn

Just thought I'd ask if anyone else has had an experience like this. We posted our acceptance forms by recorded delivery on 23rd sept. they arrived in France approx. 1.30am on 24th and the bank has still not got them!! The agent by now is getting hysterical and she has just sent yet another email saying I will loose my deposit if it doesn't get sorted!! She is saying that once the bank tell the notary that they have the forms he has to request the transfer of the balance and he has to do this by post and it can take 8 days, this I can believe!! But the bank say he can request the transfer, apple de sons, by fax and they can do it in 24hrs!! So there is still no need to worry, only if the forms never turn up!! The bank is sending us another copy which we can return by courier so even if this does happen we will still be able to go ahead, we are supposed to sign on 12/10/02, removal men are booked, ferry is booked for us, HELP!!!PANIC PANIC!!! Does anyone know whether you can do it all on the last day in France, it only happens like this in the UK everyone wuld be up in arms if solicitors had peoples money in their bank for more than 5mins!!! But I know this is France so we should do it their way!! Lyn.

We've just received details of our account with CA Britline and also our code numbers for internet banking, they also say that they are posting our cheque books out to us by registered post, but thet don't mention cash cards anywhere! I presume we get some and are they like switch/delta and can be used in the shops? Otherwise how do we draw money out of the bank? Another question , does anyone know where the nearest branch of Britline is to Guingamp, or is it an internet only one like Direct Bank in UK? Questions I should have maybe sorted out before I opened the account but I had other things on my mind!! Thanks in advance Lyn.

I do know a bit about it, you can freeze the pensions to be paid on retirement age or you can transfer a certain amount of the value to another pension, you have to speak to the pension provider though to see which is best for you. Hope this helps Lyn.

I nearly picked up the phone to have a strong word with my bank when I read this, Bank of Scotland, they have been charging us 15 for every transfer to Denmark for the last year!! Then I realised that ours is Royal Bank of Scotland, appears having connections doesn't always pay!! (he he) Seiously thinking of changing banks if I can put up with the hassle!! We only ever use internet banking, I can't even remember where our original account was opened, so the personal touch doesn't really matter!! Lyn