Hereford

I have no idea about forms E106 but (as an accountant) I can say that a directors salary is an employment not self-employment so no need to worry about self employed contributions when using a limited company. Mrs H

Well:  I telephoned Nationwide as I wanted to buy air tickets to Canada on my Nationwide credit card  (we live in France).  They confirmed that I will be covered if for example the airline goes bust.  I did take the precaution of getting a name but as it is the second time I have done this I must assume the advice is correct. If anyone is unsure about their credit card provider it is worth a phone call to check. Mrs H.

Thank you for this reply.  I will take a look at the website.

We have a childs car seat, not new but in pretty good condition.  It is now too small for any of our grandchildren so I would like to give it away to our local Restos du coeur for them to donate to a needy family. However:  I do not want to give it if it is illegal to use it.  My daughter tells me that the "norms" have changed.  The seat is:      Britax Romer K03   (bought in Germany)      for 9 - 20 kg child      It seems to have a reference number:  ECE  44/03 on the back which I assume tells one the safety standard. Do any of you car experts know whether I can safely give the seat away or should I take it to the nearest dechetterie - which seems  shame but I will do it if the safety of a child is otherwise put at risk? Many thanks in advance Mrs H

We know nothing about paying a business employee this way but we pay our gardener under the ordinary CE system.  There the net pay to the employee has to be 10% above the minimum wage (to cover holidays for which there is no other pay).  The cotisations for us and the employee, all of which are payable by us, are worked out automatically when we register online the amount we paid him for the month. I suspect the small business as employers scheme would be similar.  I have not looked at the CESU website to check but it may have details? Mrs H

My (French) patchwork group call a Quilt a quilt but say it the English way (and not kilt) as they all seem to know that a kilt is a skirt!  They always work by hand and call my sewing machine patchwork "american".  However we have recently done a project which involved cutting through seams so has had to be done on a machine so they are coming round.. Mrs H.

You do have to be paying tax in France to benefit from the tax credit.  This is a pity but hardly surprising.  We pay our gardener via the cheque d'emploi system and are very happy with it - but then we get the tax benefit!  Why the French government wish to pay half the costs of cutting our grass is beyond us but they thought up the system not us. If you do not pay actual income tax therefore one of the main benefits is lost, but you will be employing someone legally and they benefit from insurance and it can mean they can join the health system if they work enough hours and have no other job. Mrs H.

Well:  I telephoned Newcastle this morning and was assured by "Steve" that my Dad's local Maire would be fine for the certification of the form. Steve expressed surprise at the idea that said Maire would not accept my translation - he could see no problem with that! Anyway, I shall do the translation and give it to Dad to go to his Mairie on Friday (very small village so only open one afternoon), together with a note explaining what needs to be done.  Steve also thought someone from a bank would do as they would have a rubber stamp (this latter seems crucial..). Thank you to all who have commented.   I withdraw the remark about a "nasty" comment from Ron (and apologise). I think a better word would have been irrelevant, as we were discussing a UK form not a French tax form.  Off to Germany ourselves on Friday to see grandchildren so will not post until next week if we have a problem! Mrs H.

Message for Ron Avery:  We speak perfectly good French thank you and are quite capable of translating the form into French, but our Maire most certainly does not so why should she accept our translation.  It is of course perfectly possible for us to get this form signed, we never thought it was impossible.  My complaint is that the wording on the form appears threatening to an 85 year old.  He perfectly understands that it is reasonable to ask for proof that he is still alive. If my mother gets a form we will have more difficulty as she is ill and may not be able to get to the Mairie and will certainly find it difficult to sign the form herself. As far as nasty comments such "how does he fill his tax return in" : I am a Chartered accountant and speak French so we have no problem with that at all. Thank you to those who have posted sensible answers. Mrs H. Edit:  I should have said that this form comes from: The Pension Service, International Pension Centre so is aimed only at pensioners living abroad.

Thanks for these comments.  We have no problem with the idea of a form to check he (or anyone) is alive but do feel the bold, large type is threatening for an old person. I shall telephone the DWP on Monday to see if the Maire will be acceptable but no English is spoken at the Mairie (why should it be) so we would have to hope they are willing to accept our translation. We do not see either why a pre-printed form with all details on it could not have been sent rather than a three page form to complete in full. Thanks again. Mrs H.

My 85 year old father (living here in France)  has received a form to complete from the UK pension service.  It appears to be in order to prove he is still alive as all the information asked for is already in their possession. He considers, and we agree. that the letter is "threatening".  It arrived via the Netherlands, taking a week from the date on the letter.   In large type in a box at the start of the letter it says " You must reply to this letter within eight weeks from the date of this letter.  If you do not  do this, payment of your state pension will be stopped" The form requires that he present himself plus photo id (passport etc) to one of the following - who must then sign and stamp the form: An official of the UK diplomatic or consular serviceAn employee of the social security authorities which pay benefits in your country of residence.A barrister, solicitor or advocate authorised to practice in the country where the declaration is made, or any other person allowed to administer oaths in the country where the declaration is made.A magistrate, justice of the peace or a member of the local police force.This list is far more restrictive than that required for a passport application.  We live in deepest Normandy so the first option is out. In any case if asking a French official to sign the form are we to expect them to read English or hope they accept what we tell them it says? We are going to complain to the DWP about this letter. Neither my father nor we have any problem with proving we are alive but a three page form is not needed to do this nor are the complicated arrangements to get it verified. Has anyone else had this letter. My Dad feels that they are targeting the oldest pensioners first and will then move on down the age scale. We would be interested to hear your views. Mrs H.

I have read this thread with increasing disbelief but have realised that perhaps we are lucky.  I do not grease anything and bread comes out as soon as it is cooked.  I just give a firm shake.  Paddle stays in tin, never once have we had to dig it out. Perhaps the problem is cheap bread machines? Our was bought in the UK after reading Which?  It was more expensive than most but has never been a problem.  It is a Panasonic.  The only problem we had until recently was flour,  but we solved that that by buying in bulk on our twice a year visits back to the UK.  Very recently we have found flour here in France that does work with our recipe.  Most recipes on other machines we see use a whole sachet of yeast, we use just half a teaspoon with 400g flour and the results are wonderful. We make dough only for pizza or rolls. If I had had the problems in this thread I would have taken the machine back and said it was not fit for the purpose. Mrs H

Our machine quite different to that!  You put in card, take it out again (!), put in pin. Then put cash or cheque into envelope, filled in as to what you are paying in.  (Get envelope and slip in advance and fill in, as this is quicker).  Tell machine how much you are paying in, in total, then slot opens, put in envelope. Slip to confirm, like a cash receipt.  Mark you, that cannot confirm that what you said is actually what you paid in, but we have not tried entering an incorrect amount.. Not simple but once done no problem next time. Our branch has the machine even though there are staff but it is the only way you can pay in. Staff are just for answering questions.  Only way to get money out is the other cash machine. H.

Well it seems that as usual where you are makes a difference. We (Normandy) had our flu jabs done by the local nurse at her surgery yesterday - and my parents did last week.  Just in the upper arm as usual.  The nurse did them last year too, our GP said go to her rather than him. Mrs H

We got 1.267 on Thursday with Nationwide for just 350 euros drawn from a cash machine.  Not bad at all. H.

Used our Nationwide card in Canada with no problem or special charge.  We never use CA card outside of France - apart from anything else you can only draw once a week.

If you use the cheque emploi system don't forget that you must pay 10% above SMIC (for holiday pay) and will also have extra taken by CESU to cover insurance etc etc.  Cost will be about about one and a half times the hourly rate you pay. However:  you can get tax relief on 50% of costs.  They tax office will deduct half the total you pay from your tax bill each year - so you have to be a taxpayer to benefit.  Brilliant system.  See CESU website for more info. If we have any of the above wrong I am sure someone will correct it, but this is our experience. H.

Our score was 28778. We managed to get within 6 miles of Manchester!!  Hope this is not how Lufthansa pilots fly as we are off to Hanover with them in November and don't want to go to Belsen... H.

We drew some cash the same way, from Nationwide, last Wednesday and got 1.261 euros to the pound.  So 350 euros cost 277.52 pounds. H.

Sugarfree: We live in France and have transferred money from our ordinary Flex account into an e-bond three times in recent months. Never noticed anything about being resident in the UK! Nationwide UK, in common with many UK banks do not accept tax form to get interest paid gross. We just claim ours back every year without a problem. H. Edit: " Jackie" even if you get the interest net you have to declare it to the French tax office!  You then pay tax on it and the Social charges, and get tax back from the UK.

When we returned ours - we now use a router - we just took the livebox to the local France Telecom shop. They registered its "number" and gave us a receipt.  Take any paperwork you have from when you first got the livebox so that they have your customer number.  This stopped the charge to us. H.

Although we now have broadband and use Skype we still use the telephone sometimes to telephone our children, one in Canada and one in Germany.  We use a Coucoutel access code which then means you pay a local call rate.  Depending on the time of day I have spoken to my daughter for as long as 25 minutes for 44 cents ttc.  Look at   www.coucoutel.com/    I have programmed the access code into a memory on our telephone and we just press that memory button first and then (after a voice tells you the charge) a second memory button programmed with actual telephone number.  Warning: don't panic as there is a hiatus before the number you want rings, just wait, be patient,: it does work. Mrs H.

I make currant (actually raisin) bread all the time. But: I just make it in the bread machine, why all this turning the dough out to cook?  I only use dough recipe to make rolls. Mrs H

Re Clair's helpful list of dates above:   We pay monthly and have looked online but our avis is not available yet.  We assume that means we will not get ours until October.  Not helpful as we know we have not paid enough!  More income and less deductions. We would have liked to have known earlier.  Can anyone remember when we have to pay the extra please? Thanks Mrs H. Edit: we also get the dreaded Contributions Sociales so need to know when cash is needed!

A neighbour of ours wants to build a "garage" (actually to hold big garden equipment).  He asked the Maire who said full planning permission would be required as it is to be separate from the house and will be 18 sq. metre.  It is to be built of concrete blocks. Would a Declaratuion Préalable actually be the right thing and not full planning permission? Thanks H.