bixy

For the last two years the tax office has messed up my tax and so this year I'm thinking about filling the forms in on line in the (vain?) hope that they might get it right this time. I have some questions about this. 1) do you get a calculation at the end telling you how much you are due to pay? 2) If so, is that amount definitive? 3) Do you still receive a paper tax demand? 4) Are both the 2042 and 2047 available for completion (or is it even necessary to do both?) 5) Is there anything else I need to know? Thanks for your responses - a bit of hand holding needed! Patrick

Yes, I now see that this is a well known scam that has been reported here before. It is very convincing (or possibly I'm very naive). Thank goodness I stopped when it got to the critical bit.

This morning we had a phone call in English from someone working for a company whose name I didn't catch. He told me that our computer was infected and that he would help me clear it. He took me to the Events Viewer and indeed there were some red and yellow warnings in the security log. He knew the number of our connection (INS?) and of course our phone number. I was very suspicious and even more so when he took me to a website LogMeIn where I was to download a programme. At this point I put a stop to it, refused to go any further and hung up. I subsequently checked out LogMeIn and it seems it involves a programme that allows remote control of a computer. Presumably this is what he was going to do. I also ran a scan using our anti-virus software which found that there were no infections. I also looked a again in the Events Viewer and found that all the red and yellow warnings had gone! Any comments/advice much appreciated. I'm particularly worried that this chap had our details - how would he get hold of them? Patrick

Thanks for all those responses. The general consensus seems to be - wouldn't touch ex-pat groups with a barge pole, but then I guess forum members who do belong to an ex-pat group may not have responded. I thought Val_2 asked a telling question - why do they come here in the first place? I reckon a large part of the answer is house prices. People came on holiday, saw how much house they could get for not much money and didn't think much further. We've seen quite a few come and then go back within a couple of years, after they have realised that not every French person speaks English and there are no Tescos or Sainsburys. Patrick

When we first came to live permanently in France we resisted joining the local ex-pat group - not entirely sure why. Anyway, we eventually did join. We had expected to find a group of welcoming people, ready with advice, support and information. It wasn't quite like that. What we found was a rather cliquey group, within which there was a certain amount of backbiting. Most of the people in the group were retirees who spoke little or no French. They needed the group to have any kind of social life, and they seemed to be worried that newcomers might 'steal' their friends. We gave it a couple of years but eventually moved on and made our own friends - French, Dutch and British, and we are a good deal happier. We kept in contact with one or two people in the group and learnt of major fallings out and splits, and one couple even moving to another part of France they became so upset. It strikes me that if the only reason that you get together with other people is that a) you're an ex-pat and b) you don't speak the local language, then there are bound to be problems. I would be interested to hear of other people's experience of such groups - is this sort of thing normal? Patrick

Many thanks for those reassuring replies. We received an avis for €2000+. I sent the avis back, realising what they had done wrong and after several phone calls they eventually sent an amended avis of some €450+, WHICH WAS STILL WRONG. It was only when we went to pay at the tresorerie that the official pointed out the correct figure of about €150 - quite a difference to the original. Unfortunately our local tax office is populated by the most discourteous, unhelpful, disagreeable, incompetent people it's been my misfortune to meet in France. We dread having to go anywhere near them. It seems that this is not generally true of tax people. Friends in a neighbouring department say that their tax officials are extremely helpful. The reason I asked the question is that I was worried about making a mistake again next year, but it seems the mistake was theirs, not mine. Anyway, once again, thanks for the reassurance. Patrick

For the second year in succession my tax has been messed up and I don't know if it's me or the tax office. Our tax affairs are quite simple - just our pensions and a bit of savings interest. I wonder if someone can enlighten me where I (or they) are going wrong. On form 2047 I put our pensions under 'Pensions, retraites, rentes' on the first page, and then enter the UK taxable part in section VI 'Revenus imposables etc.... On form 2042 I enter the amounts under 1AS and 1BS and then the part of 1AS/BS which has been subject to UK tax at 8TK. What seems to have happened is that the tax people have added the two amounts at 1AS/BS and 8TK together rather than recognising that one is part of the other. Any help with this much appreciated. Patrick

Well, thanks again. I'm a lot clearer but I will in any case tell my friend to seek expert advice, as clearly my advice is not to be trusted! Patrick

Well thanks for all those replies. It's not at all what I was expecting - or what I have told Friend B. He will be distinctly dischuffed when I put him right. He has had the house for about 25 years - am I right in thinking that he will pay tax on something like 50% of the plus value? Also does he have to pay the 15.5% CSG on the whole plus value or what? This chap was thinking of shipping the money back to the UK without declaring it to HMRC. I have strongly advised him against this, on the basis that the authorities are now in much close touch with each other (not to mention the fact that it's illegal and immoral). Patrick

Are you sure? Friend C has just sold their second home here in France, all has gone through and the money is back in the UK. He did not pay any French CGT or CSG but will be paying CGT in the UK. I note that anyone selling a second home must declare the plus value on their tax return. How can a non-resident do this, since he/she will not complete a French tax return? Patrick

On another post someone has written that one feels "they're French so that they must know more than us". Well, when it comes to notaires here are two examples of them getting it completely wrong (unless I'm completely wrong, of course!). Friend A who is fiscally resident in France and only owns the house they have here, was told that on its sale they will have to pay French capital gains. Friend B who is fiscally resident in the UK and who is selling his second home in France was told, by a different notaire, that he would have to pay capital gains in France. Patrick

Well, the Netgear Homeplugs arrived in one day from Amazon fr. I stuck them in and they worked straight away. Each plug has three little lights: the first indicates that the plug is working; the second that it has an internet connection; and the third that another Homeplug has been detected. The third light also changes colour according to how 'good' the socket is: green best, orange good, red ok. Quite impressed really. I would recommend them. The exact product is: Netgear CPL 200AV+ Mini XAVB1401. Patrick

OP here. I've ordered a pair of Netgear Homeplugs. I will let you know how I get on. Patrick

Well said Leo. A friend who is an agent for an estate agent gave us a valuation on our house. We were devastated. But what about all the work we have done, the thousands of back breaking hours, the enormous amount of money we have spent? But of course she saw none of that. She saw square meterage, facilities, finish, land, and based her valuation on that. Still, it doesn't much matter as we have no intention of moving and we have a much improved home to live in. But I think there are many wanting to sell, using Leo's formula who will be disappointed. Patrick

We bumped into our local estate agent the other day. She reckoned that house prices have fallen by - wait for it - 50%! Admittedly she is talking about her area, the Morvan, in Burgundy, but she had no reason to lie to us since we are neither buying nor selling a property. Makes you think. Patrick

Many thanks for those replies. Looks like I'll opt for some kind of Homeplug. I had thought of Netgear, having been very satisfied with their modem/router, but read a bad review somewhere of their Homeplug system. Anyone had any experience with them? Patrick

I wonder if someone can help me with this. Having Wifi problems due to thick walls and am considering some kind of Homeplug. Have you good experience with this; are there potential pitfalls; can you recommend a brand/model? Many thanks Patrick

Thanks for those replies. It looks like reformatting is the option I will go for. Not having done this before I have a question. Is reinstalling the same as reformatting? Do I just start this process by putting my OS disk in the machine and booting from it, or is their a process before this? Patrick

We've just bought a new computer and now I'm wondering what to do with the old one. It has become very slow and I am assuming that this is because the hard drive is clogged up with stuff. What is the best thing to do to revive this machine? Should I buy a new hard drive and install it or should I wipe the existing hard drive and reinstall the OS (I have the original OS disk). I do not need any of the files or software on the hard drive. All advice gratefully received. Patrick

Thanks for those replies. I think Norman has hit the nail on the head. It is what I suspected, and as he says, it's the different way of entering the info that has exposed the error. Tant pis. I guess I'm not the only one to be affected by this. I only hope they don't decide to go back through the old paperwork....!! Patrick

Today we received a demand for taxe d'habitation. We haven't paid this since we were sixty. Looking at the revenue fiscal de reference, this seems to have doubled since our tax return for 2009, although our income certainly hasn't! Am I right in thinking that this has come about because of the new way of entering UK income on the tax return this year? Has anyone else experienced this? Patrick

Still somewhat confused. We receive both the old age pension and a teachers pension. Do both of these go in Pensions,Retraites,Rentes on form 2047 and then to 1AS/1BS on form 2042. This would appear to be a change from previous years when only the OAP went into these sections. Your help would be much appreciated - losing sleep over this. Patrick

Thanks for those replies. I didn't realise that the FAQs had been updated. What about the second part of my question - what should I do now? Patrick

We have just received a tax demand. Normally we pay no tax in France because of the tax we pay on our public service pensions in the UK. I think I see where I went wrong, in that the forms have to be filled in differently this year. Am I right in thinking that our public pensions are now entered in section Vl of form 2047 under "Montant Brut de Revenus etc."(column 4), but what do you put in column 5 "Montant des Charges Afferentes etc.? Is this where the tax we have paid goes? We have printed off new forms to complete correctly and intend sending then back to the tax office together with a covering letter and the tax demand. Is this the best course of action? Your advice much appreciated by a very confused - Patrick

To reply to Idun about paint colours. We are in a regional park and I believe there are rules about colours, but everyone seems to ignore them. The maire has been to our house and seen our blue shutters and said nothing. Still hoping for some advice about removing old paint most effectively. Thanks for replies so far. The V33 paint sounds the thing. Patrick