robhaslam

A company in Paris helped me file my tax declaration for 2002 and 2003. From Sept 2002->Dec2003 I was on a contract away from the UK where I was being paid the hotel cost, 50 a day allowance for eating, telephone calls, etc. and return travel to the UK. All of these were tax free in the UK (reclaimed on expenses)... however all of these have beeen included directly onto my salary in France (the hotel cost about 25,000 for the year, the 50 a day amounted to about 12,000, travel costs were about 10,000. The end result is that I have a tax bill for 2003 of 22,000 which I must pay in September, on a taxable income of 70,000. There may also be extra charges for "late filing" the 2002 tax declaration. My salary is about half this amount, as is the tax I paid in the UK. The questions are; i) Is this REALLY how it works in france in terms of these expenses? ii) Should I be responsible to sort this out or is it my company? iii) In 2002 I worked from September to Dec 2002, so I don't understand why am still elegible to pay tax for this year. iv) How does it work for reclaiming the tax I paid in the UK? Do I get it before I can pay the Frence tax? Any help would really be appreciated. I am very worried about the whole situation as there is a posibility that I will have to go substantially into debt as a result of this. Regards, -Rob-

i) To set up a standing order you need to go to your own branch of CCF, not the nearest one you find. ii) To change your "local branch" to the nearest CCF you find you need to have an interview with them. iii) To have an interview with them you need to wait a period of up to 7 days for the next available interview spot. Moral: If you have a branch of CCF, it's better off not to move! -Rob-

Can anyone help me out here before I take this a bit further with my company. Basically I have moved to France from the UK and am still working for the same company. Now it seems I have to accumulate my holiday for the first year before I can spend it in the second year. The only thing is that this doesn't comply with the EU Working Time Directive which stipulates that holidays are accrued from day 1 to be be spent after the first month... This is a health and safety directive ("it's not good for people to take no holidays for a year..."). So what's the situation in France...? Should my company comply with this? Any help appreciated. Regards, -Rob- ---- http://www.clickforcare.co.uk/members/m_news/coreissues/bus009.htm Extract ; There is an EU law called the Working Time Directive which all members must abide to. In this law it saws that for day 1 you accrue holidays which can be taken off ; Calculating Leave Entitlement The Regulations provide a system which means that the entitlement will accrue on the first year of employment on a pro rata basis to the proportion of the year worked. Examples given in the Working Time Regulation Guidance shows that a full time worker who has worked for three months will have accrued five days leave. This is calculated as: 20 days x 3 months / 12 months A part time worker that may work three days a week and had worked for one month would accrue one days leave. This would be calculated as: 12 days annual entitlement made up of (3 days a week x 4 weeks) x 1month /12 months. If this calculation does not add up to a round number of days the regulations allow for rounding up or down to the nearest full day. This rounding to the nearest day does not apply to the calculation of payment in lieu when an employee leaves the job. The changes will mean that those who are currently employed on a succession of short term contracts will now gain the entitlement to paid annual leave. The changes will affect businesses of all sizes in relation to the use they make of people on a short term basis.

I have a 5 year detatchment agreement from the UK and I think there is a law somewhere which means that I cannot take a holiday for my first year in France without having to to gain the holidays first in one year to spend in the next. I'm not sure if this is connected to tax payments? Any help on this appreciated. Regard, -Rob-

I was very displeased at being told that I needed a Carte de Sejour to change the address where my car is registered (in Paris) at the Marie of the 17th arrondisement. I asked the young lady concerned to double check and she came back with her mangager to tell me that I needed one ("we onl deal with French administration" she said). I pointed out that on a big poster in the hall it said you need one of the following for identification ; PASSPORT or CARTE DE SEJOUR but she wouldn't have it! Anyway, off I went to the Prefacture at Isle de la Cite (which is always a comple pain in the ##### and very very long process) and not in a good mood. As soon as I arrive I ask for the carte de sejour department and am told that it is NOT NECESSARY. I was given a small print-out of a law change (dated October 2003) which states that in all cases where a Carte de Sejour is required , the Passport can be used in place to justify this for all EU members. I intend to go back to the Marie of the 17th with this and tell ask for an apology for wasting my time. Anyway, I thought this may be of interest to others in similar "carte de sejour" problems (a bank also said I needed one to make an application). If people cause you problems about this then ask them to contact the prefacture at Paris. Regards, -Rob-

Having spent many months worrying about having to buy a new television to replace my UK (PAL,NTSC) television, I discovered to my great pleasure that if you connect it to Noos digital (perhaps for other cable operators) then it all works just fine with no changes necessary! I'm not sure why exactly - Noos an output PAL but I didn't think it was the same format as the PAL-I in use in the UK - I think I was mistaken. The only problem is that you need to be on the AV channel (it won't work with the standard channels on your TV) and use the Noos controller to change channels. In addition you have the ability to change most films into the orginal language and also to have subtitles (I was also worried this would not work). Hope this is of use to others! Regards, -Rob- By the way, Noos did tell me it WOULDN'T work...!