gas

Walk away from these people very very fast.

Ther are three possible ways of treating furnished income for taxation purposes, these are as follows, 1. Micro Enterprise 2. Regime Réel. 3. Taxed under the regime for unfurnished lettings.   You said understand the system for Micro Enterprise, so the others work as follows. Regime réel. Once selected you are taxed on your income less expenses. the expenses allowed are the normal ones such as, Costs for improvements, excluding cost associated with enlargment, Insurance, life assurance policies associated with a loan in respect of the property, general management costs, local property costs, interest in respect of loans for the property, costs of a management agent, gardening costs, cost of repairs, loan fees etc. You must have supporting invoices in respect of all costs. Once you elect to be taxed under this regime thenit is irrevocable for a period of three years.   You said you have made a loss in the first year, under Regime Réel losses are allowed forward against rental income for a period not longer than 9 years.   Unfurnished lettings. The french tax authorities may take the view that you will be taxed under this tax regime if your letting is occasional and irregular.   Hope the above is off some assistance.

A registered letter pointing out the legislation as stated above. The etat is not a problem for you, it is for them. Not providing the Insurance cover is a clear breach of the conditions of the lease and could leave you financially exposed if a problem arises in relation to third party cover. If essential repairs are necessary then you require proof that they are blocking your ability to have them completed. in addition you could be putting your building insurance at risk.    

The subect matter that you have raised is very complex and you should seek proper professional advice rather than accept well meaning advice offered here by some.   Essentially you need to look at the double taxation treaties or as known in France as the convention. Each country looks at the same set of circumstances differently, in France they consider intent, economic interests PPR etc.   I would suggest that you have a look at IR 20 in the UK for periods up to the 5th April 2009 and HMR C6 after 6th April 2009.

Like I said the additional 500€ is a loan, which will be repaid. 2.250€ seems to be quite a high maintenance charge in respect of a new building. Who is the company looking after the building. In your part of the world I suspect Foncia; which are expensive but very professional. Hopefully your financial situation will improve in the future.

I find it strange that you are only now finding out that two of the co-owners have not paid as accounts have to be prepared each year and presented to the agm. It seems reasonable for the management company to ask the other owners to fund the shortfall, which is essentially a temporary matter. As you indicated the defaulting owners will find that they are in big trouble and will have to pay all arrears, plus interest and legal costs. If the rules are standard then the law allows the properties that have not paid to be sold to meet accumulated arrears.   The additional cost is 500€, not a huge amount of money. i suspect that if the maintenance charge is 2.250€ per annum the the value of the apartment must be around 400.000€, it seems to a very small price to pay to have the matter resolved and have the cleaning staff etc back working and as i said  just a temporary loan.

Depends where you are, for example try http://www.leboncoin.fr/li?q=royan&ca=20_s&th=1&c=9&w=117&ps=&pe=&sqs=&sqe=&ros=&roe=&zz=ex%3A75001&fu= Not quite exclusive, however a quick glance at the site sorts out the professionals ? from the Privates. !

Was the bill in your name. ?

If the property is your second home the tax is payable provided the property is CAPABLE of occupation and it is habitable.   Tenants occupying the property on the 1st January on a permanent or semi-permanent basis are liable for the tax irrespective whether the property is furnished or unfurnished.   The tax is not payable if the property is not occupied. The definition of occupation used by the tax authorities includes those properties capable of occupation. One would imagine that a lack of furniture combined with lack of utilities would indicate that the property is not capable of occupation and thus no tax would be payable. You make no mention of utilities in your message.    

You can even hold a Liveret a max 15.300€ plus accrued interest per person Assurance vie and Liveret assurance Vie €15.300€ limit per person, some banks are offering a guaranteed 5% pa for 2009 with a capital guarantee for the full term.

Akin to standing in the centre of London with a large wad of notes, with a sign saying help yourself.

Try looking at articles L 861-2 , L 380-2 and d 380-4 of the Social security Code. In addition 1V of article 1417 of the general tax code may be of assistance, from memory it rstates that this article covers all means of existance and elements of the process of life, including benefits in kind and income provided by movable and immovable assets which the beneficiary of the the coverage universal has had in any place in france or abroad.   I hope the above is of some assistance, however i imagine since you have queried what i have suggested i must be incorrect and i do apologise if i have misled anyone.

[quote user="minnie"]Early in 2008 we sold a house.  The sale was subject to CGT which was collected by the notaire.  He gave us a breakdown of the sale, showing the CGT and said we would need it for our 2008 Tax Form.  Can anyone tell me why would need this information for the tax form if it has already been collected?[/quote] Depending on your circumstances you may have to pay an additional 8% for CMU de Basse.

[quote]We've been advised to invest in a non income producing EU bond held in trust, which would be free from tax. Access to funds is by loans. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has taken this cour...[/quote] We invested in bonds when we arrived last year. In our first year we got a guaranteed rate of 4.5%, and last january the rate was 3.5%. Each year they declare the rate in advance. Caisse D'Epargne. In November they will tell us the rate for 2006.   If you do not access the bond for 10 years the income is tax free, before that a sliding scale exists, thus after 8 years the effective rate of tax is 7.5% on the income earned.   Hope the above helps.   Do ask how much commission the bank or broker is charging, they can charge up to 3.5% of the bond. The rate is not set in stone and is negotiable, we got a rate of half a %.  

We have recently purchased a new small house and have it rented out. We are now thinking about buying an additional 4 houses, which we expect to generate about €35,000 to €42,000 in gross rental income per year.   We visited the local tax office and after spending 2 hours asking questions, have come away none the wiser, plus a form to fill in for next year. Essential they told us, complete the form, bring it in next february and they would compute the amounts due.   Before we proceed with purchasing additional property, we need some advice, perhaps someone may be able to advise us. The questions we have are as follows.   1. If the rental income is below €30,000 is one allowed a 40% reduction in respect of costs. 2. If the above is correct, can one have two lots of €30,000 by splitting the income between husband and wife. 3. Based upon a 2 part unit, how much tax would be payable. 4. How much Social security is payable. 5. Provided the houses are new build, would the additional 2.5% tax be irrelevant. 6. Would we have to register for TVA, and if so what are the appropriate thresholds. 7. Regarding the payment of CGT, what deductions would be appropriate after 10 years of ownership. 8. Would we have to pay wealth tax on the above properties, or would they be excluded as being business assets.      

[quote]Gas We came to France in 2002 and mistakenly thought that we did not need to declare anything as we did not earn in France except a minute bit of interest in the bank. We have a rental house and a l...[/quote] Thanks, We visited the tax office this morning. They were extremely helpful and understanding. apparently the doule taxation system covered all taxes that could have been due. they seemed to more interested in our earnings for the fiscal year 2004, so that they could compute the habitation tax, or at least that is what the impression that we got.   Whilst we were waiting to finish things up, we met a couple that had not filed for over three years.   Gas

Just received our first  Income taxation form, no 2047 "Declaration Des revenus A L'Etranger. Not exactly sure what to do with it. We have put it in a file for now, but it is like bad news that has to be dealt with soon, as the deadline seems to be 22.08.05.   We came to France in September 2004, and bought a house in October 2004. Since then we have not engaged in any work and are living off our savings.   I understand that a double taxation agreement is in place, however we are concerned that because the French taxation system is so expensive that we could face a huge unwanted bill. Will the French authorities accept that since we were not resident until October that we have no further liability on our earnings that year, or will all of our earnings be taxed again and allowance given for the taxation that we have previously paid. In addition will we also have to pay social security payments, again.   worried.   GAS  

Both my wife and I have retired early, she is in her late forties and I am in in my early fifties. neither of us work. Are we entitled to anything from the French health system.   gas

When we purchased the house last October, it came with a 2 year old water softner. the previous owner told us that all it required in terms of maintenance was a. Change the filter when it became brown, about once a year.   b. keep the salt level at or over the 50% level.   Yesterday we noticed that the water level was higher than the salt, filling 67% of the container. We have never seen the water at all.   Do we have a problem.   gas

[quote]Gas I think you must have swopped your test results as 7.2-7.6 would seem spot on for PH and if you have not added chlorine to your pool lately then you should expect a chlorine reading of zero. The...[/quote] Thanks for the information Colin. I will try again tomorrow. We are living in department 17, called Charante Maritime, the locals have told us that the winters are relatively mild, with little in the way of snow, and about 15 days of sub 0 degrees. The previous owner told us to purchase chlorine tablets and insert one in each of the two holes at the top of the pool. he said put 1 in every 3 weeks in winter and 1 in every week in summer. We looked at the tablets today after your mail and they show virtually no deterioration at all. Are we supposed to crumble them up. ?   GAS

[quote]HiI also inherited a pool.They are actually quite simple to maintain.I've made some notes here : http://tlp.netfirms.com/pool.htmBonne chancePeter[/quote] Hi Peter,   I am unable to link in to the site indicated. can you construct it so that i can click on to it and end up at the site.   GAS

I have downloaded a pile of info from the net on how to maintain the swimming pool. Having read the documentation I have decided either i obtain the services of a maintenance company or I sign on for a 7 year degree in chemistry at the local university.   I visited the local SP company, I have very little French and they have 0 english. The result was that we have been informed that we require a winter cover for the pool. The one we were shown did not look much different than the so called summer one that we currently have covering the pool.   Why is it necessary to have a winter cover.?   We have discovered a test kit in the pool house. We tested for chlorine, and the result was between 7.2 and 7.6. We also tested for ph and the results did not give a reading. in addition some form of tablets are in the test kit, what are these for. ?   We also have large containers for PH negative and PH positive, what are these used for.   Any help would be appreciated.   george

I have downloaded a pile of info from the net on how to maintain the swimming pool. Having read the documentation I have decided either i obtain the services of a maintenance company or I sign on for a 7 year degree in chemistry at the local university.   I visited the local SP company, I have very little French and they have 0 english. The result was that we have been informed that we require a winter cover for the pool. The one we were shown did not look much different than the so called summer one that we currently have covering the pool.   Why is it necessary to have a winter cover.?   We have discovered a test kit in the pool house. We tested for chlorine, and the result was between 7.2 and 7.6. We also tested for ph and the results did not give a reading. in addition some form of tablets are in the test kit, what are these for. ?   We also have large containers for PH negative and PH positive, what are these used for.   Any help would be appreciated.   george

I have downloaded a pile of info from the net on how to maintain the swimming pool. Having read the documentation I have decided either i obtain the services of a maintenance company or I sign on for a 7 year degree in chemistry at the local university.   I visited the local SP company, I have very little French and they have 0 english. The result was that we have been informed that we require a winter cover for the pool. The one we were shown did not look much different than the so called summer one that we currently have covering the pool.   Why is it necessary to have a winter cover.?   We have discovered a test kit in the pool house. We tested for chlorine, and the result was between 7.2 and 7.6. We also tested for ph and the results did not give a reading. in addition some form of tablets are in the test kit, what are these for. ?   We also have large containers for PH negative and PH positive, what are these used for.   Any help would be appreciated.   AMS

We have recently arrived in france. ( 3 months). We have just moved into a house and it comes with a pool. We have no idea how to operate it. The previous owners have emigrated and the only information that they gave to us was to put chlorine tablets into the pool, two every 3 weeks in winter and 1 every week in summer. The pool house contains various tubs of chemicals and a testing kit.   can anyone provide us with some advice.   AMS