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Will

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Everything posted by Will

  1. If your work is carried out in UK for a UK employer, then you will pay UK tax. If you are continuing your French employment but working on secondment then different rules apply, if you are self-employed then it may or may not work differently, depending on whether or not you are registered as a business in France. Your husband's income is of no interest to the UK tax people, because UK taxes you as individuals whereas France taxes you as a couple. At least as far as tax is concerned, you will keep your French fiscal resident status because your husband will still be living in France. That means you need to declare your UK income in France - under the double taxation agreement it won't be taxed again as such, though you may find an additional amount of French tax will be payable if your joint income is in a higher French tax bracket as a result. Where you pay social security is basically governed by where you spend the most time. I am assuming you will spend more time in UK than in France, so you will pay NI. Your EHIC will allow you to access the French health system when in France. Presumably your husband's healthcare arrangements will continue, but you will need to check his eligibility if he is not on a UK state pension. As far as education is concerned, I will leave answering that up to those with actual experience. I don't see any legal or physical difficulties with what you propose, but some other parents who have brought up children through a similar stage of education may have something to say about the practicalities  and the wisdom of what you intend to do.
  2. If you are intending to buy a house in France because that's where you want to be - either permanently or part-time - then you will probably do it anyway, regardless of the negative points. If you are looking for a return on investment, forget it. There are many better ideas.
  3. If you look at Google maps, about 4-5km north-east of Fougerolles-du-Plessis, on the D122 road, you will see a lake, Etang de la Hautonnière, at the junction with the D512. Just south of this lake, on the D512, is a smaller lake, with what looks like a disused mill building opposite, on the other side of the road. The stone was (as I remember it, my original post is now seven years old, so the plaque may not still be there) beside the D512, on the western side, between the junction and the smaller lake. Hope this helps - best of luck with your research. Family history is a fascinating subject.
  4. I just want to make it claer that I don't necessarily think I would drink wine of any colour with battered fried cod, or drink Sauternes with anything other than pudding or some cheeses - or maybe something like foie gras -  but if somebody else likes such combinations surely that's up to them. I wouldn't want to tell them they are wrong, it's personal taste. In my opinion there's too much crap spouted about the 'right' wines, and having just, an hour or two ago, had a meal in Norway accompanied by some very unusual choices of drink, I am speaking direct from experience.
  5. [quote user="crossy67"]How would you be able to charge TVA if you were not registered for it? This one is quite interesting for me as we have a large house and were thinking of taking guests for a couple of months a year.  However, I doubt we would want to be doing this full time or on a permanent basis and would like to keep our options open if we wanted to sell the house in a few years. Any more info would be greatly received. Thanks. [/quote] Unlike in Britain, there is no 'registration' as such for TVA in France. If you have a micro-entreprise (which includes autoentrepreneur) you come outside the TVA regime. If your business is 'réel', even if the turnover is below the micro limit, you are liable for TVA. If you have run a micro business from your home in France, then it is still a business and you should declare it as such to the notaire. The notaire and/or the local tax office will decide whether, or in what proportion, TVA may be payable. My understanding is that if you have run an unregistered B&B business (even though it may be 100% legal) then you should treat it as a private residence when selling.
  6. In Britain thre is a clear division between mutual insurers and commercial companies, though the former may not necessarily be cheaper or more beneficial than the latter. In France, the divisions are rather more blurred, so 'mutelle' and 'complementaire' have come to mean much the same thing. Companies that describe themselves as 'mutuelle' may have been 'mutual', i.e. sharing profits among members/policyholders, in the past, but are probably just subsidiaries of  commercial insurers at present.
  7. Drink what you like. If you fancy red wine with fish & chips that's OK, if you don't fancy it then drink something else, surely. Wine, like anything else, in suitable. moderate, quantities, won't do you any harm. It may even do some good according to some doctors. I don't see any harm in a glass or two every day, but obviously if you drink a bottle every day then you may have a problem. But surely it depends on the rest of your diet, and the amount of exercise you get.
  8. I've found, personally, that Epson cartridges dry out completely if lightly used, but HP ones seem much more tolerant of light use. Can't speak for Canon, Lexmark, etc. But we only use an inkjet if we actually need colour. For everyday printing a cheap mono laser from Samsung is perfect, and far more economical, even with compatible cartridges from ebay.
  9. http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/diesel-particulate-filters/ Our current diesel (French) car gets very little use but fortunately is old enough to return ridiculously good MPG figures and not have a DPF. I don't think we will replace it with a newer diesel, despite all the pro-Diesel arguments and the fact that my day job makes having anything other than a diesel car unforgivable. And that's all down to the DPF. Rudolf Diesel must be turning in his grave.
  10. Will

    Sainsburys

    Funny. but whenever I go into Sainsburys and see the clothes range under the 'TU' brand I think of Idun's previous forum name [;-)] But seriously, I've always found the TU range excellent, I have several much-liked items that I wear often and didn't cost very much at all.
  11. That's sad. I met him on a couple of occasions. His remit was to produce good programmes rather than show himself in a favourable light. I enjoyed his French adventures, and his Island Parish programmes, but the thing I will remember him for is being attacked by an aggressive pig on the BBC South news programme.
  12. I agree, 99% of Facebook is pretty horrendous - either scary or mindnumbing. But there are private groups there which work well for people like us.
  13. [quote user="Russethouse"]If I remember correctly Dick Smith just got tired of the forums - Will may know..... I sometimes wonder about Chris Head who did the wood carving with a chain saw - he came back briefly but he's not been around for a while..... What about Tresco ?  I know a really nice lady called Magaret moved to Italy rather than France, after years of learning French too ! [/quote] Sorry to be late coming to this discussion. Dick is still around. We're still in touch with him and some other former forum users via Fessebook, which is very handy as I can't justify keeping our Normandy forum going any more.
  14. If you can prove to HMRC that you are French resident and pay French social security cotisations, there should be nothing to worry about. You only need to contribute to one European social security system.
  15. Frederick You can have a micro business alongside some other form of employment or self employment. Might it be possible for you to arrange things so that your UK income could be declared in such a way that it appears to be separate from your French micro? That way you could declare it in UK and pay UK tax on it (less expenses of course, which could be substantial as you have done a lot of travelling), then declare it in France as separate worldwide income already taxed elsewhere. As you are in the French social security system there should be no need to pay NI. Just a thought...
  16. [quote user="Frederick"]If I can declare and pay in the UK then that would be best. Why do you not suggest that? ...[/quote] To be honest, tax isn't the problem here. For one thing you don't have a choice as to where you pay tax - that's taken care of by the double taxation agreement between France and UK. You say 'working for the company' - I assumed from your original post that you were self employed. If you were employed by the company than you would pay UK tax on your earnings in UK. If self employed it's not quite so straightforward, you need to talk to a better accountant than the one you saw before, but first of all have a read of www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/france.pdf Under the agreement you are only taxed once on any particular income, though as you are French resident you may have extra tax to pay in France if the UK income takes your worldwide income into a higher tax band. Your problem is really with social security contributions - though I don't see it as a problem, because you need only belong to one country's scheme so you only pay contributions to one country. As a general rule, the country to which you pay is the country in which you spend the most time, presumably France in your case. Whether your UK income means you will have to pay additional cotisations over and above what you paid on your French micro business I don't know - if you don't pursue it, nobody may ask. If you are worried, then again, the answer is check with a decent accountant.
  17. Unless you stayed in Britain for the majority of the tax year, and from what you say this sounds unlikely, you should not need to pay compulsory NI contributions. Without knowing all the details, it may be best to come clean with the French authorities and pay normal self-employed contributions. Although these are high, as you are outside the micro limits you should be able to claim your true costs, and as this presumably includes travel to, and stays in, the UK, they could be quite substantial, which will keep your cotisations (and tax) lower than you would have paid as a micro. At least, that's how it worked for me in a similar position.
  18. An important reason why Chancer should cast his eye over the lyrics is to avoid any unintentional howlers. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I know they can occur when a non-native English speaker tries to write in English. That's apart from the seeming French obsession with the f word in English lyrics, and other unfortunate coincidences - like the popularity in Normandy a few years back of a Madness track, 'Shame and Scandal' (an old calypso/reggae classic which happens to be about incest). [;-)]
  19. Coops - That's a really interesting band whom I remember well from the early 1980s (by the way, the correct link is here). They should really appeal to the French as they include an accordeon - in fact its my accordeon hero. Pub quizzes, now that's another memory from the 1980s. We do have them not too far away from us in France (British-organised) but I have to confess I have never been. Maybe because the regular participants include some of the whingeing Brits-in-France whom I dislike so much as well as one or two really good friends.
  20. I think Charly was talking in general terms about a particular attitude that is all-too-rife in the so-called 'expat' community and is well to the fore in programmes like this, rather than giving a personal viewpoint. At least, that's how I read the post (and I definitely did read Charly's post, as well as Idun's and Cooperlola's). If I made any error, it was probably taking a quote out of context, but that was done to refer to where it occurred in the conversation rather than actually attributing it to Charly. My personal view still stands that I don't believe there can be any justification for the black-and-white extreme 'France good UK bad' (or vice versa) sort of comment. There is no reason why one can't like both places, each have good and bad points, and the virtues and negatives are often more similar than we think. Unfortunately this sort of programme, and the resulting forum discussion, often tends to forget this.
  21. [quote user="Charly"][quote user="idun"]Charly, give us a break, quit the sinking ship and all that poppy rot. [/quote][/quote] Why is it that topics like this which discuss a positive view of France, have to attract cheap digs at Britain? Just because some of us live in France, either full-time or part-time, doesn't mean we can't love our home nation as much, or even more. Surely it is possible to like both, and to accept that life in both nations has good and bad points. I actually feel rather sorry for people who say they can't wait to get out of a place where they were born, grew up and have lived in for a long time. I think that's far sadder than trying to recreate a bit of their own culture in another country.
  22. Did it look pretty?    Yes, it did. Were the people happy, in good health and wealthy?    Of course. Did they mention any downsides?    Not as such, unless you are one of those who regard fish and chips, bingo, cricket, English shops etc in a negative way. Did it look like a fair reflection of life?    Not convinced. Was it an interesting programme?    Not really. Will I watch any more?    Maybe. Did it make me want to emulate the participants?    Not in the least. Was it full of stereotypes?    To bursting.
  23. Will

    Know your numbers

    I think this varies a lot between GP practices. Mine (talking England rather than France at present) is always checked if I see the GP, though maybe that's because I take medication to keep it under control. Routine checks like BP monitoring are generally undertaken by the practice nurse rather than having to make a GP appointment specifically for it - the doc only gets involved if the numbers are outside the correct range. The surgery I was with previously had a 'check it yourself' machine for use by patients, and encouraged people to use it. Most pharmacies will do a check for you. In France there was just the one doc, no nurses, not even a secretary or receptionist, so a BP check was generally part of any consultation. There seemed to be an unwritten rule that you went out of the surgery with even more things wrong with you -generally picked up in the customary visual examination - than you thought you had when you walked in. Maybe there was an 'arrangement' between the doc and the pharmacy. Idun's BP does sound a bit low, knowing she is of a 'certain age', but there could be many reasons for this. It's natural for it to rise as we get older, so it shouldn't really fall. Mine is nicely low at present, as is my heart rate - according to the gym machines my estimated VO2 max hovers between the 'excellent' and 'elite' bands, suggesting I should be joining Chancer on a half-marathon, but in my case it has a lot more to do with medication than actual fitness levels.
  24. She sounds like a small witch [:)] Most of those I have known were rather more substantially-built than that. But Chancer - that's bloody marvellous. Speaking as another with recent experience of fitness gain and weight loss I know what hard work it can be, though how pleasing it is when it comes together. Although I'm happy with my results, I haven't achieved anything like you have.
  25. I think you've missed my point, Q. These programmes, and the discussions about them, centre on a certain type of person. The activities are secondary, it doesn't matter whether or not they like F&C (I do) or play cricket (I don't, but would if I was any good at it), it's just that they are not my choice of people. If we are to be honest, it's their views of politics and life in general, and their whingeing, cheapskate, xenophobic attitudes that I disagree with, not what they choose to do in their spare time. Or where they choose to live - though I'd rather it wasn't near me, whether it was in England, France, Spain, or anywhere else. And unfortunately there seem to be a disproportionate number of such people in Normandy. I can't speak for the other regions, not having lived there. For all I know they are probably all lovely, tolerant, liberal-minded, helpful people who settle in the Dordogne. I hope the programme shows that.
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