Will

Yes, I look at English papers frequently. My own magazine style sheet is based on the Times guide to style and usage, but unfortunately the Times sub-editors seem to be unaware of the existence of that book. Even The Oldie, normally a haven of decent writing, got that particular one wrong in its current issue. Language is something that is constantly changing, and things which were once total no-go areas - like split infinitives, or starting a sentence with a conjunction - are now acceptable if they make a piece less clumsy. Another example is 'decimate' that means to 'reduce by one-tenth', but the meaning of 'almost totally wipe out' seems generally accepted. We can all make mistakes of course.   To get back on topic, I seem to recall Mrs W, in the course of her duties as an estate agent in France, telling me about unwelcome attentions from the French equivalent of dirty old men.

[quote user="Petite Anglaise"]...French attitudes to love and sex are totally different to ours... [/quote] No, any real journalist would know that it's always 'different from', not 'different to' (and never 'different than'). [;-)]

[quote user="AnOther"]We have no reason to think that the OP's OH will be seeking work in France of course however there is an aspect to that situation which has crossed my mind but I am unsure of it's validity, quite possibly none but here goes anyway: If she did take up employment then it would disqualify her from inclusion on the S1, fair enough. If she became entitled to health care by virtue of employment it would, as I understand it, also cover her OH in which case an argument could be made by HMRC that the S1 was no longer required and consequently a renewal refused. This would not necessarily matter if the French job were secure and long term however if it fizzled out prematurely they could both be left without cover and I don't know how easy it would be to persuade HMRC to reissue an S1. [/quote] If you are entitled to health care in France in your own right, such as, for example, via an S1 or A1 (formerly known as worker's E106 or E101) then you would, officially at least, not be enttled to piggy-back on to your spouse's French cover (I know, we've been there). You are only entitled to be included in your OH's French health cover if you are truly inactive. I totally agree with AnO that we don't know whether or not the OP's OH (all these acronyms - sounds like we're talking abot France) plans to work or not, and the chances are that won't be the case because of the difficulties involved in finding work in France. But people do move to France with finding a job featuring in their plans, so it's a situation that can't be dismissed because it has a considerable bearing on your position regarding tax and social security.

As long as you have no French income it is indeed just as straightforward as AnO says. If you do earn income in France, for example your spouse may be employed and/or run a small business, then this will be taxable in France, and probably liable for payment of social security cotisations rather than piggy-backing onto your entitlement to the S1/E106. For the purpose of French taxation, your French and UK incomes are combined to determine your joint tax band - France taxes you as a couple - and, in effect, the tax you have paid in GB is credited against your French liability. It's actually rather more complicated than that, but that's more or less how it works. This can result in a somewhat larger tax bill in France than if you and your wife were taxed individually. Just something to be aware of, that people don't always take into account.

Although it is true that there is usually a pretty long wait to get a routine eye test in France, most opthamologues set some time aside for urgent consultations so if it really is urgent you should get seen quickly. You may need to go via your medecin traitant to get an urgent slot, but I would have thought it would have been well worth the small non-refundable proportion of the GP's fee to jump the queue?

What's the problem? Not knowing these other people's circumstances I can't pass judgement on whether or not they are legal, but it can be perfectly kosher to run a small chambres d'hôtes business without having to register and get a Siret number. If you feel that badly, why not familiarise yourself with Google searches in order to ensure that people find your website in preference to this other one, and show that you offer better value as well as being fully registered and insured? Give them reason to feel bitter and jealous about you.

So, then, our CA bank is named after pre-revolution Normandie (which surely included most of England), and our dept is the River Manche? Now that's quite some river... I think I'd prefer the neighbouring dept, the River Calvados, that would be much more useful. This is definitely the place to come for rubbish facts about France :)

Surely Norman is as entitled to his opinion as anybody else?

Norman, Simpkins of the France wasn't based on you by any chance? (It's a character on the Armstrong & Miller show on the BBC as you have probably have no dealings with the English media).

Of course it's juvenile and childish (tautology rules OK). That's why it's so brilliant. I think it was at its best in the mid-1980s, but it's still funny now. I often buy it, along with Private Eye, to read on the ferry, A lot of people seem surprised it is still going, and ask if they can have a look.

Well, it's obvious that different rules apply to the Dutch. I caught the last in the Oz Clarke and Hugh Dennis series of programmes on the TV yesterday evening. They were travelling around Britain (mostly Wales in this instance) in a Dutch-registered camper van. If that had been French I am sure the holier-than-thou brigade would have posted by now about how illegal it is for British residents to drive French-registered vehicles in UK and there would be total shock and horror at the BBC apparently condoning such a heinous crime (according to their on-line biographies, Oz lives in West London, Hugh in Chichester). But as the van was Dutch, it's all OK. [geek]

Well, I spent almost two years working almost entirely in France on a self-employed basis for my existing (and a couple of new) English clients under the E101 form before registering a French business. I certainly fulfilled the necessary conditions then, and as it sounds as if the OP may be in a similar position I suggested he looked at that option. From Albert's post above it doesn't sound as if the conditions have changed that much in the intervening years, except for the vaguely worded advice about continuing 25% of activities in UK (which was previously even more vague - as I averaged about 5 working days away from France each month I just about met that condition anyway). And the 12 months limit of validity of the form seems now to have increased to 'up to 24 months'. The advice was for the OP to investigate whether he would be considered eligible, rather than a statement that he could get an E101 type form.

If you are undecided and want to try living and working in France before burning your bridges I suggest you look into whether or not you can work under what was the E101 form. This allows you to continue being taxed, and to pay NI, in Britain but be accepted into the French systems on a temporary basis - and completely legally despite some of the comments above. I believe the former E101 is now one of the various A1 forms. You have to meet certain conditions, but it sounds as if you should be OK. This gives you a year, and if all the authorities agree you can renew for another year. By then you should be able to decide whether to stay, and register your own business in France, or you may discover working in France isn't really for you.  

[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"] [quote user="Chancer"]  I am still on my doctors list in my village in Sussex and he is (was) happy to treat me not that I have seen him for a good few years, I cant see this being the fraud that they are talking about.  [/quote] Whilst you should have come off your doctor's list (why on earth would you want/need to stay on it?), IF your UK doctor knows that you're left the Uk, it's him that commits the fraud.  UK GPs get an annual payment for every person they have on their list, sort of a stipend, whether they see them or not.  Your old GP has had 6 x stipend for Chancer, therefore it's HIM that has committed the fraud IF he knows you're no longer a UK resident. [/quote] Interesting. It seems to work in reverse, too. I've been back on the NI system for more than four years now, yet the other day I got a cancer screening kit sent to me from France. According to the BBC News story, the fraudulent claims seem to be those made in the name of deceased relatives, people who are 'asset rich' yet claim poverty, people exaggerating the level of disability, or people continuing to claim UK benefits while getting income from working abroad. It doesn't look as if those with genuine claims allowable under EU guidelines and who are legally resident abroad have much to worry about.  

[quote user="Chancer"] ...the OP was saying the price seemed expensive compared to England, they were asked what it was in England but didnt reply. [/quote] At the risk of being flamed too, I did a very quick google which suggested that logs in England are sold by volume rather than weight, bagged for easy handling, and 80cm seasoned hardwood logs can cost about £250 for 1.68m3 including VAT and delivery. (www.logs2u.co.uk) I'm sure people can find cheaper local suppliers if they wish, and may even find those who supply by weight, but the OP's 'rip off' French price seems pretty reasonable compared with a typical English source?  

You would need to ask the ferry companies because it depends on whether or not they have secure places for dogs onboard and the terms of the DEFRA licence. The only operator I know for sure will allow dogs with foot passengers is DFDS, but that's no use travelling from/to France.  Brittany Ferries has kennels on board at least two of its ships (one being the ship used on the St Malo-Portsmouth route, and the other - which also has a few 'pet friendly cabins' - is used on some Cherbourg crossings). As far as I know this is the only cross-channel operator thus equipped. The fact that nobody else has replied would seem to indicate that this is indeed the case. However, I don't think it's company policy to allow other than motorised passengers to carry pets. I did read somewhere (no idea whether or not it's true) that LD Lines will allow dogs accompanied by foot passengers if you provide a suitable cage to contain the dog during the voyage.

It's interesting how the likes of Susan Boyle come under the heading of 'mindless viewing pleasure' when they appear on British reality TV, yet when they are on a French programme they are 'worth a look in'.

Well, we now know that the system works. We have just returned through the thick snow from collecting the wandering cat (Judie's, not the other one) from a nearby dog warden who was able to trace the microchip.

Wish I was sailing the world... Perfectly correct, no buyer or charterer at present willing to take on the ship, so she is returning to limited operations, primarily for freight - for which she was originally intended. I remember going on her inaugural press trip in, I think, 1991 (and still have the freebie 'Barfleur Truckline' beach towel that was handed out for some unaccountable reason - maybe they expected her to sink?).  

But surely the point is that the rents still have to be declared, certainly so in the country where they are taxable (in this case UK), and as part of worldwide income in the country where you are tax resident. If the income falls below the receipent's UK personal allowance, then no tax will be payable and the UK tax code will not be affected.  

Can't you have male slags? I'm sure I've met a few. And if fruit picking stopped you getting pregnant, I'm sure the Vatican would ban it.

[quote user="lavorgere"]There was a tthread recently which I have been unable to find again regarding being charged a tax relating to the notional rental value of your home if it was registered as your prmises for AE purposes. I think Will posted and said that he had declared one room in the house for this purpose and I wanted to ask if 1) I had understood correctly and 2) how did you do this ? Thank you .[/quote] Yes, you understood correctly, and it was done on a form that was sent as part of the business registration process, relating to taxe professionelle (too long ago to remember much about it). I also said that this registration was not done under AE, in fact it was several years before AE was even conceived. Although my first year's tax was dealt with under the micro regime, subsequent years were undertaken as réel, which worked out much more economically viable. AE, in particular, was initially exempt from taxe professionelle. I do recall reading about people having been sent forms relating to this tax and there was a lot of confusion about whether it should be completed, or ignored as they were exempt. I suspect those who ignored it may be finding now that they are being charged for the replacement tax on the basis of their entire premises rather than the portion that was declared as being for business use. Another point was that under the réel regime it was possible to offset costs of lighting, heating etc for the business 'premises', and that offset is not available if you are on AE or one of the other micro regimes.  

I wasn't going to mention the residence/domicile confusion, but since you brought it up France tends to regard the two as virtually interchangeable, whereas UK regards them as entirely separate concepts. UK also has concepts such as 'ordinary residence' which don't exist in France. This is a useful guide for establishing whether or not you are resident in France. You can be dual resident, but you can only have one domicile. EHIC covers rather more than the E111, which is one of the forms it replaced. It is not solely for emergencies, and can be used for continuing treatment of existing conditions, but doesn't cover permanent residence, and for most purposes a stay of (or intention to remain for) six months out of a 12-month period is enough to convince the authorities that your stay is more permanent than temporary. The main exception is cross-border working, for which you will need an aditional E form or the current A1 or S1 equivalent, but as you don't intend to work as such you won't benefit from that.  

[quote user="Quillan"] One thing is that like the UK if you are married then only one of you has to be in the French health care system and the other 'gets in' on the back of them or so I believe.[/quote] Only if the 'piggy-backing' partner is 'inactive'. If he/she is employed or self-employed (even in a different country) they are responsible for their own health assurance. (From personal experience). The limited compnay idea was, effectively, closed a few years ago. Although a few people seem to get round it somehow - maybe legally, maybe not.  

£1250 a month is more than many French people have. However, once agency fees and commission, tax, insurance and general running and maintenance expenses are considered you are not likely to actually receive a living wage from your house so you will need extra money. Frankly, I think doing legal work in France, even on a part-time basis, could prove a non-starter. Quite apart from the fact that running a business involves high costs, which discourage part-time businesses unless they meet the 'autoentrepreneur' restrictions, the professions are very closely controlled and regulated. If you are practicing in France - even if all your clients are non-French - you will come under that umbrella. I don't know exactly about lawyers, but even estate agents selling to the foreign market have to have either French legal qualifications or many years of documented official experience before being issued with the card that allows them to practice, so I can't see the law being any less strict. Your only option for working in France may be to keep your work under-cover and hidden from the authorities. But that carries considerable risks. Although France largely turns a blind eye to the sort of black market work that involves doing a few extra jobs through your business and not putting them through the books, it looks rather differently on 100% 'unofficial' businesses and the penalties are severe. And neither can you fund your healthcare through black-market activities.