[UK Dividends on Forms 2047 and 2042]

I had the same issue when I posted about a week ago, and it seems that nobody really knows since there were no replies.

By putting your net income in line 203, putting 17.7% in line 204, it seems that the french will then tax you on your net income + 17.7%, which goes into box 2DC, without later making an allowance for this since 8TA, though it appears on the 2042 form, is no longer used for this purpose.

As for me, I put in my net dividend income in line 203. I then put in 17.7% in line 204 as the instructions on the 2047 form (page 4) indicate I should, and the result went into box 2DC and carries over to the 2042 form.

Then, in section 7, reading carefully the instructions for this section, particularly the bit in brackets - après déduction etc - I carried the numbers over from section 2. The 17.7% bit goes into 8VL, appears as a tax credit and goes into the 2042 form in section 8 DIVERS.

I don't know whether this is correct or not, but is at least consistent with what I did last year. Maybe the french have not yet caught up with the new rules in the UK? Also, I really don't know where this number of 17.7% comes from, but I'm guessing that it may derive from the fact that dividend income is liable to both income tax and CSG. Maybe one should put 0% in line 204, if the dividends are less than £5000; that might be fair.

[French online tax form-correction]

Sorry - small error on my part:

Box 8TA does exist on the 2042, but now refers to "Non-résidents : retenue à la source prélevée en France". It was "impôt payé à l'étranger" last year, so is no longer relevant.

[French online tax form]

It seems that a few details have changed since last year, and of particular interest to me is how one enters dividend income using the online facility.

Last year, on the 2047 form, I put in the net amount received in scction 202. The form automatically filled in the 17.7% when I selected "Royaume-Uni" at the top, and then calculated, in 206, the "crédit d'impôt retenu". This amount then appeared in box 8TA, and in box 2DC appeared the total before the tax credit was removed in the UK.

This year, I went through the same process, although I had to put in the 17.7% manually. Also, now I notice the "crédit d'impôt retenu" has no box associated with it, and anyway box 8TA no longer exists on the main 2042 form. It used to be in section 8 "Divers".

So, my question is: how is the "crédit d'impôt retenu" accounted for?

Hopefully someone out there has also encountered this problem and knows the right way to deal with this!

[Green pool]

Many thanks, Théière, that's very reassuring. I will proceed as you suggest.

[Green pool]

I am sure many of you will have encountered this problem, the dreaded "Green Pool" syndrome, in my case caused by lack of maintenance during the winter. In the past I have managed to sort it by a massive dose of choc chlor, but not this time; in fact the colour is almost black.

So, I am at the point of draining it. I am aware that this could well result in detaching the liner, but that needs replacing anyway since it is about 15 years old. The problem is finding someone to do the work; this is a bad time of year to ask since they're all very busy on maintenance contracts; for the time being I have to live with it.

I have been warned that draining the pool could well result in the concrete walls bulging or even collapsing. That seems a little unlikely to me, but I'd be glad to hear from anyone who has experience of draining their pool, or from an expert who knows exactly how to deal with a problem of this sort.

I live near Tarbes in department 65.

[UK TV - signal disappeared?]

I am afraid my calculations are wrong! It seems I am unable to divide 1.2m by 3 cm, so the ratio should be 40, not 400.

This makes things even worse for resolution, but I think you've hit the nail on the head, in that the adjustments provided are totally inadequate for the precision required. A smaller dish will have a wider range of acceptance, but the signal for the narrow beam transmissions on a "small" dish will be too weak for the decoder. As a result the whole process becomes hit or miss.

As you have found, a peak signal meter will certainly help, but now it seems even a 1.2m dish is barely adequate.

[UK TV - signal disappeared?]

We live in 65 near Madiran, and even on a 1.2m dish the reception now varies a lot - more or less OK on a modern Humax decoder but even that is weather dependent. Compared to a year ago, when we never had any problems, the signal now seems to be weaker.

There is one issue which I fail to understand, the difficulty of aligning a larger dish. Using an elementary calculation, the resolving power of an optical element can be calculated from the ratio wavelength being received divided by the aperture. This gives an angle, in radians, from which you can calculate the minimum distance apart of two objects which can just be resolved, known as the Rayleigh criterion.

Carrying out this calculation for a 1.2 metre dish receiving a 10GHz signal, ie 3cm wavelength, the minimum angle comes to 1/400. Since the satellite is about 40,000 kms away, this means that the minimum distance apart for two objects at that distance to be resolved is 100kms. There is no way that the individual Astra 2 satellites, which are only a few kms apart, can be resolved by a dish of that size, so the dish will "see" all of them.

What am I missing? In general I have found aligning my dish no more difficult than my original smaller one, although it has to be precise within 1/400 radians, ie about 1/7th of a degree -  difficult enough!

[Classic Car Insurance]

I have just sent you, by e-mail, the names of some insurance experts

located in Tarbes, Hautes Pyrénées. I have not used them myself yet,

but a colleague of mine has done so and found the one he used very

helpful.

[Classic Car Insurance]

I have a vintage car, and my insurers have told me that it must be

valued by a French expert before they will insure it comprehensively.

They gave me a list of such experts in my area (Hautes Pyrénées);

perhaps your insurance company wll do the same? Usually, they want you

to bring the car to them, but for a fee, depending on distance, they

may be prepared to visit you.

[Pool cleaner]

My problem is with a particular make of pool cleaner.

The two legged pool cleaners in our

household went on strike, so we bought a Dolphin pool cleaner,

electrically operated. This worked brilliantly - for two weeks. Then it

would stop after shorter and shorter intervals, usually while in a

corner of the pool trying to achieve the impossible (it's supposed to

keep working for about three hours as it moves randomly round the

pool), and finally it would work for no more than 5 minutes. We went

back to the guy who supplied it, who, much to my surprise, replaced it

with another one - unusual for France. This then worked brilliantly for

about three weeks, before it too started misbehaving. Back to the

supplier, who now had no replacement and both faulty units have gone

back to the factory. I am not optimistic about seeing a replacement

until after the holidays at the earliest.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has any experience of these

Dolphin pool cleaners (www.dolphin-swimming-pool-cleaners.com). A brief

telephone call to the factory revealed that it was a programming

problem in the power supply, and there was nothing the owner or the guy

who supplied it could do; it had to be returned to the factory.

Meanwhile, guess who's having to clean the pool....

[Yet another salt pool problem!]

We also have problems with our salt pool electrolyser, made by

Irrijardin and already installed when we bought the house. It keeps

showing "add salt", even though the salt level, which we have had

analysed separately, is at the top end of the recommended range. I have

removed the cell, cleaned it carefully but omitted to clean the little

pin in the lid, which I presume is used to measure the salt level? In

the meantime, I checked the DC current flowing to the cell, and this

varied from 1 amp to about 4.5 amps, depending on the level I set with

the switch, and this seems to be the case regardless of whether the

"add salt" warning is on or not. So, I am assuming, for the moment,

that the "add salt" warning does not prevent the cell from working, and

will shortly tear it all apart again and clean everything. My plates

also are black, but I assume that is how they should be? I am extremely

reluctant to pay out any more money on this pool, which is already

costing a small fortune to maintain, so will plough on with the

existing equipment until a major rethink is unavoidable.

And so to a second problem. The two legged pool cleaners in our

household have gone on strike, so we bought a Dolphin pool cleaner,

electrically operated. This worked brilliantly - for two weeks. Then it

would stop after shorter and shorter intervals, usually while in a

corner of the pool trying to achieve the impossible (it's supposed to

keep working for about three hours as it moves randomly round the

pool), and finally it would work for no more than 5 minutes. We went

back to the guy who supplied it, who, much to my surprise, replaced it

with another one - unusual for France. This then worked brilliantly for

about three weeks, before it too started misbehaving. Back to the

supplier, who now had no replacement and both faulty units have gone

back to the factory. I am not optimistic about seeing a replacement

until after the holidays at the earliest.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has any experience of these

Dolphin pool cleaners (www.dolphin-swimming-pool-cleaners.com). A brief

telephone call to the factory revealed that it was a programming

problem in the power supply, and there was nothing the owner or the guy

who supplied it could do; it had to be returned to the factory.

Meanwhile, guess who's having to clean the pool....

[Fully Comprehensive??]

We have a fully french registered RHD Honda Civic, now about 9 years old and insured comprehensively with AGF (430 euros/annum) for two years. About 6 months ago it was side swiped by someone emerging from a car park onto the main road. I had wondered whether the low/zero value of a RHD car in France would mean it would be written off, since the repairs came to 2000 euros. However, there was no quibble from the insurance assessor.

John

[Pipe for Poele]

Thanks, Paul. I know where I can obtain standard lengths of pipe, so I'll now go and buy a metal cutting disk and mark the pipe as you say.

John

[Pipe for Poele]

Owing to a slight error in installation, I now need a white stove-enamelled straight pipe 45mm longer than the standard 1 metre length, ie 1.045 metres. The pipe inside diameter is 120mm. The existing pipe has male and female ends within the 1 metre length

Is it possible to obtain non-standard lengths, and if so where from?

John West

[Is it worth it]

Registering an english vehicle here in France is, in my experience, straightforward, though departments do vary in the bureaucracy involved. If your vehicles have standard VIN plates, and even better an "e" number, then there is no need for a certificate of conformity. I have found french insurance costs similar to those in the UK, and the cost of registering a foreign car in France is reasonable. As for disposal, again the process is straightforward provided the vehicle is registered in France and you have the Carte Grise.

As for spares and repairs, I agree that that is very much a function of where you are in France and could be very expensive indeed if you are forced to use the dealer for your vehicle rather than the local garage. We are fortunate in having a local garage who will repair/maintain any car and whose charges are reasonable, but that will not always be the case.

If you would like further details please contact me. I have now registered three english vehicles in the Hautes Pyrénées, with no problems at all.

[Voiture de Collection]

Hello

I think I can help, since I have registered a vintage

car here in France.

The procedure, at least in Hautes-Pyrénées, is quite

straightforward. The first thing to do is visit the

web site of the Fédération Francaise des Véhicules

d'Epoque, www.ffve.org. On that site you can download

a form on which you fill in the details of your car,

and return it to them, +45 euros. They will then send

you an "Attestation". They may require further

details, in which case they will contact you. At the

moment, and this surprised me, it is also required

that the car undergoes a "Controle Technique". For my

car, made in 1929, the only thing the guy wanted was

a brake light fitted. He was not concerned with

headlamps, windscreen washers, indicators etc and the

brake test was a much reduced one in view of the age

of the car. The third document you need is a statement

that there is no VAT or duty outstanding on the car. I

know it sounds ridiculous, but it is easy to do. You

go to your local Hôtel des Impots and ask for form

1939, I think it is. The FFVE paperwork tells you

which one, in case I have the number wrong. There is

no charge for this and it is easy to fill in.

Armed with the above, you then go to the Prefecture,

and they will register the car as a Voiture de

Collection. There may be further confusion: for

example, in my case, the "Type" of the car was not

recognised by their computer. The lady concerned

phoned Paris and the matter was resolved straight

away. I think she was told to put in an arbitrary

code. And that was it, but there is one further point:

when going to collect your "plaques", I suggest you

ask for black and white ones. They look much better on

an older car then the rather gaudy Euro plates. It is

legal to have them on a Voiture de Collection.

It is certainly not the case that the car can be used

only at weekends, but it is restricted to use in your

and the neighbouring departments. In the stuff which

the FFVE sends you, there are some Carnets to be

filled in should you wish to venture further afield.

The law changes on 1.1.2006; full details are on the

FFVE website, but the main change is that from then

onwards the car will have to undergo a Controle

Technique every 5 years, and there will be no

restriction on using it.

Of course you do not have to register the car as a

Voiture de Collection, but you will then need a

certificate of conformity from the manufacturer. You

send this to the Department of Mines, now DRIRE,

together with their form duly filled in, and they

will issue an attestation. Since the manufacturer of

my car no longer exists, that would have meant a lot

of hassle and I think they would have told me to

register it as a Voiture de Collection. After 2006

it's not a problem anyway.

I hope the above is helpful. Really, the process was

quite painless here, but of course it can vary from

Department to Department. I'll be glad to answer any

further queries you have.