BJSLIV

Not directly a French matter, but P&O have today announced that the Portsmouth to Bilbao service will end in September. This is yet another sign that the ferries are not having an easy time at the moment.

THE OP stated that their friends had been overdrawn for two months. This would not be the normal arrangement for a French overdraft. The usual maximum is 30 days. The maximum amount and duration will be set out in the application/contract that they signed for the facility.  

The land is included in the calculation as VAT payable is calculated from the total selling price. As their was no tax paid on the land purchase, there is no credit available from that source. Put another way building land is not liable to VAT, the land once developed is taxable!  

In theory, and the law states, that you can take either number with you. In practice the operator's don't make it easy and some refuse saying that it is impossible.  It's easier to move the land-line number. But some people having moved their land-line number  to a 100% ADSL basis, have then lost that number the next time try a different ADSL provider. Best of Luck!  

Fat chance! When Ifrance had major server problems their customers lost a fortnights worth of mail, with no apology offered.

Seems to be working  now, having tested it by sending myself an email. I  had 5 incoming messages rejected/blanked  as infected earlier this morning. I hope they were nothing significant!  

This site gives a list of what's available in 2 cents per minute for dial up. http://www.ariase.com/fr/comparatifs/rtc.html As M Guerche has pointed out the main players such as Orange, and Free no longer push their 56k services.    

Britline = Brand Name of a product from Credit Agricole. Its operated by one of the Credit Agricoles (Normandy?). Benefit English speaking service , disadvantage no local branch......unless you live in Normandy!

The 5.5% rate is only a temporary measure, like UK Income Tax!,  so it has to be renewed every couple of years. The next renewal is due at the end of 2010. The last time it was renewed it was all very last minute and caused all manner of problems. It seems to work very well, and it would seem to be unlikely that it would be scrapped. However with governments facing fiscal problems and  renewal needing a green light by Brussels, you should never say never!

More New Labour spin! Why would anyone believe what the HSE have rather than The Oracle aka  The Daily Mail.......

To make things even more confusing Transmanche now operate the Portsmouth routes for LD Lines, but the discounts only apply  to Newhaven!

Whether you ask in English or in French, its unlikely that anyone will reveal the airport's strategy with regard to Ryanair's demand for more money. The negotiations will continue and eventually we will find out if Ryanair will stay or pull out.  

Rockstitch is right the free calls with any providers packages exclude calls to special numbers . So though its charged at local rate it ain't a local call so it's chargeable. Its the UK O845 business all over again!

I don't think that the airport is going  to close it's just that they, like Poitiers and others, are currently under pressure from Ryanair. In essence "Increase the money you currently pay to us or we will pull out"........... http://blog.charentelibre.com/journal/index.php?post/2009/12/12/4368-le-non-au-chantage-de-ryanair

The basic rates are 12% pour les entreprises de vente de biens et marchandises • 21,30% pour les prestations de services dans le cadre d’activités commerciales ou artisanales, soumises au régime des bénéfices industriels et commerciaux • 21,30% pour les bénéfices non commerciaux relevant du régime social des indépendants (RSI) • 18,30% pour les professions libérales relevant de la Cipav. To arrive at the higher rate, inclusive of income tax, rate  you add on • 1% pour les entreprises de vente de biens et marchandises • 1,7% pour les prestations de services dans le cadre d’activités commerciales ou artisanales, soumises au régime des bénéfices industriels et commerciaux • 2,2% pour les bénéfices non commerciaux relevant du régime social des indépendants (RSI) • 2,2% pour les professions libérales relevant de la Cipav.   So someone paying 23% like Richard, is paying at the higher rate.

In order to be exempt from the TP you have to opt for the higher rate of deductions under the AE scheme. It's the higher rate of deductions that also includes the income tax deduction. If you don't opt for that scheme then TP still applies.  

Never mind, if Bernanke was right, there is going to be so much supervision and oversight from Brussels, thanks to the new Sarkozy/European  consensus,  that there won't be any scope for things to go wrong in future.

They connect to your wireless broadband router in just the same way that a PC or laptop would do. They work very well , though the quality of the sound depends, as does would any transistor radio.on the quality of the set. You can then listen to a whole world of radio, including all the BBC local radio stations, and Radio 4 with or without the Test Matches!  

Its in all the local newspapers http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/dossiers/journal/index.php?dep=79&num=1464740 The feeling seems to be that Ryanair have the owners over the proverbial barrel so they will be forced to hand over the Million Euros demanded.  

Yes, it certainly seems to be keeping itself busy shuttling back and forth to Ireland since it gave up the trips to Portsmouth!

His best  bet would be to negotiate with the developer a settlement that would allow him to walk away. The cumulative legal costs and consequences of being pursued through the english courts could be far more expensive.

What I was getting at is that FT and SFR offer service options which are deliberately restricted to , for example, 512k, 1m, or 2m, whereas the the Free service automatically offers the best the line can handle. As Pacha has said in non degroupee areas whoever you go with will be using the FT ADSL equipment rented wholesale. When you signed up with FT I assume that you were told that there faster services were not available on your line, hence you were put on one of the fixed rate products. Does the Free website make the same assumption and hence say that no service is available on your line?  

and also only applicable if full degroupee is it not ? No Free offer a service in both degroupee and non-degroupee areas. We are non-degroupee and could have line, ADSL and VOIP calls for 30 Euros a month, or pay the same and keep our FT line rental. I just don't know whether your pessimistic results would cause Free to say your were ineligible for any service from them. Have you tried www.free.fr to see what, if anything, they would offer?

Trying to sell with a tenant would , to me, seem to reduce the saleability and/or price of the property. You could give notice to the tenant six months before the contact comes to an end, which would give them the right to buy at the price you are intending to sell the property. Putting the question of the tenant aside your calculation of the VAT due is correct, assuming that you have included the VAT on the kitchen. Its not worthwhile getting hung up on the VAT, because once the five years is up, the Notaire's fees will increase by about 10,000 Euros which, in selling price TTC terms, has a greater impact on your net receipts. If you keep the property then the VAT paid is irrelevant, you have no right to reclaim the VAT any more than you would have on anything else you might purchase; cars, meals , CDs...... Don't forget you will also have around 6,000 Euros of Capital Gains Tax to pay.    

how can I test the actual speed of my Free.fr line? http://www.speedtest.net/ And it's often interesting to see what speed the line is actually synced at by looking at the router config results pages..