parischic

Hi there - you should check out La Maison des Artistes which is a special régime for artists: http://www.lamaisondesartistes.fr/ My husband will be registered as from this month as a storyboard/animatic artist and will pay only 5,5% TVA instead of 19,6%. I'm still learning myself all the implications but all the artist/graphic designer friends we have are with this organisation. And there is no upper limit to earnings as there is with AE.    

Hi there Can someone please shed  some light on this tax, which replaces the former Taxe Professionnelle. I've been told that this is payable annually as a lump sum (the amount is fixed by the commune) by all businesses whether they are AE, Eurl or whatever. This is a fixed amount, non negociable and is payable even if an AE has zero turnover, or even if there is a loss! I'm quickly becoming disillusioned with the whole AE set up :-( 

Unfortunately I'm still no clearer about my particular case (I worked in UK sporadically from 1963 - 1979 before settling in France in 1980) so I reckon another detailed letter or email to the Pensions Office is in order ( and another 7 months wait !) As for voluntary contributions there are 2 rates :  Class 3 and the cheaper Class 2, which means in order to be eligible to pay the lower rate, I have to give the name and adress of my last employer in UK before I moved to France. I'll get there in the end - just requires lots of patience! Meanwhile Im waiting till 65 to claim my French pension so as not to have a "décote"  .

I'll be targeting primarily non-French guests as my core future clientele, so I wanted the name to be in English not French. "La Maison Blanche" is definitely a no-no (don't want Mr Obama suing me for pinching his house name  !). Back to the drawing board for more inspiration I guess !

Nil - nada - zilch  - rein du tout !!!!!!  I've worked out that it may be best for me to pay the extra contributions which I'll recoup after 44 weeks. But still not totally clear yet....

 Easyjet refunded us the cost of flights, journey to & from the airport & bank charges. So we actually ended up about  €12 in pocket for some strange reason !  Still very annoyed at the flight cancellation,  but very straightforward refund process and almost immediate refund....

Just wondering how you all chose a name/label for your B & B business?  I suppose if your house already has a rural name "Les Clos de...." ; "Les Glycines.." ;  "Les Mas...."  then no problem. I'll be opening early next year (should have been this year, but postponed due to family bereavement) near Paris & I want the name to sound right without being too twee.. The house is painted white (with white louvred shutters, wall & fence). Whenever folks are visiting me for the first time the instructions are "the white painted house on the left, halfway down the street..." Names so far :"French White House" ; "A House Near Paris" - naff or what ? :-)

After waiting almost 7 months, I finally had a reply to my letter to the Pension Service in Newcastle!  I’ve been informed that if I pay voluntary contributions of £626.60 for each of the next tax years 2011,  2012, 2013 (i.e. £626.60x 3) I’m entitled to a pro-rata State Pension of 29% (£28.32 a week). This will be increased by 10,4% for each year I delay retirement, past 60. Or I can take this as a lump sum - does anyone know how the lump sum is calculated ?   Considering that the French CNAV has translated my years worked in UK as 35 “trimesters” (just 5 “trimesters” short of the 40 (10 years) required for the UK state pension, it seems a little unfair that I have to pay voluntary contributions for 3 whole years.  Yes I know that the French calculate pensions in “trimesters” and the UK count full years only. I’ve thought of contacting the Pensions office to ask them to reconsider & try to negotiate a deal. Would this work ? Has anyone had a similar experience ?   Thanks!  

Thanks, all, for your replies & looks like my  estimate is more or less in line with others.. I'll be getting other estimates in in the next couple of weeks to compare Don't know if we'll be allowed tax allowance - the house was built before 1977 but we've been here 13 years  so don't think we'll be eligible.. And NO there is not more competition among artisans in the Paris area - very difficult to find reliable folk ! pc

We've just been given a quote of  €4000 (including fitting) for replacing 3 French windows, measuring 2,30m x 1,69m, so that's roughly €1300+  per set of windows (double-glazed PVC). Seems very steep to me, but I've absolutely no idea of price as this is the first quote we've received. Is this because we live in the Ile de France area where prices for any sort of renovation-building work are sky high due to lack of good honest artisans & shoddy work is prevalent ? How do I make sure I get a fair deal ? I know in the area, folks with the right connections have ordered windows to be manufactured and shipped from Portugal or Spain or even Sweden, saivng 30% and had them fitted locally. Any comments gratefully received ! Thanks          

I'm replying several days late... Thanks everyone for posting this v useful information - for which I'm very grateful. Sadly, in my case, my 2 daughters were making the journey from UK to attend their grandmother's funeral the following day, which they missed, so made it all the more difficult to accept - but that's another story. So normally expenses for travel to & from the airport (made via public transport) should normally be reimbursed ? They kept the receipts... Thanks

My 2 daughters were due to fly today on Easyjet Luton to Bordeaux. The flight is cancelled & no more flights are scheduled on this line until Saturday. Is there any way we will be reimbursed for the tickets even though Easyjet is not directly responsible ? Thanks

Thanks Danny - saw your thread re the Orange €37 deal -  but  what would be the advantage of  paying slightly more to switch to Orange as opposed to my current Free account - faster ADSL  connection ? pc  

Could you let us know more about this please WR ? And who specifically are the "powers that be" ? Is this something different from the permis d'exploitation required to serve tables d'hôtes, about which there is great confusion? I attended the Passion Chambre d'Hotes in Paris in March & couldn't get a straight answer from anyone there - the guy running the GDF stand was very vague, & said that the legislation had now been revoked & the  "knowledgeable and experienced"  BandB lady giving seminars to eager folks wanting to set up a CdH had never heard of it !! However last week, someone from the tourist office in my département (95) said it was essential (for our département, anyway) at the same time admitting that the 3-day €900 seminar was a total waste of time & irrelevant ! Pch dazed and confused & sometimes having second thoughts about launching B&B next spring ;-)

Free has been my ISP since 2004 or maybe earlier (we were one of the first takers to subscribe to the €29,99 deal) but so far for professional reasons we haven't requested "dégroupage total" even though we have been attributed a 09 number. I now  wnat to change that, but have understandably a huge mistrust of anything I'm told by operators at free. I contacted Free and said they would take care of contacting France Telecom and cancelling my contract - for a fee of  €45 euros. Is this the normal procedure or should I write to FT myself ? And surely as a long-term customer Free should not be charging me for doing this ? Thanks for input PCh