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    

Thanks for info Norman. Went to see a very competent lady at the CNAV yesterday - she confirmed that  when my "congé de reclassement" terminates in September, I will receive ARE (Assedic) indemnities for 36 months until my 65th birthday. I would then have a full  French state pension  (even though I would then only have 147 trimestres instead of the required 160) I hope this is accurate and that from now till 2013 no further legislation will come into force to mess this up... ;-) For the years I worked in UK  (total 35 trimestres) , I've been told by Newcastle that I will not be eligible for UK pension (even a small proportionate amount) as the minimum required is 10 years contributions. ?

paris + chic Paris =: lived near Paris for 30 years - British born, French DH, 2 bilingual offspring Chic =  well, aspire to be so... but it's never going to happen What do I do: currently on "congé de reclassement", then as from  Oct  2010: chômeur - or chômeuse (woo hoo!) , getting Assedic payments till my 65th birthday, working as English tutor, re-purposing and selling on furniture, little bit of this, little bit of that... (Système D - or more formally known as a "portfolio career") PC      

Thanks for reply - I would normally be allowed 3 years Assedic payments (the rule is if you're over 60, and do not have all your trimestres (don't know if this is 'tous régimes' or "régime général")  then you would be eligible. If you have all your trimestres and can retire, then you don't receive Assedic. Yes my figures are based on French pension forecast. At 62 I've been made redundant so don't have the option of working till 65 which I'd intended to do to boost the number of trimestres I have & doubt if I'll get a full -time job now. So am I right in thinking, I would get a part of my pension from France and a part from UK ?

If anyone can shed any light on this niggling issue, to which neither Assedic nor CNAV can or will give me a straight answer, would be very grateful :    Million-dollar question: am I entitled to Assedic benefits ?   The situation: I’m currently on “conge de reclassement” which ends Sept 2010. Date of birth : 1948:  Number of trimesters required for full French pension: 160.   My lastest info received from CNAV: 35 trimestres worked in UK (prior to France) 135 trimestres “regime general”, so a total of 165 trimestres  “tous régimes” My French pension will be reduced by almost 20% as I haven’t the full number of trimesters of “régime general” As far as I know, I’m not entitled to any (even partial) retirement pension from UK, as I understand the minimum number of years contributed is 10.   I’ve contributed full time for the last 3 years, so will I be entitled to Assedic payments for 3 years (more advantageous financially) when my conge de reclassement ends,  or will they refuse, as I have 165 trimestres “tous regimes” and will be automatically have to apply for my retraite ?   It’s looking as if , after working & contributing for  41+ years, all I’ll end up with about 80% of my French state pension & zero from UK (am still waiting for more info from UK pensions office..).   Seems like I’m a  “cas special”   Any wise words of wisdom out there ?   Thanks   PC  

Hi Wilko - no webiste address as yet - as a newbie, am still at the very beginning of my project.  Already got lots of valuable information from past threads here on the forum. I'll be back with my report after I've been to the PassionChambre d'Hotes event. Anyone else intending to go ? Pchic

Hi folks - Just thought I'd post this link in case anyone was interested in this event - an exhibition/salon for B & Bs (free for visitors)  to be held in Paris on 27th & 28th March Espace des Blancs Manteaux -48 rue Vieille du Temple Paris 4ème http://www.passionchambresdhotes.fr/exposants.php?id_event=656 I'm opening  a ChdH in Ile de France this year, so I'll definitely be there to mooch around !    

Thanks for the input, Gardian, much appreciated - she's currently undecided whether to: stay put in Newark over Xmas travel to London & spend Xmas with friends take the London-Dover-Calais-Paris option She'll have to hurry up & decide as her train from  Newark is at 14.10    ;-) Parischic    

My student daughter, travelling from Newark on Trent this afternoon was due to take 5pm Eurostar train tonight to Paris. I'm looking at alternative solutions to get her home for Xmas. This is what I've come up with: she gets herself to Dover and hops over the channel as a foot passenger & gets train to Paris, or I pick her up in Calais she tries to car-share from London or SE to N France or Paris  - any good car-pooling / car-share websites ? Thanks a mill if you have any suggestions - ParisChic

I wonder if any of you seasoned B&B owners can help me? I'm currently putting together information for a Marketing assignment I'm working on as part of a university course in European Business Studies. It would entail completing a short and fairly simple questionnaire about how you have successfully marketed your business. The information will be compiled and  the results available to all who offer to help. If you feel you can help, please do so by posting on the forum, sending me a PM or at my uni address: [email protected]   ParisChic  

If you want a job in EFL teaching AND have the relevant diploma, move to Paris or another large city (how can you possibly hope to find a teaching position in a rural area ?)  BUT you will need CELTA or similar. Here in Paris, more & more language schools & businesses are weeding out unqualified teachers & going for QUALITY  - and having done a CELTA course is proof of that.  Just because you might have x number of years teaching experience on your CV or speak fluent French, or have done a "quickie" distance or telephone course doesn't mean that you're an effective teacher. I recently completed a CELTA course in Paris & the person who had the most difficulty was an "experienced" teacher who had been using her own outdated teaching methods & was completely out of her depth using new learner-focused teaching  methods.