Bastet

Is there anything we think would be Ok but in fact we shouldn't give to them to eat?  I have a vague recollection of being told about something that was not advisable, but maybe that was in the springtime when it would be bad for the babies?? Sorry, memory like a string vest......

Thank you to everyone who has replied so promptly and helpfully.  Our friends came and used our computer (theirs being en panne) and have arranged their insurance using one of your recommendations. A big weight off their minds. They are very grateful for all the input.

Not sure if this is the most appropriate forum for this, but I'll try anyway. Local friends - fellow French residents, are going to the US for two weeks holiday but have had no luck in finding reasonably priced travel health insurance. They don't need inusrance for belongings - their household cover provides that; just medical. CPAM have said they will reimburse expenses but knowing the high cost of health care in the US, that could mean being asked to pay thousands of dollars up-front.  Simply not possible. Does anyone have recommendations of an insurer which offers this at a realistic cost, preferably on-line? Thanks

Thanks; these replies confirm what I needed to know.

Each year, in readiness for the declaration of  income tax , our bank send us each a statement - OPERATIONS SUR VALEURS MOBILIERES ET REVENUS DE CAPITAUX MOBILIERS.  This replicates some of the tax form, and we transfer the information to the tax form. It is only one single digit number on one line.  We have always assumed it refered to the number of products we have with the bank, ie savings accounts etc.  For various reasons, I'd be grateful if someone could clarify this.  "Produits soumis à prélèvement libértoire," on line EE. Many thanks  

[quote user="Clair"]. The 16% is the income tax on the interest earned. The 11% is the Contributions Sociales (another tax) on the interest which goes towards plugging the social security fund (amongst other things). It's the price you have to pay if you have enough money to have savings in the first instance! [:P] Some savings schemes do not attract any tax at all, but pay very little interest and have limited ceilings and other restrictions (Livret A at 2.75%, LEP at 3.75%, Codevi at 2.75%), some attract CS tax only and most attract both CS and income tax. The interest on basic bank savings is taxed at 16%, some other schemes (life insurance contracts for instance) attract tax at 35%, all of which attract CS tax at 11%... and within these, the rate of tax also varies according to when the scheme was contracted...! [/quote] Thanks Clair;  most of our savings are in the category of low interest and no tax or only CS taxable so I think this choice will not after all apply to us.  I have however, discovered that these are still declarable to CPAM for them to impose their 8% cut.  It seems there is no such thing in France as 100% tax free savings.

This is probably me being dumb, but how does one make this choice?   I don't recall that we've ever received anything before from our bank that looks relevant to this.   In our case, it would definitely be beneficial to declare it ourselves. Also, do you know why the banks deduct 16%?   We were told by our bank that they deduct 11% for the ubiquitous social contributions - have they misled us ?  What is the other 5% ?    Again, apologies if these seem stupid questions.  

[quote user="aj_dr"]Bastet, Ours is done on short term rentals,furnished for holidays....... at the moment I am paying CS on the costs as well as the income, somehow this doesn't seem right. Should I go to the Tax Office to find out?? aj [/quote] Like I said, we have rental from a long term unfurnished let.  Yours may may be treated differently to that ; but going to your local tax office will the best place to find out.

[quote user="aj_dr"]Does anybody know if the rental income you declare on your Tax form should be Gross or Net.  The reason I ask is that ours is an independant property at the coast and has it's own Tax Fonciere & Tax Habitation, water and electricity bill, charges for maintenance as it's on a complex, basically a maison secondaire. Should we be deducting these charges from our rental income and therefore only have Social charges on the net income. aj [/quote] I'm no expert, as my own questions prove, but is your property being rented out as a holiday place, i.e. short term and furnished?  Our rental property is on a long term lease, unfurnished, and the only cost to us is the tax fonciere and buildings insurance. The tenant pays all the other costs/taxes.  In our case, I have been advised that we cannot make any allowances for our expenses . Maybe for holiday rentals different rules apply and someone else might have the answer??

We experienced the same thing - declared rental income for the 1st time last year, (for 2004 ) but only had rent from a couple of months at the end of the year. This year we had a full 12 months to declare and received the bill for the 11%. This was the reason for my posting this query as I didn't initially understand the different between this tax and the 8% payable to CPAM.   N.B.  We asked a neighbour who has a few houses rented out, and he told us to fill in line BE on the tax form.  Don't think at our level of income it makes a difference though.....  

Thank you. You have been very helpful.

Thanks Ron and SD. We assumed that the demand would be correct but couldn't work out how.   "Up to 5.8% of your current CSG contribution based on unearned income (eg, bank interest) is tax deductable next year and this will be reflected in your 2007 tax declaration." We have been paying this tax for 4 years on our savings accounts interest directly via Credit Mutuel who deduct and pay it.   Would we know if this has been taken into account by the tax authorities so far?   Do you mean this 5.8% will be included somewhere in the 'pre-rempli' form we'll receive next year, or in 2008 for the year 2007 ?   Sorry if these are dumb questions; thanks in advance for your patience.

Confusion is reigning chez nous this afternoon. We have received a demand for Contibutions Sociales amounting to 11% of the "Base imposable"  We have a very low declarable income at the moment, namely rental from an apartment.  Based on the figures stated, I think that we have been given a joint personal tax allowance on this rental income of just over €2k.   Can anyone explain what is happening here?    We thought the allowance before paying these contributiuons (CSG, CRDS & Prél. Soc. etc) was nearer to €7000 each.  We fully expect to have to pay social contributions but rather thought it would be when we have a higher income. Thanks.  

You are a star; thank you so much for the link. This is perfect; just the help we need.

"Attestation sur l'honneur de non-condamnation et filiation"  and where one would obtain it?   It's on the list for my OH to take to the Chambre de Metiers for his registration. Thanks.

Hello all, Thanks for the suggestions.    I'll show them to my husband, who installed the dish himself; I'm sure they'll make sense to him. I don't even know what the LNB is.....

Salut à tous, We have Sky with a monthly contract - no probs in the 4 years we've been in France except recently, we've started to lose, from time to time, and mostly in the evening, the BBC1 channel local to our contract address (London), BBC2, 3 & 4, BBC 24 News, but not BBC Parliament (lucky us)  We can get any other of the regional BBC1s, but not another BBC2. The signal quality and strength remain at 100% and nearly 100% respectively throughout this loss which lasts from one to several hours. The weather doesn't seem to be a factor.  The message just states no satellite signal being received.  It's not the end of the world but it is annoying. Does anybody have any ideas why it's happening? Thanks.

Friends of ours, (who don't have a computer therefore can't post for themselves,) have 4 and  6 year old sons at school in our village. The 4 year old is doing well but the 6 year old is finding it difficult to pick up the differences between French and English pronunciation, specifically the vowel sounds. Our friends are wondering if there are any CDs or other educational products (not web based) that could help. If anyone has any ideas, we would be very pleased to hear them.   Thanks.

There is a stage  in English starting tomorrow in Anguleme, €300.  A friend's husband booked a place last week over the phone. It maybe worth calling to see if they have any more places, if it's convenient to get to. The next one is being held in December. The phone number for the CdeM is 05 45 90 47 00. The Company Support Departmental Manager's name is Charles Daviaud.

Thanks very much for this very helpful info; I will pass it on. I'm sure it will be a relief for them to know they can catch a shuttle - they're leaving from terminal 3 so hopefully it'll all be clearly marked.

Does anyone know if there is a shuttle bus of any sort from the station to the airport? There wasn't one (that I noticed) a few years ago, but elderly friends are making the trip soon and were wondering if they had to trudge the relatively long way on foot. Thanks.

Tricky one that Chris! You know you need to protect the oak from UV rays to keep the natural tone, which for any other situation I'd say a good quality exterior varnish but as you're talking total immersion in parts I'm not sure it would work. Perhaps the piece thats in the pool can be forgotten about as it's likely to be hidden by the colour of the water in the pool? Just an idea. Have you researched products from the boat building industry? I know there are some really good treatments for decks etc that aren't generally available to the public but with web-based sales you might get lucky in finding a supplier. This could work well for the visible elements of the piece.

Hi Chris Excuse me if I sound a bit thick but did you mean as an 'arty' type installation? Will the timber be immersed in water, partly soaked or intermittently wet? If the timber is kept wet you'll find oak is incredibly durable, problems arise when you have a wetting / drying cycle being constantly repeated (causes dimensional changes, splitting, eventual rot, etc). or was it just colour/tonal preservation you were after? I wouldn't use it in a stepping stone type situation ( japanese garden for example) as it gets really slippery quite quickly. Give us a bit more info' and we'll try to help. best wishes, Tony

That's a fascinating site Tim, gives you lots to think about! Our old place sounds just like yours, a basic simple system of pits & tanks  & soakaways but it all worked. Sounds like you  won't have any problems with soil permabilty, good luck with all your tests and the eventual installation!

we did the same trip last year & all I can say is beg, borrow or steal a sat-nav device (tom-tom , harman etc). we followed a mappy.com route down which was ok &  took 12 or 13 hours, with me doing all the driving & I was shattered. Arrange a stop over half way down if you can. It will make a long journey more bearable and give you time to enjoy the scenery ( oh those wonderful wind farms! [;-)]) Coming back we listened to friends advice about coming back a different way & got so badly lost round Madrid I still wonder to this day how we didn't kill each other!![:D]