Pamela

Having done (what seems like!) 100s of hours research into the tax / investment / cotisation implications of our projected income plans for when we move to France, we still don't feel 100% confident that we have found out everything we need to know and that we wont meet a nasty surprise which will remove another chunk of our income - leaving us under budget for our living expenses! Our plans involve me working as a freelancer for my existing employer - and maybe some others too.  My husband won't work because his French wouldnt be up to converting his qualifications etc. into French ones (gas, electric etc.).  He will be due a pension in about 10 years. We will also have some money to invest for income and are looking at Assurance Vie as a way forward here. We are due to visit France in October and are thinking of making an appointment with an English speaking, french accountant to answer some of our questions e.g. what's the caisse I would register with, exactly WHAT cotisations/tax would I be paying on an income of x euros, what would be the implications of earning more / less, can you recommend an Assurance Vie - how much does it cost to set up etc. and any other questions that may be relevant. However I wondered if anyone knew whether a) these are the sorts of issues an accountant could clarify (and are they likely to be correct!) b) how much they are likely to charge for a 1 hour consultation say and c) whether we would be just as well to visit the URSAAF office in Angouleme which is offering an english speaking advisor for free. Any thoughts anyone? Many thanks Pamela

Thanks everyone for your replies. Leslauriers thank you for the web site ref, I am slowly working my way through it with the help of my rudimentary French and an on-line translator!  But it has a very good explanation of the 'splits' of the funds, thanks. There seems to be some confusion regarding whether residency is necessary to be able to buy an AV or not.  Certainly all the articles on tax planning etc. I have read (that are published in English magazines etc.) imply that you can buy one before you are resident, but I guess the proof is in the pudding - although aj_dr has obviously been successful.  Lollie thanks for the info about CA Britline - yes they might be worth calling to see if any clarification is available. My parents have friends who run a gite in France and I am going to write to them to see if they use an english speaking French accountant or tax advisor who would be prepared to answer some of our questions on an hourly fee basis.  My quibble with the likes of Siddals / Blevins etc. is not that they charge commission on a product - as aj_dr says this is normal for a financial sale - but what I want is some financial advice about which TYPES of product (AVs or anything else) may be best suited for our situation without the requirement that I actually buy one from them.  It appears that to get this sort of advice from these sorts of companies is very expensive (£1000+) (maybe they are used to dealing with people whose capital is measured with a few more 'noughts' on the end??)  Perhaps an English speaking, French accountant would be a less expensive option. It is also interesting that the catch all "get out" clause of "we're not qualified in this so it might not actually be true!" appears to be widespread in these firms particularly when relating to tax matters.  It may be that an IFA  in this country would give a similar sort of disclaimer regarding UK tax laws - after all they are always changing! I will report back on any progress or interesting information I manage to glean. thanks again Pamela

I've done quite a bit of research (mainly by searching this and other forums!) in terms of where we should put our capital when we move to France and for a number of reasons (inheritance, income planning, tax etc.) an Assurance Vie looks like the best option.  However we really need to purchase this BEFORE we become resident in France and therefore I am looking for some recommendations of where we could buy one? I'd like to be able to compare some products, get a feel for the set-up costs etc., and also a feel for the sorts of investments that we could have within the AV e.g. could we choose to have 80% of the capital in low-risk / guaranteed returns and 20% in a higher risk investment?  If this was an ISA I was looking for I could just go to something like moneysupermarket.com and search a whole range of websites.  Is their anything similar for AVs and does anyone know of any bilingual sites?  (My French is basic - not yet up to investment terminology!)  We really can't afford to go to one of the financial houses such as Blevins and pay for the advice (I;ve seen fees of £1000+ quoted!) - and if the information was in English I'd feel quite confident about making our own decisions. Can anyone help?  Anyone bought one from a really helpful friendly bilingual broker that is happy working via email?? thanks again Pamela