nicksouthuk

I was wondering whether anyone could help. I'm trying to work out how much cotisations I would need to pay so as to work out how much contingency fund I'll need. Myself and a friend are planning on running either gites or chambres d'hote but keep finding different figures mentioned in many forums. Apparently there was a change in the law in 2006 to help the self-employed but in many forums I still read that you pay a set amount of cotisations in the first 2 years on an expected income which still seemed very high. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone for the replies, much appreciated. Our original thoughts regarding the guesthouse was to find somewhere near Prades near Mount Canigou because of the proximity to several spa towns, the pyrenees and the med as a way of trying to maximise the appeal for as many people as possible. I suppose its a case of willing to take the gamble or not and perhaps thinking too much isnt a good thing as you mull over every possible disaster rather concentrate on the other side that things could go well and it could be a gamble that works out.

Thanks for the reply Saligo, I keep thinking to myself maybe I've just read too many negative comments on the variety of forums. I've realized that you aint going to get rich in France but equally I don't want to sink without trace under the tax /social security burden. Drinking wine may soften the stress of it all until the next tax bill comes in!lol. Perhaps the best thing to do is stick my head in the sand and go for it and worry about the tax and social security later, the thing is alot of my excitement at the initial stage of looking into a move to France seems to have been overtaken by all the negative things I've read on this and many other sites. But I keep thinking if it was so bad why would so many people move over there from the UK? Perhaps I've done too much research!

I'm the sort of person who likes to thoroughly research things before making a big decision like moving to France and now I wish I had'nt bothered. The more you read the more you think is it worth it? Everything seems designed to hinder rather than help, I can cope with bureaucracy to a point but even I never realized there would be so much. Trying to work out a business plan is almost  impossible as theres no clear info as to how much social security you pay and how much tax. Its even more complicated as I was intending to buy a property with a friend and run a small guesthouse but have now read that you have to pay set amounts in the first and second year even if you havent made anything like that and then to top it all off if you go onto sell your property they try and tax you again on the value of the property if this has increased because you were running a business. The question I'm asking is does anyone make any money even as a supplementary income or is this a self -deluding exercise in clinging onto the French dream, it seems to me that France maybe a place to have a holiday home or for holidays but as for anything else is it really worth it?

Hello all I was wondering if anyone could help regarding a tax question? At present myself and a friend are thinking of moving to languedoc and opening up a guesthouse the problem is trying to work out how much tax we would have to pay? for example say our combined income from savings interest was in total  £10,000 and we made around £8000 per year from the guesthouse what are the tax implications, i've read several books and trawled the internet but cant seem to find a decent approx figure, i've also heard about this other tax to do with a guesthouse , i think its called a cotisation although not sure, i understand that there are also the two other taxes to do with the residential and also the property but these vary greatly from region.  I read in the David Hampshire book that the tax system was changed recently to be better for the self employed but still cant find any proper figures for this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks Nick

I was wondering whether anyone could help? Myself and partner will be moving to Languedoc this autumn and intend opening a bed and breakfast or gites. The problem I have is deciding which area will give the best rental opportunities, at the moment Carcassonne and Limoux looked good especially as the latter has the 3 month festival from January, however I was also looking at the area around Prades as this is close to the Pyrenees and seems to have lots of outdoor activities aswell as being closer to Spain. Any help here would be most appreciated. Also I will be looking for a long term rental for at least 3 months most probably upto 6 and have two dogs that we will be bringing with us, so if anyone knows of anything in either of the areas I mentioned that would be great. Many thanks Nick