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mandycats

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Everything posted by mandycats

  1. Actually Ron Avery there is no need to be rude and take a tone with me.  I have worked in that area for some time and i still have many friends who work within the benifits (actually more the fraud side) agency.  I know that certain groups of people do not work for 5 years in the country of settlement before getting housing, unemployement and all the other benefits a european citizens are allowed to claim.  As for the rest of it, watch the tv!  They are still replaying old programmes with the cheap cost of living, desperate need for builders/electricians etc.   If i had a euro for every builder i bumped into i'd be a rich person.  So many of them have gone back and even more arrive everyday!  A victim of the recession in the uk, thinking that they will find work and loaded retired brits in need of work doing!  I think your right parsnips about the new influx that will arrive soon!  still it all adds to the fun.        
  2. It cant be right.  How else do the polish get all those benefits then?  They certainly havent worked in the uk for 5 years or more.  I thought it was along the lines of the 3 months with no income then you were entitled.  Recently a neighbour gained RMI they have only been out of work for 4 months after they moved to france.  I guess alot of people come to france thinking there is abundant work, cheap houses and low living costs... sadly this just insn't the case anymore.  (thinking about it they had RMI from feb 08 so perhaps the legislation changed after that).      
  3. If they have children (of any age under 16) they are entitled to RMI (revenue minimum de insertion).  This is available from the assistant social (via the marie -as someone has already pointed out). This is irrespective of if you have paid into the french system or not and is nothing to do with unemployment benefits.   Signing an application will also entitle them to assisted health cover, various allowances for the childrens school dinners etc.  Then there is also access to assistance with setting up a small business or finding a job (or both!). They will need to take to the meeting all their documents including last tax returns from uk, dates when they last earned money (uk and france) and all their certificates (birth etc).  Also they should take along a copy of each of their last bills including water/taxes/electric/school diners etc. and any proof of searching for work (regection letters etc). This will be followed up by a home visit to assertain the living conditions and if seen appropriate they will be given the allowance pretty quickly (unusually for the french).  The french love families and will do what they can to help when  children are involved. I hope this information is of some help to your friends and i wish them well for the future. We all make bad choices at times and it may be with hindsight things could have been done differently - but we are all wiser after the event!        
  4. Hi Jon good advise, however accountants usually advise you to do things that require their services. A micro bic is a small business and you pay cotistations on a fixed amount for year 1, year 2 is based on year 1 takings etc.  This can be very expensive and if you have a good year, followed by a bad year then you can find yourself in trouble  (this is how most french businesses fail). This sytem does not require an accountant so is often not recommended by accountants!  There is a new regime starting in January 2009 called 'autoentrepreneur' and it will allow you to pay a percentage of your actual turnover.  You can then pay this on a month by month basis or 3 monthly.  This is not necessarily cheaper than the micro-bic but it does allow you to 'pay as you go' and at least if you dont earn anything then you dont pay anything! It won't suit everyone.  It doesnt suit us for example, we have an on-line car parts business and our turnover is high but our profit is low by comparison.  Pop into your local tourist information office and ask where your local business advice centre is.  They are the perfect sourse of impartial advice and often are privy to little bits of help and assistance that prove invaluable.  The above is based on our personal experiences.  I sincerely wish you the best in your enterprise and i hope you find a good solution.            
  5. Hi Clair, can a business use the cheque emploi system then?  I was told it was only for private individuals hoping to hire a domestic assistant (gardener - not landscape- cleaner, babysitter etc).  We have a micro bic(commercant) and we would love to be able to employ some assitance in the new year but there is no way we can afford the cotis!  The way i understand cheque emploi is that you paid (just an example and probably not accurate) for example 10 euros per hour,  that is given directly via the cheque to the employee.  What actually is taken from your bank account is 12 euros, but at the end of the year you can re-claim half that back ie 6 euros against your tax liability. I am not great at understanding all these rules and i would appreciate your help in clarifying this if you can.  Thank you.  
  6. Hi, i'm absolutely no judge of champagne (prefer a drop of the red myself) but on a whim i purchased some caramel liquer from super U and added a drop of their 79cents fizzy - oooooh just lovely!  Its very sweet and fizzy, just right for those who dont like the dryness of champagne.  Its rather alchoholic aswell which is a bonus!
  7. Hi, glad i could be of some help.  As with the first paragraph it was just that you said you were registered as unemployed i just assumed that you meant you were receiving payments.  Sorry for the assumption!  Good luck with your enterprise and dont let the paperwork get you down!    
  8. Hi i feel compleded to reply as it is a common misconception.  Of course they will say you CAN work, however all benefits are reduced by the amount you earn. What often happens is that they suspend your payments pending conformation of your hours worked and as CESU is basically an informal contract to work you can be seen to have WORK this has a very real impact on your ACCRE payments.  This is a total pain in the butt i'm afraid and will take alot of time going to and fro the offices to explain everything (often twice).  This also impacts on your year end tax bill. Another very important thing they wont tell you is that your first year under ACCRE is for the year in which you start your business and terminates on 31st December of that year!  It is NOT an actual year of your business operating.  If you are thinking of starting a business get on with it quick as we spent along time planning our car parts business and we started in october 2007.  We actually only had 3 months ACCRE allowance.  ACCRE doesnt cover the URSAF payments either so make sure that you have enough to cover your pension and conjoint payments from the beginning.  Conjoint workers are not covered by ACCRE so as you both are working the business you will have to pay for you both. I hope this helps and of course this is how things applied to our situation and other departments may have slightly differing rules. 
  9. Hi we are in Cher right at the bottom  where it joins Creuse, Allier and Indre.
  10. Thanks for all your replies. Could somone pm me with the phone number of the reclamation yard?  i like the sound of the raised beds and i shall be stalking the garden for somewhere to put one!   How do you go about pricing beams?  i dont wish to be offered 10 euro a piece and find they are worth 100!  I have never had to get rid of anything like this and a couple of the beams are huge handsawn jobs around 1850ish in age, although not in perfect condition  (as you can imagine) it would be nice to find them a proper home.  Could you also enlighten me to AI? sorry i dont know what that is! Thanks again.  
  11. Does anyone know what on earth i can do with a load of very old beams we had to pull out of our barn?  We had 2 large platforms over each side of what was a cow shed and a tall free standing wooden construction (to store more straw bales on i guess).  I was thinking of maybe asking a reclamation yard if they wanted them but i dont know the french!  Can someone help?
  12. Hi sara77, dont worry so much!  We all have our feelings and its easy on a forum to say something that is taken the wrong way-so forgive us!  We are a youngish struggling family we only have one child and a new business which is eating up the money!  from our personal situation our original income of just over 1,000 euro per month was nowhere near enough and i'm not one to go out and by clothes (my husband actually nags ME to go and buy some, but i hate shopping! ) i would have thought that given no major disasters 1500 would be just fine.  Its really no different to the uk except that there are very limited places to buy cheap things.  no cheap clothing stores - at least not in our area - think pricewise about m&s price level.  That really does push clothes and shoes prices up for kids. (but if hubby is in uk then great!).  Speaking from personal experience what i found really hard was the feeling of being so alone in a foreign country.  Its not that we dont have english people about -its just that when my husband worked away in germany for months at a time, it was always then that things went wrong!  Its really hard being alone and foreign.  However i'm just a real wimp and i was so pleased my husband returned here to set up a car parts business.  Things are loads better for us now and i truly hope that you find living here a fulfilling experience.  Good luck i'm sure we all wish you well. Amanda http://www.catalytiques.com
  13. What a lovely and warm hearted thing you have done.  I've read some terrible things today so you have single handedly restored my faith in humanity. she is a very lucky little puss.
  14. So so sorry to hear of your sad loss.  Thinking of you at this hard time.  
  15. Hi from a total personal point of view (and not constructive to you at all!) i would LOVE it if an english doctor moved to our dept.  We live at the base of the centre region where it joins allier and creuse, there are positively thousands of brits all of whom would flock to a uk doctor.  As for the technicalities i'm sorry i couldnt be of help but we have set up a car parts supply company and the paperwork is beyond belief!  However our french teacher has said that there is a shortage of GP's and there are incentives to european qualified doctors, however be warned that rural local doctors are pretty much on call all the time and are required to perform minor a&e facilities as well as turning out when the pompiers are called for medical emergencies.  However it may be that in the more wealthy areas a private clinic would be called for.
  16. Hello and welcome, i can only recommend everything the others have rightly said - actually go into the tax office!  not normal for us brits but the french do it all the time and the office is really helpful! be brave bon courage!  
  17. Just a quick note - The departments mentioned all come under the Limousin banner so there is no problem departmentally attending the course in limoges.  They will take anyone from any region if there are spare places to fill (one of the few places that do the course in english)  we live just over the border from the limousin in centre region and our friends have had to wait until spare places are available. good luck to you all with your ventures.  Its hard getting things done here, but if you can stand the strain its worth it! http://stores.ebay.fr/catalytiquescom
  18. hi, sounds like a worthy job your doing.  I know from personal experience of the centre department that there are a great many ex-pats needing french lessons and that would pay more than the state (our french tutor has just gone solo).  But if its job security and mortgage ability (not to mention pension and health care benefits) you are looking for then school work is great.  Our french tutor has taught english in french schools and she says they are always looking for good teachers. Good luck and i hope you can find what your looking for. http://stores.ebay.fr/catalytiquescom  
  19. mandycats

    Aubiouse

    Spookily although its french i cant find it either.  our local Gamm Vert does stock hemp bedding of a different brand. Its also strange that the hemp bedding bales are 4 euros cheaper than woodshavings!   The other hemp bedding is used in the same way and works just aswell. Have you thought about buying an agricultural food chopper and putting normal straw through it for your chickens bedding?  We have used this method with great success.  It works almost aswell as hemp as by chopping it up is seems to absorb more.  It depends what advantages you are looking for really.  This method is cheaper in the long run with the bonus that you can buy maise unchopped which is tons cheaper than the ready chopped and as long as you used the course grater it comes out nicely and any powder residue i put alittle chicken vitamin liquid in and the love it. I hope you find what your looking for http://stores.ebay.fr/catalytiquescom
  20. All i can tell you is that we had a total nightmare. ACCOUNTANTS  WILL ALWAYS TELL YOU TO CHANGE BECAUSE ITS COMPULSARY TO HAVE AN ACCOUNTANT  BEWARE!!!!!! (regardless of your actual situation) We went to the regional business advice centre - which i am told that most regions have one - where we got free and more importantly impartial advice. It is my OPINION that asking someone for advice who has a vested interest in the outcome is not the best idea.  In the end we closed our TVA registered business and started up in micro.  This was OUR situation and of course yours will be different but i sincerely advice caution about taking things an accountant says as gospel.  Accountants in france are not full of impartial advice regarding the advantages of changing into and out of regimes that involve them loosing out on a client!  The above is only my opinion based on my experience and should be taken as such. However our accountant advised us to register as tva and it cost us including his fees nearly 4,000 euros in the four months we operated on this system where we could have paid only 1,400 euros (in a micro regime).  Needless to say we are micro and for now that will do nicely.   I sincerely wish you the best as making a living in france is hard enough without dilemma's like this one! http://stores.ebay.fr/catalytiquescom  
  21. Just a little idea but have you tried asking ursaf for advice?  if there,s is one of the cotistations that are late they can be a force to be reconed with!  (got a feeling that a friend  did just that) the other thing is talking to the notaire involved if your slice of the pie was due to a house sale.  They are very good at giving advice on such matters.  it really annoys me when people don't pay, we have a small business and i have total sympathy for you (things are hard enough as it is!).  good luck and best wishes for a quick resolve.  just another thought.... what about protection juridique? (not sure about spelling)  we have legal protection from our bank - as the french legal system is costly - i'm not sure if it only covers domestic matters.  again good luck! http://stores.ebay.fr/catalytiquescom      
  22. Hi we are in dept 18!  I am pretty sure that you wont have a lot of trouble getting clients its just the enormous amount of paperwork if your thinking of being self-employed.
  23. i'm sorry i have no idea what qualifications you need but i'm sure that this question has been covered before.  Perhaps someone more regular to the forum may know the link.  I wish you were moving near me! What's your french like?  There are alot of english people (certainly in my area) who would love some basics in french, and there are lots of people moving to france with children that need their education kept upto speed.  I know i could use your services as my daughters english skills are holding on by a thread - she is much more motivated by someone else. 
  24. Hi everyone, i found this advert for Hugo by accident and guess what???  He's wonderful.  I couldn't resist taking a look at his youtube video and felt that he may be suitable for my daughter... so last tuesday we went and took a look and it was love at first sight.  So after much talking last saturday he came home.  The lovely people at Equine Rescue France do a superb job and if anyone feels they can do something to help i'm sure it would be much appreciated.        http://stores.ebay.fr/catalytiquescom      
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