Grecian

Hello parsnips Certainly not doubting your word regarding submitting a 2074 form to show the workings for any capital gain/loss on share dealings. Up to now I have submitted 4 French tax returns all of which I paid an account to produce, and he never provided me with a 2074 form to submit, and to date I have not submitted a 2074 form to the tax office, just filled in the profit or loss box on the 2042. The authorities have accepted all my returns and have never asked for a 2074 form to be submitted. This year I am filling out my own tax form, and not using an accountant, if I hadn't read this thread I would have been totally oblivious that the 2074 even existed, so now you have got me thinking as to whether I should include one this year, or just carry on as I have been doing. Sacré bleu! Also I have never submitted a 2041SP (sounds like I should have used a different accountant!) to show any losses. The first year I never told my accountant that I had made a loss, as I did not know the loss had to be reported, so each year since my accountant carried forward the loss reporting it on a separate sheet of paper, and has taken any gains off that loss, and not declared them on the 2042. Although last year I made a loss and he declared the loss on the 2042, and again the authorities accepted it. I really have to show my ignorance now, I see this year the tax credit on UK shares is 17.7%, whereas last year it was only 11.2%, does this mean an increase of 6.5% in the amount of tax that will have to be paid on UK share dividends? If I have read it correctly Hollande has removed the €3000 tax allowance for a couple on share dividends, so that will be putting the tax bill up as well.

Thanks for the link nectarine, must say the 2047 looks identical to the 2047K I used last year, not sure what the K signifies but I will go with the 2047.

I wonder if somebody could be so kind as to point me in the right direction where I might be able to print off a 2047K form, as my local tax office has decided not to send me one this year. We received our 2042SK over 3 weeks ago, but no sign of the 2047K. I have done a search for old posts on this subject, and dear old Coops stated in one of her responses to the same question they can be up to 2 weeks apart, but now as it is over 3 weeks my hope of receiving the said form is diminishing by the minute. Many thanks in advance.

Oops, thank you both for your replies. Yep you are quite right parsnips it clearly states that the site is being updated from 14th-18th March, being a male I did not read the instructions! Must try harder in the future, anyhow another disaster averted. Many thanks again.

Has anybody experienced the disappearing virement tab with their online CA account.? Up until yesterday the tab was on the left-hand side of the screen, once clicked upon another window opened and I was able to transfer money between my liveret A and current account. Now the tab has completely disappeared, I have clicked on every button I can find on my account, but alas I cannot find the virement tab anywhere. The only thing that seems to have changed with my account is the fact I have not signed up for CA's online statements, I am not sure if this has any relevance to the situation. If anybody has found where they have hidden the tab I would be most grateful to know.

Well I am glad to see it is not just me who has fallen foul to the shady dealings abounding in France, and thank you all for the links you provided. I have taken the plunge on a new Sony 55 inch 3D TV, I thought the price tooooooooo good to miss, after checking on all the links provided, alas the prices quoted  could not beat the €1309 being offered by Amazon.fr, still not convinced on what to do I have left the matter since last week. Today I checked the price comparison website I had stored for the Sony, and I saw Amazon.fr was now offering the TV for €1223 plus €19.99 delivery, bon prix I thought to myself, so I logged on to Amazon to place the TV in my basket and check the price at the checkout, the price showed as €1243 delivered, but hang on a minute what is this about une réduction immédiate, by the way I read it they are offering a further  €100 off the TV with the promotional code provided, so I tapped in the code and the price reduced to €1143 delivered, I thought I'm having some of that, so hit the button, and can now expect to be the proud owner of a 55 inch Sony sometime between 19th and 22nd December. I am glad I walked away from the deal at But, it didn't feel right at the time and after researching further on the internet, the TV on offer at But is a 2011 model, as opposed to the one I have ordered from Amazon which is the latest 2012 TV.

Following on from my 'Anyone Bought a Thomson TV' thread, at the time of posting both Leclerc and But had the 50 inch Thomson on offer at €849. On Monday I popped into But again to check the price and I noticed they had reduced it to €776 (or so I thought), and had a 55 inch LED Sony for €1176 (or so I thought), thinking the Sony to be a real bargain I dragged Mrs G into But again yesterday afternoon. I had researched the Sony via the internet and everybody was giving it glowing reviews, so I thought this is the TV for me, we called over a young lad of an assistant and asked for a demonstration of the Sony, although it was limited in what he could show us, we decided to take the Sony. That's where the confusion started, in front of the TV there was a sign showing the TV for sale at €1490, but on the top right-hand corner of the TV the price was stating €1176 as previously mentioned. Having been living in France for 4 years now our French is better than when we first arrived, but not really up to speed yet to be proficient in the language. I asked why there were two prices showing for the same TV, thinking it must be showing before and now prices. As the assistant was very young I thought  he is bound to break into English now, as he would have remembered it from school, no chance. Fair enough he carried on speaking French really fast, but I was still getting the feeling all was not well. We caught the bit about the TV costing €1176, but then he proceeded to say the three year warranty with the TV was an extra €200, I thought can't blame him for trying to flog us the warranty, but I said no thanks we don't want the warranty. He said we had to take the warranty to get the price of €1176, I still said I didn't want it; standing my ground, so then he turned around and with the classic shrug, said then you can have it for €1490 without the warranty! Looking at the sign that stated the TV was £1176 in the smallest of small print you could possibly imagine, there was something about the warranty but no mention of how much it would cost extra. As I stated in the title of this thread I guess it must be legal in France how But are trying to sell the TV, but I am not sure it would be allowed in the UK, because basically the price was not €1176 as shown in big print, but €1376 in total, admittedly with an extra three year warranty. Has anybody else experienced the same situation in France, as I have never come across this situation before. We did not proceed with the purchase as I felt the whole thing to be a bit shady, and felt like we were being ripped off. After looking on the internet for the same model, I found it on Sony's own site for €1109 with free delivery, but the model is out of stock, not surprising at that price, the next cheapest is Amazon.fr at €1309, with no mention of a compulsory warranty.

Many thanks for your new input. Great site you flagged there Danny, been on to it and found the Thomson 50 inch LED reviews, which average nearly 7/10, opinions ranging from absolutely brilliant picture quality, sound and 3D to poor sound and shaky 3D, although most people agreed the picture quality is good.One reviewer stated that they had bought the Thomson to replace a 2 and a half year old 50" plasma Panasonic that had packed up! So I guess it is a case of 'you pays your money, and takes your chance'. Alan you can borrow my crane if you wish, to remove your 37" Philips CRT from your UK residence! Sorry Quillan but the 32" has to go, I want to watch my Iron Maiden DVDs in full blown 50 inch home cinema, fed up now with a mere 32 inches.

Thank you both for your replies. I take onboard what you are both saying regarding buying a lesser known make, and as I said in my opening post I have always stuck to Sony for TVs in the past. That said the picture quality of the Thomson looked pretty impressive in the shop, and certainly compared to the other TVs on display.  I know the shop can tweak certain TVs to make one look better than the other, but the Thomson certainly held its own for picture quality. Really not sure what to do now, Panasonic do a 50 inch plasma for around £800, which has good customer reviews on Amazon UK, but I was under the impression that LEDs were preferable to plasmas, I know plasma screens use a lot more electricity than LEDs. One drawback with the Panasonic is that it only has 2 HDMI ports, I know that you can buy a splitter box, but that seems a backward step when buying a new TV. Likewise with Samsung TVs only have 2 HDMI ports. Regarding LG TVs, I have had 2 bad experiences with LG products, so I am not considering a LG TV. As for going for a 3D TV, whilst not desperate to watch anything in 3D at the moment, things may change in the future, so I thought I might as well have a 3D TV as not. The plasma Panasonic TV supposedly has a facility to convert 2D to 3D, obviously you would have to wear the glasses. Also I think the Thomson has this facility as well, if I understood the review correctly I read on a French site I visited. I had pretty much made my mind up to purchase the 47 inch Panasonic LED, but having seen the 47 and 50 inch TVs side by side in But, I want the 50 inch now as I think size really does matter.[:P] Taking this thread a little further has anybody any advice as to which type of TV is best, plasma, LED or LCD. It seems the LEDs are a lot more expensive than plasmas, and plasmas use more electricity than LEDs. Totally confused.

I am thinking of replacing our ancient 32 inch Sony TV, it's one of those TV's you almost need a crane to lift it, it's so heavy. I have always really been a Sony man when it comes to TVs, but after doing some research had pretty much decided to purchase a 47 inch Panasonic LED TV, as LED TVs seem to be the preferred option out of the three options on offer (plasma, LCD and LED). But after having been into But last week we were rather taken by a 50 inch LED, 3D, Thomson smart TV for 849€, which I thought a good price considering all the facilities built into the TV. After researching Thomson on the internet I see they are a French company, and whilst I have seen their products in shops I have never really taken much notice of their products. Has anybody purchased a Thomson TV? If so I would really appreciate any feedback you can give me, as to what you think of them. Although the TV I am thinking about purchasing seems good value at 849€, compared to better known TVs, I don't want to waste my money on something that may not be up to the job. So if anybody has any thoughts on Thomson TVs, good or bad then please feel free to post them.

It's hard to know what to say, other than echo all the other comments that have already been posted. You really are a smashing lady Coops, always happy to provide help for other people, so I would like to add my best wishes and hope for a speedy recovery.

Many thanks for the offer Coops, I will bear it in mind if the need arises. Enjoy your holiday.

Well stan I think you have a rough idea by now from the people kind enough to respond to your original question as to what your options are, must say apart from keeping your E121, the other options all seem to come with a sting in the tail. If you have been following the thread on B&W then you will be aware that it took 8 months for CPAM to send one lady an appointment for her medical, also once another lady had her medical, DWP took 5 months to give her a decision, which was favourable for her as she was placed in the support group. The encouraging part from reading the thread regarding the lady who was placed in the support group was the French doctor asked why she had been sent for a medical, as it was obvious she was not fit for work. So let's hope when our turn comes the French doctor will see your and my wife's disabilities in the same light. I guess you are aware that you can have your medical in the UK if you so wish, but I think we will take our chances here in France with a French doctor. Personally if my wife loses here E121 we will be pursuing the 'accident de vie' route initially. Coops is your insurance industry contact a broker? Would be interested in contacting him to see if he could provide a letter of refusal. If that avenue fails I will be talking to my neighbour who is the mayor, never know he may be able to pull a few strings for us. Failing all of that it will be the AE route, it seems crazy to me that as it stands it seems you can obtain healthcover through the AE route without having to declare any income for 2 years. I won't let that trouble my conscious too much, if the French authorities do not want to take our 8% CMU-B payment plus another 6% in social charges on our pensions then it is up to them. I think Coops made a good point, one which I tried to point out in my first post, but I think it came over a bit garbled. If you are placed in WRAG and lose the benefit after 12 months through means testing, the government is basically saying to you we know you are not fit for work, but we are taking your benefit anyhow, but in that instance would the healthcover still be provided? As I said before they continue giving you pension credits so I am not sure if they would be obligated to still provide an E121. I will enquire with DWP if the situation arises, but for now we are keeping our heads down, and our mouths shut! All in all we could end up being screwed from both sides of the channel, on the UK side claiming if you can lift an empty cardboard box or climb 2 steps you are fit for work, so we are stopping you benefit. Then here on the French side of the channel, stipulating you must take out private health cover which is not obtainable with anybody who has pre-existing conditions. Must say it stinks both ways, I really cannot believe in this day and age governments can treat sick and disabled people in this manner. All we can do stan is hang in there and hope things take as long as possible, then use whatever means possible to remain in the French health system, personally my wife and myself do not want to return to the dump they call the UK, irrespective of however many gold medals they may have won.

Hello Stan, sorry to hear of your situation and the possibility you may lose your healthcover  if your E121 is taken away, I can fully sympathise as my wife is in the same situation, awaiting a medical here in France to see if she is deemed 'fit to work'. After watching the Dispatches and Panorama programs that were on Monday evening, it is a total disgrace the way in which this government is treating sick and disabled people, using a private company to fail as many people as possible irrespective if they are fit or not. The undercover doctor who secretly filmed a training session by the private company was told that not more than 13% of people tested were to be placed in the support group, based on the fact that they are meant to test 8 people a day, that means that only 1 person out of the 8 has any chance of being placed in the support group irrespective as to what is wrong with them, disgraceful. Sorry to ramble on about the injustices disabled people in the UK are now facing on your thread, but I personally think the fact yourself and my wife will have their medicals here in France rather than the UK is to my mind a plus point, as I cannot believe a French doctor would be allowed to act in such a manner, if the person they were examining was clearly unfit for work. I know we have the problem of the language barrier, but it seems that it is potluck if the doctor examining you will speak to you in English, I do not expect the French doctor to speak English but on another forum I follow some are speaking English, whilst other do it all in French. I am providing a link to another forum, to a thread I think would interest you, as it is a thread about people like ourselves living here in France who  have been through a medical here in France. It is rather long I am afraid. Link: http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=77958 Sorry the thread has not 'lit up' you will have to copy and paste it to get connected. The advice that the people on that thread are giving is to take any medical records or specialist reports and even a letter from your own French GP, as it seems any French documentation sent to DWP with your form mysteriously disappears. So take copies of anything you have relating to your medical condition, and ask your French GP for a letter of support if possible. Can I ask you if you have an appointment for your medical yet, and if so how long did it take for CPAM to send you the appointment. My wife has been waiting 4 months since being informed by DWP that she will have to have a medical here in France. We are in no rush, but to have such a life-changing event hanging over you is not very nice at all. We will have lived in France for 4 years in September, so just trying to hang on in there for as long as possible. One thing I am not sure about is if you are placed in the WRAG group contribution based, as you are probably aware it is now time-limited to 12 months, thanks a lot tories I thought 'work pays' was your mantra, obviously not after my wife and myself have paid in over 50 years national insurance contributions between us, is after the 12 months obviously the money will stop, but will they still have to provide an E121, as they are continuing to pay national insurance credits for your state pension after the 12 months has lapsed. Anyhow easy to say but try not to worry too much, until the situation arises.

Now, now Coops stop being naughty!

Thanks Coops and Martin for your replies. It is quite enlightening what information transpires when you start looking into something you know little about. Good to hear you have the same machine Coops and you have no trouble with it, all our TV is via satellite or through our telephone line, so all the signals will be digital. Interesting your comment Martin that if the DVD player is connected using HDMi cables the problem will not arise in any case. Our old Sony TV does not have any HDMi sockets only scart, but obviously any new TV purchased in the future will come supplied with HDMi sockets. Well that is enough letter learning for now, what with PAL, NTSC, SECAM and now HDMi thrown in for good measure, I think I will go and have to go and lie down! Edit pachapapa many thanks to you again, you were obviously posting whilst I was keying, thanks for taking the trouble to look up all the specifications for my TV and DVD player, much appreciated

Thanks for your reply PP. I was aware of PAL and NTSC, but didn't know anything about SECAM, all very confusing. The Panasonic recorder I am proposing to buy the model number is: DMR-EX83EB-K and our existing Sony TV model number is: KV-32FX68 So as long as the TV signal is digital then the new Panasonic will have no trouble recording the signal, hope I have understood that. The Panasonic will be supplied as a multi region player, that is the reason I chose to buy it from the supplier on Amazon marketplace, so I should have no trouble in playing different region DVDs through it, hope that is correct also. Thinking ahead would it make any difference to the DVD player, if we were to purchase a new TV in France, which I assume would be SECAM, or would we need to purchase it from the UK which would be PAL? Hope all the above is not too garbled, not very good with all things techinical.

I wonder if some technically minded person can assist me? I have just ordered a new Panasonic HDD DVD player from a marketplace seller on Amazon, as our 15 year old video recorder has been playing up recently, things don't seem to last like they used to! Thinking it is time to grasp new technology I am eagerly awaiting delivery of the new DVD player. Today I received an email from the company advising me that the DVD player will only work with PAL. We are able to watch Sky and SFR TV programs on our 9 year old Sony TV at present so I am thinking the new DVD should operate OK. If I understand things correctly French TV is NTSC, so I guess our current TV must be able to receive both. We can also watch American DVDs through our current multi region DVD player, which again if I have understood things correctly, US DVDs are NTSC. So bottom line if our current TV will accept all the above, I am correct in assuming the new Panasonic DVD player will still record both French and UK television programs?

Thank you for your swift replies. I have just dug out our previous attestation letters, and it would appear that CPAM, or at least our CPAM have changed the format of the attestation they now send out. Previously the attestation letter with the renewal dates came on a single sheet of paper, with three official stamps all over it, the one we have just received is as I said now on two sheets, one being the attestation and a separate covering letter. The wording is slightly different on the two versions, but basically as you have said Norman just a standard one size fits all letter. Also the new version does not have any official stamps on it, and is only valid for 6 months as previously the old one ran for 12 months. Seems like another panic is over, for now at least! Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply.

Bit confused, not sure how many times I have posted that on this forum. We have been in the French health system for 3 and a half years via my wife's E121, and both have carte vitalles. Today we received a letter from CPAM issuing us with a new attestation and a covering letter stating our carte vitalles will follow and we have the choice of registering with a doctor of our choice, which if we register will mean our reimbursements from CPAm will be greater. This is the same letter we received when we first registered with CPAM, and as we are already registered with a doctor and have our carte vitalles, I really do not know why we have received this letter. Could I ask if anybody else has received a similar letter after already being registered with CPAM. I know our carte vitalles have to be updated on a regular basis, but this seems something different we have not received before. The letter is dated the 27th February and I presented my CV on the 28th which was accepted without any trouble, so I am totally confused as to what is going on. Any feedback greatly received.

I guess a lot of people who are reading this thread have no idea as to how genuinely sick and disabled people in the UK are now being treated, as they are constantly fed a steady trickle of lies from the right-wing press and media, and reassurances from this vile government about how genuine claimants have nothing to fear. This is coming from a government who used the parliamentary privilege rule to overturn some very watered down amendments passed by the Lords to steamroller their welfare reform bill into law. As already stated by Sara only 0.3% of all disability claims are deemed to be fraudulent this figure coming from the government themselves, yet they are proposing to force anybody who is placed in the work-related activity group (WRAG) into forced unpaid labour. I will not post any links to blogs or newspaper articles, but a link to a website that helps and advises people who are claiming benefits, the link to the thread is from a man who is very distressed because his BLIND wife has been placed in WRAG, this is the same group that the government is targeting into forced unpaid labour, this government has sunk so low that it thinks blind people should be forced into employment against their will. God help us all. I really feel that the government and the UK have now hit rock bottom. Link: http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum?func=view&catid=10&id=71257

Cough, cough sorry just blowing the dust off this thread. Norman or maybe somebody else, could you please tell me how long it took to receive your attestation after registering your AE business. I must admit the health cover element of an AE business, if I decide to start one up would be my main concern.

Thank you all for your swift replies. I really did think I had been given false information regarding the 5-year rule and having to have worked the 5 years to qualify for entry into CMU-B. Also regarding the qualifying period for health cover if starting an AE business. Coops and SD in respect to my wife's IB E121 at the moment she has only just sent back her completed form, so I know things can take a while to materialize, and there is the option of an appeal, although I do not know what will happen to her E121 whilst she appeals any negative decision. Whilst I can see and know she is not fit to work, and there is no prospect of any of her problems ever getting better, unfortunately now the system is now heavily stacked against genuine sick and disabled people, and I feel I must try and have a ‘plan B’ so to speak if the situation arises. I will certainly try the Accident de Vie line if I am faced with the situation. If anybody is really interested the current government is transferring everybody who is on IB to a new benefit named ESA, via a much harsher and practically impossible test to pass to be placed in the top group, where the recipient will be left alone, and things will carry on for that person as they are now. If you are placed in the bottom group you will be means tested, and if you have been stupid enough to have saved more than £16,000 you will be deemed fit for work and your benefit will stop after 12 months. If on the other hand you have blown the lot, and have no savings and are placed in the bottom group you will be deemed unfit for work, and your benefit will continue indefinitely. What a crazy system, but there you go that’s why I need a ‘Plan B’. Hope you are going on OK Coops God knows you have had enough dumped on you, a bit like my wife really although differing circumstances for her. Once again thank you for all your replies.

I am trying to weigh up our options of maintaining our healthcare cover having lived in France for less than 5 years. We have lived in France for 3 years 4 months, and have obtained our healthcare via my wife’s E121 due to ill health, not being of retirement age. As there is the possibility that her E121 could be withdrawn anytime in the imminent future I need to try and ensure we stay within CPAM. As private health cover is not possible, due to her many pre existing conditions, I know the other option is to obtain employment or start up a business. Having spoken to an accountant I am a little confused with the information that I received and I would appreciate any comments you may have regarding the information that was relayed to me by the accountant. I was told that entry into CMUB would not be granted after 5 years of residency if you have not paid into the into the system for 5 years via employment. You cannot combine say for example 3 years of health cover via an E form, and 2 years via an AE business, does anybody know if this is the case. I thought it was just a matter of remaining legal for 5 years either with an E form, private health cover or employment, to be granted entry into CMUB after 5 years if you wished to remain an ‘inactive’. Also if you are paying into CMUB the 8% social charge is based on a minimum of €32,000 a year, I am pretty sure people I have never seen that written anywhere, and I think this would have had its own thread on these boards by now if it was the case. Hope you are still with me, also I was informed you have to wait 12 months for a social security number to be granted if registered as an AE before access to CPAM is granted, again I have not read that anywhere, and I thought your number was issued when you register your AE business. Sorry for all the above questions but as it is such a serious and worrying matter I need to try and get things sorted clearly within my own mind as to how we can maintain our health cover. I know in theory entry into CMUB before the completion of 5 years residency should be allowed after the recent EU ruling, but nobody anywhere I have read seems to have had any success on that front, although if the need arises I guess that will have to be our first port of call and hope our local CPAM office will grant us entry. Another question that has puzzled me is when does the 5 year residency period start from, is it when you register yourself with the French tax authorities, as we did the day after we arrived in France, or from when you first registered with CPAM? I really would appreciate any feedback anybody has on all the above points I have raised, and apologize for such a long thread.

No mogs, we cancelled everything with FT/Orange, and only pay SFR the €31.90 a month. Not sure of the technical way of describing how the phone works, but basically you still plug your SFR neufbox into your existing phone socket. The only problem being if there is a power cut then you lose the phone connection.