Panda

Just to clarify, there is an allowance (abbatement) if you live in France but of course if you live in France they get you for 27% instead of 16% as a non resident.

Whilst contracts are indeed for three years tenants can give 3 months notice and leave at any time so no problem with a 12 month rent, the references will be more an issue.

Hi I don't know the answer myself but I would have thought it would pay to be be a SARL where you had such high costs, can insurance costs be offset in a SARL?  Thinking about it, in the building trade I would have thought it would be of benfit as you could also claim for works vehicles and fuel.etc.   Also the fact you are not registered for VAT must cause some issue if clients have to pay the full 19%  instead of 5.5, does that not put clients off? Panda

Hi Chris It is helpful, thanks.  We do have signs posted every 50 metres so that's fine, I will still chase off any dogs that come on my land, I feel I have the right to protect my livestock.   The hunt was close this weekend and they were blowing horns in the field behind our house, I went out and stood on the boundary and watched and I noticed a number of the huntsmen raising an arm in my direction and then they all moved on about 500 metres.  If they had used a gun in that field that would have been close to my house as it's right on the boundary on that side so I'm not sure if they were acknowledging that or just moving on anyway.  I realise that news such as a livestock kill will have been spread among the hunt so perhaps they are being a little sensitive to my situation,  hmm probbably not! Incidentally is it deer they are after when a lot of horn blowing goes on do you know? Panda

Beats me??   I think it's when you earn a 'good' salary as in Punch's reply above he says the percentage gets screwed the more you earn.  If I (or anyone else) was paying 60% of 27k in cotisations no one would do it (would they?) EDIT, one factor is the way the bills turn up, when tax and NI are deducted at source we moan on receipt of the first pay packet but then soon forget. With cotistations you are constantly reminded about how much is going into someone else's hands, I think it's a perception thing in some cases.

Hello It doesn't work like that, it depends on what regime you're signed up to, at the moment the upper limit for a Bic is 27k but I believe it's about to move to 35k next year.  This is the only regime I know about as that's what I work under and as I said you would pay about 20% of that in cotisations.  It works out roughly the same as tax and NI on an equivalent salary in the UK when combined, NI being lower than cotistations but tax being pretty much zilch in France and higher in the UK, swings and roundabouts as they say! Tin hat back on and it's big enough for me to hide under, room for one more if Marc62 comes back on[:)][:D]

[quote user="marc62"] 1, Yes we have a lovely holiday home in the Vendee where we spend approx 50 nights per year [/quote] I think what MArc62 meant to say is   heeeeey you cheeky minx Katie  I don't live in France just pass my holiday there and so I'm not fluent but working on it!!! Some people are soooooooooooo touchy!

Hi Punch Is it the difference between earingn a small amount as in my exmaple above and when you get on to bigger numbers the percentage gets screwed?

No, not 60% of total turnover, in my experience it's about 40% of 'taxable income' , around 20% of total income.  So for a micro bic for example you would get  a 38% reduction of the 27k as an allowance and you can also deduct cotisations paid in the previous year (say 4k), You pay a percentage (around 40%) on the figure that's left, in this example of 12740 leaving you paying around 5k in cotisations so about 20% of total income. All just my workings though..... tin hat on for 'you;ve got that around your head comments'

[quote user="Le Plombier"] I need minimum 500 euros a week to cover cotisations, never mind insurances etc.etc [/quote] That's a hell of a lot 500 per week, you pay 26k in cotisations, you must be a very busy plombier

Ahh that might explain it, it's a keep up with the LeBlanc's thing, Monsieur LeBlanc's large stack up on the hill was embarassing Mr Sun and so he had to have one bigger, boys will be boys! Still love the house and yes now that the Godin has arrived this afternoon I would also love even a 10th of your pile, so it is pure envy and it's freezing today.

Hi I would get your pipes checked out if I were you.   With a large 4 bed house, 3 bed gite and large pool to maintian our bill was never anywhere near 500 euro, you should turn everything off and see if the meter still turns, you could well have a leak somewhere. Panda

[quote user="Gluestick"] My reading of the situation is that your new neighbours are planning some sort of land grab: not uncommon in France. And the reason they have not had the courtesy of speaking to you or at least writing to you is they know their action towards you is hostile. [/quote] Whilst I agree with 'some' of what gluestick says, assuming the neighbours are planning a land grab is a bit much, if I instruct a gemoetre it will be simply to ensure everything is as it should be, I don't want any more land, so why assume this person is doing that?  Best ofr all if you get in touch with the new neighbour and ask them the question.

Hi Chris As I've already lost a goat to the hunting dogs I'm interested in the answer to this, I'm in the Charente and my land is posted with 'no hunting' signs.  No one has yet set foot on the land but their dogs have, where can I find out more about the legalities of this? Thanks

Hi I wonder if the intention is to fence their boundary completely?  I am considering getting in a geometre as whilst I know where the boundary is (roughly) if I am going to pay money to fence the plot completely (no small task) then I want to be sure that it is absolutely correct and that when I put in the required plans of the cloture to the Maire I can also say as per the geometre markings. Just a thought, I would also imagine that the letter from the geometre is fairly standard and that most of the time the poor person is called in when there is a dispute to resolve so has to tread carefully. Panda

Hi Just to add something on the  named driver front, I recently called my mothers insurance company as I needed to drive her car whilst in the UK.  I asked for a weeks cover to which they replied it will be cheaper to become a named driver for the year, and it was, just £15 pounds whereas the admin charge alone for a one week cover was £15.  The insurance company asked me my address and I gave them my French address, she asked, would I only be driving the car whilst in the UK and did I have a UK license to which I answered yes, the cover was then issued without further questions.  So it would seem they have no issue with this. Panda

Hi Thanks all for the good wishes, Nanny now has a new companion, Charlie.  A lovely older male who was being kept in fairly tight conditions with many other goats and so alongside keeping Nanny company he now has a few acres to roam in and is very happy.  Nanny was wagging her tail and generally acting all 'girlie' within minutes, is now also eating well again.  I am now very wary of the hunters and they get a hard stare from me if they come within 500 meteres of my house, I am making myself very visible and walking my  boundary to ensure they know where they are not wanted.  Again though this week I saw a distressed deer tyring to get into our land and so I am worried this will not be the last time.  At least now the new goat has very long horns and is much more aggressive toward my own dogs and so may stand a chance if faced with the same issue in the future. Panda

Wow, seriously how long are you expecting that to last?  It looks huuuge.  We have 15 acres of woodland and looking at your pile you seem to have about the equivalent in wood stacked right there! Forgot to say, love the house, beautiful stone.

Beat me to it Derek and clearer your way!

Qu'est-ce qu'on mange ce soir Directly translated Qu'est-ce -    qu'on  -   mange  ce soir What is it  -   that we  - eat   this evening Qu'on being Que On if seen separately meaning 'that we' Of course the correct meaning being as Clare says  is 'Whats for dinner this evening' not the word for word translation.

Hi When we sold up we were charged CGT because we had two houses and it was pointed out that they couldn't both be our primary residence, we had run a gite from one so that also made things clear that we didn't live there. The thing to do (in my opinion) is to say the purchase price of the property you want to sell was very near to the price you are selling it for , that's what we did and so paid a small amount of CGT.  So in short you could say afor example of the 200,000 we paid for the whole property, 50k of it was for this house which is now being sold for 51k, thus you will pay 33% on 1k.  As you are selling it so quickly after buying you would not be expected to make much profit so I can't see anyone questioning this logic.  The notaire we used was very supportive of this model and actually worked to ensure we paid as little as possible CGT but said it was better to pay 'something' rather than try and get away with paying nothing only to be chased for it later. Panda  

Hi Looking for a companion goat for my female as we sadly lost a goat yesterday to hunting dogs.  Anyone know of a goat or goats needing a home please let me know ASAP as the remaining female is lost without her companion. Panda

The dogs were tagged and the owner has just been to collect them,.  He was clearly upset, difficult not to be with a weeping woman staring at you I guess!  My neighbour who is a sheep farmer dealt with him, in no uncertain terms.  The incident will be reported.  Thankfully my neighbours sheep were in a higher field and so they didn;t see them otherwise it may have been much worse.  

Hi Julie I don't have you number anymore but wanted to pass on some sad news of the goats that thanks to you we gave a home to some months back.  We had a visit from 2 huge hunting dogs, as you know we live in woodland so this happens from time to time and we thought nothing of it.  I even walked along the road trying to find the owners but there was no one about so I left the dogs and went up the lane and into my house, the dogs weren't follwing me.  I then saw the dogs outside and close to my house, I made sure my pup and old dog were in and thought they will wander off again in a minute.  Our son went out to check that they were gone so we could let our dogs out and he comes in and says that are down near the goat field.  With a feeling of increasing dread I ran over to find they had killed 'Billy', it was only a matter of minutes since they were by the house and such a shock.  I am in tears as I type and feel responsible for not thinking about what they could do. Sadly, Billy loved to play with our dogs and so probably didn't try to escape.  Nanny is now freaked out but thankfully seems unharmed.  She will be lonely now though, anyone out there need to rehome a goat? Panda  

I agree with everything that's been said, anyone who works as Christine does to save animals deserves a great deal of praise. [quote user="Christine Animal"] Come and see on the Rescue forum started not long ago by one young girl and which has now thanks to all its members and a lot of hard work saved thousands of animals from being put down. http://rescue.forumactif.com/index.htm [/quote] A word of warning, I went and checked out the forum signed above and cliecked on the youtube link, the scenes are horrific, how can people be so cruel, how do they sleep at night, after the warm glow from the congratulations for Christine, Morse etc. , I now feel sickened and ashamed to be human.