johndalton36

Try Cater Allen Private Bank www.caterallen.co.uk. Efficient, UK call centre with human staff, accounts in Euro and US$ as well as sterling, photocopy passport or drivers licence plus a utility bill for proof of address - none of this faffing about with apostles or certification of documents.

It can not be the case that someone who is paying PAYE in the UK can be taxed again in France on their PAYE income, because there are dual tax agreements in place to prevent this from happening. If you live in France full time then you will have to complete a French tax return declaring your UK income, along with any income or investments you hold in France (or elsewhere) but you will not have to pay any additional tax in France on your tax paid PAYE income from the UK. You are employed by a UK employer, who is at liberty to employ people resident anywhere in the EU, and if the employer is not actually trading in France they have no obligation to set up a subsiduary in France or indeed to register to trade here. You can probably go to half a dozen different accountants who specialise in French and UK tax law, be they in France or the UK for advice, each of which will likely give you different advice entirely - but almost all will give you advice that is likely to ensure you have little choice but to remain a customer for years to come! The 6 month rule only applies to domiciliation and not tax residency - we are in the EU now! If it did apply to tax residency then international lorry drivers would have a terrible problem proving where they reside and where they should pay tax! Whether you would want to continue to contribute to the UK coffers is of course another matter altogether.

Thanks Clair It seems I shall have to wait a while beforeI light that bonfire!

There are a couple of points I would like to make here. First of all under EU legislation it is not possible for only bills from French artisans to be included in the renovation costs to offset against CGT. For those who have had English, Dutch, Belgian, German or Italian bonafide firms in to do the work there is no legal reason why their invoices can not be included provided they follow the prescribed format (IE state your full name and the address of the property on which the work was conducted, Vat number etc). Secondly for those of you who are considering a major renovation project, and want to carry out some or all of the work yourselves, you would be better off buying a French company for the purpose, registering it for TVA so you can reclaim VAT for the bills along the way @ 19.6%, and paying VAT on invoices your company raises to yourselves as house owner at 8% where applicable. You will also get full trade discounts at the builders merchants. For substantial projects the benefits will far outway the nominal accountancy costs, and when it comes to CGT you will surely have enough bills (rather than Mr Bricolage receipts) to have significantly reduced your gain.

Get advice on buying the property through an offshore IBC - you can then transfer the shares of nominal face value to anyone you choose, or even have bearer shares. The difficulty though will be finding a Notaire that understands the process. Most will tell you you need to form a French SCI property ownership company which is not the case at all.

Well I started reading this thread because I thought it just may enlighten me on the process of obtaining a Titre De Sejour, it didn't! To anyone who is still in doubt about whether you can fly to the UK with Ryanair on a Titre De Sejour the answer appears to be a resounding No. From their own website which states you can go to the UK with a National Identity card but "Residence cards, family books or military id cards will not be accepted for travel in place of the required valid photo-ID detailed above". To all those who have said something along the lines of  - why not stick with your UK Passport? I would answer - 1. Because I either have to have it sent to a UK address or pay an extortionate amount to have one issued to each of my family by the British consulate in France 2. Because we came here to divorce ourselves from the UK, so the sooner I am able to consign my UK passport to the bonfire the happier I shall be.   The one thing I do now understand though is that I don't necessarily want a Titre de Sejour at all, so what is the process of obtaining a French National Identity Card?

I have some experience of this as my wife is Ukrainian. We spent the last two years queuing up for Shengen visa's to visit our holiday home in France and other EU holidays. Not once did any of the embassies think to mention we did not need a Schengen Visa. Then by chance we heard about EU legislation that came into force in 2004 allowing free movement within the EU (no exeptions) for sposes of EU nationals and their family. I suggest if anyone is having problems with travel you download a copy of the legislation here - http://www.europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l33152.htm, copies are also available in French, German etc etc. We printed a copy in each language and had them ring bound into a folder at the local stationers. The first time we arrived in Limoges airport with an expired Schengen Visa we were pulled to one side, out came the folder, French page presented to the Douane who stood scratching their heads and we were duly waived on our way.We have since been all over the EU and never more of a hold up than this. Incidentally another point you should be aware of is that you/your spouse do not have to queue in the non Eu passport holders channel at immigration in any EU country any more - you can go straight to the EU channel - where immigration all seem to know about European Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC of 29 April 2004, where as immigration in the NON EU channel seem to have never heard of it.