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tinabee

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  1. tinabee

    CU

    [quote user="berkey"]Thank you. I think this is the same situation. I just don't understand how they can grant a CU one year then suddenly say its not habitable. And all this without consulting the owners. Do you know if the people you mentioned above ever managed to change the zoning or if they just had to accept the situation [/quote] There was a massive review and rezoning of building land across France a few years ago resulting in every commune having a plan or chart of what land was classed as constructable. Many plots of land that had previously been granted CU's were excluded. There was a lot of information in the press about it, and there would have been notification of the surveys in your local town hall. Your first call might be to the town hall to ask to see either the Plan Local d'Urbanisme or Charte Communale.
  2. You can ask your local tax office for the "official" average exchange rate for the year, but if you want to follow mint's system you can use the official Banque de France's daily rates tables here https://www.banque-france.fr/en/economics-statistics/rates/exchange-rates.html I use a similar method, but keep the figures in a spreadsheet and insert the appropriate daily rate soon after the pension is paid - saves a bigger job when preparing the tax form as all the payments and conversions are completed and just need totting up.
  3. If you have a good Orange signal you can use their Domino dongle - see here http://boutique.orange.fr/tablette-et-cle/coffret-pret-a-surfer-internet-prepaye
  4. Never found one. It used to be possible with Nationwide if you had and online account with them already, but they seem to have closed that "loophole".
  5. The CU normally lasts for 18 months and should be renewable - it is worth checking with the notaire and Mairie to make sure.
  6. The last time I looked into this (some years ago) I was under the impression that if you worked in France you weren't eligible to pay voluntary NI (of whatever class), but these new rules do seem to indicate you can. So based on this, if I was working in France between 2009 and 2012 I could pay voluntary class 2 and then voluntary class 3 for 2013 and make up the now missing 5 years - seems like a pretty good deal.
  7. I am sure you could do it, but you would still be restricted by the limits imposed by CA, which in our region are 2500 per virement up to a limit of 5000 per day (for online virements). Also, if you set up a new payee (i.e. your currencyfair account) this will take 48 hours. So for a transfer of 20,000, you would need 2 days to set up the destination account, then 4 days of 2 tranfers per day to your Currencyfair account. It might be just quicker and easier to go into your bank and ask them to do the full transfer directly. Also, I am not certain of this, since it is a while since I set up a CurrencyFair account, I would imagine there will be at least some admin to create a Euro deposit account with them. And this is likely to be in Ireland, which might make CA go wobbly (this is a technical/banking term) ;o)
  8. I don't know whether they specifically cover your situation, but this company were very helpful to me in the past http://www.freelanceinfrance.com/index.htm
  9. looks like it was spammed and the post removed
  10. Louis Prima - Enjoy yourself (it's later than you think)
  11. [quote user="mint"][quote user="idun"]We get these every year, proof of life. Job Centre does it in England, and in France I'd go to the Mairie........ and I'd go as it may not be much, but these things always pay for something. [/quote] Id, I think I have mentioned this before on here.  OH's form says specifically that only THREE persons would be acceptable to them.  A consular bod, a notary public and the police. We take it to the gendarmerie.  I explained to them what the purpose of the signature was for and, after the first year, they have always signed and tamponné it without so much as a second glance. We do take in his passport and a justificatif. [/quote] The Maire is both an officer of the state and an officer of the police judiciaire so can legally sign these documents. I have in the past phoned the relevant UK company to explain the powers of the Maire so that they will accept the signature and stamp.
  12. [quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"]good point WB - however, at the moment I am tax resident in Luxembourg. I will still need to look into the tax impact here though.[/quote] you could always ask J-C Juncker if he'll do you a deal on the tax [;-)]
  13. A lot of the information I have read regarding QROPS and their associated fees seem to indicate that anything less than £200,000 would not be cost effective. Another option would be to wait until you are 55 and then just withdraw cash from the small pot and reinvest here in France or elsewhere, whilst making sure you are minimising French tax on the withdrawals, and that the dual tax treaty rules regarding pension withdrawals have been clarified. From next year, the UK pension rules are changing substantially regarding tax and inheritance of pots, so probably not really worth doing anything major until the dust from the changes has settled. My personal opinion regarding size of pot and investment potential is a bit different. Bigger pot, possibly bigger gains, but then again, possibly bigger losses. The phrase all eggs in one basket comes to mind. I have a similar problem and each year I look at it, I end up putting it on the "too difficult" or "who can you trust?" pile. My experience of financial advisers over the last 25 years has not resulted in a resounding accolade for the profession. One thing you can check is that you have properly filled in an "Expression of wish" form for each pension, which basically states who you want to inherit whatever is allowed (lump sum probably, or annuity possibly) depending on the particular rules of your pension scheme.
  14. We paid just under 1000 for water supply (not drains) and just over 1000 for electricity connection in 2011/12. This website is really useful for helping with budgeting and checklists http://www.maison-conseil.com/construction-amenagement-maison-individuelle.asp
  15. Taxes are likely to rise in the future as state funding for local communes is being reduced year on year. Also, in areas where there are housing shortages, there is a proposal to increase tax d'habitation on second homes by 20%.
  16. AFAIK the fisc (DRFIP) in Alsace deals with tax reimbursements, credits or previously unpaid tax bills. Info here http://droit-finances.commentcamarche.net/faq/15295-virement-drfip-et-remboursement-d-impots Is it possible that one of your previous tax bills was not paid or a bank transfer did not go through? It might be worth checking with your tax office to see what the payment was for, in case it was an error.
  17. The amount may be less as the rates for inheritance tax for children is applied on a slice by slice basis, starting at 5%. Details here http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F14200.xhtml Also, in case you weren't aware, the regulation allowing the use of a UK will in France does not come into force until August 2015. Until this date you may need to make special provision for the estate to pass to the surviving spouse should the need arise.
  18. [quote user="victor"]tinabee, We have found a new Notaire and confirmed that indeed this law will apply to us if we wish. I was wrong on the effective date of the law: the date is August 2015. Now I need to figure out if we need to make an American will also as I want to void our prior American will. Did the Notaires you spoke with mention the need to also have a will in your country of nationality?[/quote] I understand that having 2 wills in different countries can cause confusion. If it were me, I would ask the notaire to include a clause in the new will which revokes all previous wills in whatever jurisdiction. However, I am not at all familiar with US inheritance law, so please check this out carefully.
  19. [quote user="Hereford"]I have posted about this before (non acceptance of form).  I was told by a staff member at HMRC that although the form exists none of the big banks will accept it.  This is certainly what we have found, they are too worried about money laundering regs etc. [/quote] Maybe it has changed during recent years but in 2006 the R105 was accepted by RBS, Natwest and Intelligent Finance, but rejected by Nationwide.  
  20. If you haven't already done so, you can apply to have your savings interest paid gross, although not all financial institutions will do so, many will. The form you need for this is the R105 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/r105.pdf
  21. Victor - you are correct, you can have UK inheritance law apply to your French estate, so it will allow you to disinherit a child, which is not normally possible under French inheritance law. The French notaires I have dealt with in the past couple of years (3) were all aware of this impending change.
  22. If you have not been repaid tax paid on interest in previous years it might be worth submitting R43 forms , it looks like you can go back to the 2008/09 tax year (there is a different form for each tax year)
  23. If you are working in France (registered freelance or under an umbrella company) then you are not required to prove your financial status. It is only required for "inactives" i.e. those who are not in receipt of a state pension and who are not working (either employed or running a business). For the healthcare requirements, if you are registered as an Autoentrepreneur to conduct your freelance activities, then no problem, your social security contributions on your declared income will give you access to the French state healthcare system. If you are working under an umbrella company (portage salariale) then you will need to earn a minimum amount within a set period of time to qualify. Have a look on the Ameli.fr website for the minimum qualifying salary to gain access to the system.
  24. I use form R43 every year to reclaim tax already paid on savings interest, it seems to work pretty well http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=8hObC1-9L-o&formId=7356
  25. A new UK statutory residence test was introduced in December 2013 - you can go through it here to get the gist of the new rules http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/rdr3.pdf
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