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Mikep

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Everything posted by Mikep

  1. Sorry about the sums - yes, of course it should have been 4/6ths - one half plus one third of the other half. Apologies to all! Believe it or not, I do have a degree in Maths, but having lived metrically in France for 14 years, maybe I'm better at percentages!
  2. Either way, the father owns at least 5/6ths of a property he no longer uses. Rather than involve lawyers, would it not be more constructive to offer to buy the property from him? If he no longer speaks to your wife or her brother, perhaps you might be an acceptable neutral. Find the asking price of similar properties if you can, and offer 60 to 70% for a private sale with no agents fees or hassle. If your wife does own a share, she will get a small payout from the sale. House prices and mortgage costs are both quite low at the moment. You could then sell the property much more simply, or retain it.
  3. Funny how Royal palaces and Crown estates are our property when we want to sell them off, but the Queen's when they need repair - e.g. Windsor after the fire.
  4. If she has the money in hand, you're always going to be in a weak position. Were you studying at a recognized institution (University/Intetnational school)? If so, your best course may be to contact the Accommodation officer there and get her blacklisted, or better still threaten to do so if you don't get at least some of your money. It seems likely that she will rely on regular lets to students - she won't want to jeopardize her future business. She may settle for "splitting the difference". All part of your education - and a good education is always expensive! Don't even think of using lawyers - you'll just throw good money after bad. Please don't judge all Europeans by her standards!
  5. In my experience (retired to France twelve years ago), your criteria are mutually exclusive. Anyone who's any good is going to be expensive (think in terms of 2% per year - if you don't think that's expensive, extrapolate it over twenty years). The key thing is for you to fully understand what's being proposed. My best advice came from a book by PKF Guernsey - "Taxation in France - A Foreign Perspective". My copy's out of date now, but should still be obtainable through their website, which also has lots of free information sheets, although these tend to be pretty technical. Before we left UK, I tried to use Blevins Franks on a fee-paid basis (as opposed to commission based) but was disappointed. I then used Siddalls who were reasonably good, but still commission-oriented. I now manage my own investments including pension funds, having done lots of research and reading over the years to understand the risks and costs. I have no connection with any of the above organizations.
  6. Nobody likes the bureaucracy, but it can be worth making the effort if your income is mainly pension. Because social charges are not levied on pension income, your marginal rate of income tax is only 14% up to quite a high level (40,000 euros plus for a couple). However, you pay an additional 12% on top for any interest or dividend income. The french income tax self-assessment form is horrific the first time (see other postings!) but much easier afterwards, as all information always goes in the same boxes. The nicest thing is that when you hear UK politicians bribing the electorate with "government money", it's no longer you having to foot the bill. Also, state health insurance is free once one of the couple receives UK state pension (you might want to pay for top-up insurance for the 25-35% of medical bills not covered by the state). It may just be worth doing the sums before you rule out residence.
  7. Something to watch out for if you're wanting to object to an application for Permis de Construire: I tried to find details of a neighbour's application at our mairie, and was told that I wasn't entitled to see details until the permission was granted. Once it was granted, I would have a few weeks to register an objection. The logic of this escaped me, but I got the impression it is a general principle.
  8. We had a nightmare experience with Burke Bros.
  9. Mikep

    QROPS

    Has anyone looked at what happens to your QROPS if you back to the UK at some point in the future? Presumably the (inheritance tax) benefits are lost but the costs remain?
  10. No, I was well aware of it before I signed up. What I didn't realize at the time was that it does not necessarily continue for ever, if you don't need continuing advice.
  11. I used Siddalls for other investment advice and found them very satisfactory at the time. However I then found I was paying a "trail commission" of 0.5% of the value of the investments every year, although I didn't need continuing advice. It may not sound much, but was several thousand pounds a year for very little contact and no responsibility. I suggest that you watch out for this and negotiate your way out of it. I spoke to the Insurance company involved after five years, and they were happy to deal direct with no trail commission. Obviously you're on your own then, so need to understand what you're doing. The same calculation applies to SIPPs - I was with Winterthur who charged a percentage of the pension fund each year. I switched to Alliance Trust who charge a flat fee and made considerable savings. However the switching process was a nightmare! I guess the simple rule is: it's your money - make sure you do your sums!
  12. We did that thirteen years ago (in the Haute Savoie), and it worked out really well. We bought a plot and then used an Architecte Batisseur (Architect Contractor) to build our house to our exact design. He worked on a fixed price contract, and met his delivery date exactly. It's obviously more expensive than buying from a developer and only worthwhile if you want top quality - but if it's for your retirement (as ours was) you may be in a position to afford it. We've been very pleased with the result, and would find it very difficult to move into "someone else's" house now. Good luck in your adventure!
  13. I believe it's the Tax Office for Social contributions - normally your income tax is sorted earlier in the year (July last year for me) and social contributions later (September for me) based on the "revenu fiscal de reference" after any appropriate refunds have been given. It's URSSAF rather than CPAM who collect your health contributions (as opposed to social contribs) - these used to be 8% of income. (I stopped paying them when we got cover on E121 form when my wife became entitled to her pension). Again, it's all keyed to your Income Tax return, so get that completed asap in the New Year.
  14. I'm not so sure about this. Surely if you moved back to the UK in November 2009, you will not be resident in France during the 2010 tax year, therefore a payment in February 2010 should not be taxable in France - provided you have given all the necessary notifications. The payment should be taxable in the UK, but if it's your only income in the UK tax year (to April 2010), there may be little or nothing to pay - remember you get a full year's personal allowance for that year. You will presumably receive your "Declaration des Revenus" from the  French tax people in March 2010 for all income received in 2009, and you will need to make sure when you return it that they are informed of your November 2009 departure date. If they don't send it, I suggest that you contact them and ask for it - you may be due a refund. If your previous employer deducts tax from the payment in February 2010, you may need to reclaim it after the end of that tax year in March 2011, but should have no liability then in France for income tax or social contributions. You will probably have to complete the appropriate form (Form France - Individual / Formulaire France - Particulier) and send it via the UK Tax people to your former French Tax office to be released from future french tax hassle. I suggest that you don't just assume you're not liable, and therefore decide not to return the forms. You will need to jump through a few hoops to ensure a clean departure. Good luck! By the way, I suggest that you save all your documentation carefully - you will need it when you come up to retirement to claim the appropriate years' credits for pension contributions. I'm just doing that from years 1974-6.
  15. SD's formula is nice and simple, but I can't get it to work for me. I don't seem to have any "abattements" offset against my RFR before the calculation (the7918 euros to subtract), consequently my Td'H is 290 euros more than SD's formula would suggest.
  16. Just a small point for early retirees to bear in mind is that both of the couple qualify for free health cover if either of the couple receives UK state pension. Since women start to receive at age 60 (currently), this can be a useful saving - the CMU costs otherwise are 11% of income.
  17. Naturally, in line with the great French tradition, the calculation is fiendishly complicated and way beyond me (No doubt Clair will be able to put it into simple language). However, it's explained in Note 7 on page 3 of your TH form, and there is a table  (Note 10) indicating the ceiling of RFR (Revenu Fiscal de Reference) to receive the reduction. What I think this all means is: the reduction applicable is equal to the part of the gross amount of Taxe d'Habitation which exceeds 3.44% of the Revenu Fiscal de Reference (from your income tax advice) reduced by an abatement as shown in the table below (table 10). Thus, for a couple (2 parts for income tax), provided your joint income is less than 32,791 euros (23133 + 5406 + 4253), and your gross TH is more than 3.44% of your RFR, you should be receiving a reduction (allegement). It's shown on the back of your Td'H Advice about half-way down on the right, "Plafonnement selon le revenu". There are also abatements in column lll of table 10 amounting to 7,918 euros for a couple, but I struggled to understand the application of these - maybe they should be subtracted from RFR before the calculation, but I can't relate that to my own Advice.. Anyway, the good news is that the calculation and reduction should all be automatic, but it's certainly worth checking that you are receiving the reduction. Bonne Chance!
  18. From the sound of it, you should be entitled to a substantial reduction (allegement) in the TH actually paid. This appears to come through automatically based on the previous year's Declaration des Revenus for income tax. I've had a reduction of around 70% on TH for several years as I've only been drawing part of my personal pension, but still an adequate income. I didn't apply for it - it just turned up (thankfully!). However, no equivalent reduction appears to apply to TF. Worth asking about?
  19. I still suggest that you need to do your sums very carefully if you're approaching retirement and expect (presumably) your income to be reduced. Failing to pay a mortgage promptly is a lot more serious than for credit cards, and banks in France will be much less sympathetic (if that's possible?). Before I retired I put all my income and outgoings for the next 25 years into a spreadsheet to make sure there was a reasonable chance of things working out - you can't predict exactly what will happen, of course (inflation, dotcom bust and credit crunch, for example), but it should give some idea of your safety margins. One good thing about France is that the marginal rate of tax on pension income is low - 14% up to 50,000 euros per year for a couple - because you pay little or no socialist charges on this part of your income. However, the poor exchange rate is against you if your pension comes from the UK. Good luck!
  20. Surely the key to resolving these problems is well-paid employment, rather than borrowing more? Even a mortgage still needs to be repaid. Unless the OP has an excellent pension (and maybe a tax-free lump sum) coming in the next year or so, I would have thought he/they would have a better chance of earning in UK rather than in France. Living in France can be wonderful, but it's still in the real world.
  21. Thanks, Clair, but am I missing something? I found my last few invoices and input all the consumption data, post code etc, but all I ended up with was a list of possible suppliers and phone numbers. I expected some sort of price comparison - was I too optimistic?
  22. For Fosse Septique enthusiasts, I just got the bill for emptying ours and general cleaning of pipes etc - 672 euros! It was a very clever tanker with its own built-in pumps & high-pressure hose, but charged by the hour (4 hours at 131 euros) and by the cubic metre. Ours is a modern system, nicely buried and landscaped. Since it was our first time, quite a lot of the four hours was wasted working out what equipment was where, and what action was needed. Next time I'll do the unskilled excavation and preparation myself in advance, and the cost should be much less.
  23. Sorry Tessa, but I'm going to be a wet blanket now. At your (tender) ages and with young children, you need to be realistic about your chances of earning a living here. It's a great place for holidays (or even retirement with a decent pension), but permanent employment is very hard to find. Even the locals with good contacts end up doing two or three half-jobs - tourism-related in the winter (bar, shop or hotel work), farming or forestry in summer, that sort of thing - but there are virtually no large enterprises for office-type employment. If you're running a chalet or gites, you tend to get bookings only for 8-10 weeks a year, so it's very difficult to make the sums add up. I really do wish you all the best, but tread carefully! Property is reasonable by English standards provided you're a couple of miles from the ski lifts - if the property is on the ski-bus route, you can add 50% to 100% to the price. However, prices are probably double those elsewhere in rural France. For example, you could get a simple chalet for yourselves at around 250,000 euros, but it wouldn't be big enough for commercial letting. There's quite a lot of demand for something which is a commercial proposition - for a chalet on the ski-bus route with 4-5 letting bedrooms, for example, you might have to pay 600k up to a million euros. The girl who runs the chalet I sent you the details of (Rosie Wranek) has been through exactly your thought process and has been running her chalet for three years or so (and with a struggle). It could be very valuable for you to pick her brains before reaching a decision. On the brighter side, if you can get here during the coming season, I would be happy to meet up and chat over a beer. Abondance is a great place for kids to learn to ski (or board if they must!). I'll try to e-mail you directly so you have my details.
  24. Hi Tessa, a great idea (in principle!). I live just over the hill in Abondance all the year round, and am just warming up mentally for my fourteenth full season's skiing in the Portes du Soleil. It's snowing on and off at the moment. It's a great way of spending a winter, but being parachuted in to the local schools will be tough on your kids - at least they can support each other, but they will just be getting the hang of it when it's time to move back. There are quite a few english kids resident now - I remember an ill-informed article in the local paper a couple of years ago complaining that they make up 20% of school attendance in St Jean d'Aulps, just down the valley from Morzine. In fact, if they weren't there the school would be struggling for numbers. We moved here when I retired (early!), so have not had the problems of children at school, or of finding employment. Would you run a chalet or similar? I would recommend trying out the idea in the coming season for as long as you can manage, but without the school complications. I know of a chalet in Abondance where the lady who runs it has two kids in local schools - she might be able to give you some pointers. It's: http://www.alpineabondance.com/        (no connection to me).
  25. If you're resident in France (at its simplest, if you spend more than six months in a calendar year in France), you should be registered for, and pay, French income tax and social contributions on all your (worldwide) income.That includes interest received in UK or anywhere else. However, you should be able to get the interest paid gross in UK, so it's only taxed once. The good news is that (certainly in our case, married with pension income) tax rates are lower - our top marginal income tax rate is only 14%, and there are no socialist charges on pension income received, although interest and dividends do get hit with an additional 12% of these charges. If you're not resident, it doesn't matter what you do with your money - but bear in mind that residence is not optional - it's determined by where you spend your time (plus sometimes other factors as well).
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