DrAlanStatham

Hi, I hope I'm not too far off topic on this board. If I am, I claim the shock I've just had as my defence. Late last year I bought a Brother laser printer which is terrific - until just now when I checked the price of changing the toner cartridges. Works out at just over € 400 - if I buy them at a discount online. I've asked for a price from the shop where I bought it but expect that to be worse. I've heard of places in the UK where you can take your cartridges and they will fill them back up for you. Is anyone aware of anything similar in France? If so, have you used them and were they any good? Thanks in advance for any help

Hi, I’ve had a look at some of the discussions here on the subject and can’t quite find the answer I’m looking for. I’d appreciate some views on the deduction of VAT from sale proceeds on the sale of renovated property. My situation is: ·         I bought a property in 2000 with my father for renovation. It had previously been used as a home but had been vacated and the farmer was using it to keep pigs in. ·         Although we haven’t changed any of the perimeter walls, the slate on the roof has been replaced and pretty much all of the interior (excluding the joists) has been newly installed. ·         We finished the bulk of the renovation work in 2003 (the kitchen was fitted in December 2002) and I lived there from June 2005 to December 2007. ·         Shortly after moving in, I wrote to the tax authorities to let them know I was living there and have paid ‘tax d’habitation’ since July 2005. In the letter, I mentioned that the property became ‘habitable’ in September 2004. Although I haven’t seen the definition, it seems likely to me that on sale, the proceeds will be subject to the deduction of TVA at 19.6%. Having done a great deal of the work ourselves, there’s not a great deal of input TVA to deduct, which wipes out a fair chunk of the profit. I’m aware that like new builds, if you wait five years, the TVA issue disappears. My question is, at what point does the five year time-span start to be measured? Unlike new-builds, there’s no certificate of completion to take as the starting point, so can I take the fitting of the kitchen? Or are the tax authorities likely to refer back to my letter that says it was ‘habitable’ from September 2004? Or worse still, from the point in time at which I first started paying tax d’habitation? Also, is there anything set out in the legislation that clearly states when a renovated property becomes subject to TVA on disposal? Thanks in advance for any help. DAS

Hi, I have a house in Brittany (dept. 22) with outbuildings that are in a state of disrepair. It occurred to me that rather than fork out fistfuls of cash to renovate the outbuildings, I might be better off selling them to a stone mason or builder, on the basis that they dismantle them and give me some cash for the stone. Of course, they might take an opposing view and want money from me for doing it, but I've heard stories of builders buying granite properties, just to dismantle them and use the stone elsewhere and then sell the land on. Has anyone here done anything like this? Thanks in advance DAS

Hi, I'm in the process of filling in my tax return and, horror of horrors, I have a new source of revenue, which means I can't just fill out the same boxes as I did last year. I started running my business through a French SARL in 2007 and drew € 8,000 net during the year. The company will pay the social/pension charges on this, which will lead to a charge in the accounts of the SARL of about € 11,680. Being as this is all taxed in the company, I don't expect to pay any more tax/social charges on it, but I assume I still need to declare it in my personal return? Although I'm the Gérant of the company, am I right in assuming this is still declared as salary? Box AJ on the main form looks the right place to me. Does this seem reasonable? Finally, should I declare the net amount drawn i.e. the € 8,000 or the gross € 11,680 charged in the company's accounts? Thanks in advance for any help. DAS

Just as a final postscript, I thought I'd share my goods news with everyone. I put the refund request (form 3519) in with my March VAT return and the cash was credited to my business bank account this morning!!! Living proof that the French Authorities aren't necessarily as bad as UK TV would have us believe and things can get done in France without the hassle of professional advisors. Mind you, one swallow does not a summer make.... Thankyou everyone for your help. DAS

I hope this isn't too far off-topic for this board. Living in a fairly rural area (dept. 22), I'm struggling to find a way of hiring DVDs conveniently. There's a machine in my village, but it's only got about 20 films in it. You can hire DVDs without membership with a carte bancaire, or get a preferential rate with membership. Trouble is, I've no idea how to get membership. The website address on the machine is a dud, so the whole operation looks a bit iffy to me. The other alternative is to join a postal club like this one: http://www.dvdpost.fr/products_new.php?list=next It seems like a good idea, as the library looks fairly sizeable, but it costs € 14 a month for up to three films a month. Does anyone here use any of these postal clubs? Does anyone have any views on who has the best deal/service/library? Thanks in advance for any help. DAS

Excellent, thanks everyone. I'm under régime du réel normal - mini réel. Having just received my March quarter-end return, I'll send form 3519 with it and see what happens. I've managed to find a copy of form 3519 here: http://www.impots.gouv.fr/portal/dgi/ May take a while to fill out, but the amount of money is not small, so it'll be worth it. Will let you know how I get on. Thanks again. DAS

Hi, I run a small business via a French SARL, which is registered in France for VAT and I submit quarterly returns. Because all of my sales are to German companies that are also VAT registered, I never bill any output VAT, but my inputs have slowly built up to what is now an appreciable amount. Although I've declared the accumulating input VAT on each return, I've never been sent a cheque by the VAT people to refund the balance due to me. I've heard I need to write to them in order to request payment. Has anyone here got any experience of this? If so, would you be able to offer a standard wording that I could use to request payment? Thanks in advance for any help. DAS

Thanks everyone for an entertaining and helpful thread. Just to close off, I managed to get €150 at the breaker's in Lamballe, dept. 22 - €100 more than they offered us at Cesson-Sevigne in dept. 35. Which then disappeared when we had to pay €180 to register the new car. Ah well, sorted now. DAS

Hi, Having just but our first 'proper' French car (left and drive, so we can see round tractors to overtake now!) I'm left with the task of trying to get rid of our old (right hand drive) Citroen ZX that we brought over from England. Although it still runs and has nearly two years worth of MOT, there's oil in the radiator (apparently the head gasket is letting oil) and I can't imagine I'll manage a private sale here. I asked the auction people where we bought the new one, but they only take right hand drives under ten years old. The breakers seems the only option left. Is it like the UK here i.e. do you have to pay them to take it, or can I expect to receive a small sum? Are they fussy about what they take? Thanks in advance for any help. DAS

Hi, I've done a search and couldn't find an answer, so I hope my raising this question is ok. My problem is that I want to buy a freeview digital receiver in France with a hard disk for recording and would like to be able to switch subtitles on so that they record and can be played back. Am I right in thinking that subtitles are sent via teletext and are therefore decoded by the TV - meaning that they are not part of what is recorded on the disk, or do they form part of the digital tv signal that can be switched on or off and hence recorded on the disk? An English neighbour has a Humax box that he brought from England that records subtitles here. The staff at my local Darty store say this is not possible, as all subtitles are sent via teletext. Someone's having me on and I'm not sure who. Thanks in advance. DAS