Blossom

Thanks for your replies. I guess things may be a little clearer when I visit the tax office next week. Looks like I better take along photocopies of the original FD5. I had been warned that this might happen!

I have phoned Nottingham and Paris, only to discover that my FD5 (which I submitted in May) appears still to be at our local tax office (a visit is planned for next week)! Does anyone know if local tax French offices send the FD5 to Paris soon after they have done their calculations; or do they wait to see if we have paid our French tax bill before forwarding the FD5? Thanks in advance.

We have recently switched our FT landline and Orange Internet over to SFR Neufbox.  We now have VoIP only for our telephone calls.  The internet works well but the VoIP calls are not as good as the ones we made through the Orange Livebox. When we call numbers in France or the UK it usually takes around 3 or 4 attempts before we get through. Before we make a connection, the numbers in France usually have an engaged tone, whereas the ones in the UK have silence.  Once connected, there are not problems. We don't use the phone that often and I suppose the 250 Euros a year saving may be the price we have to pay for this minor inconvenience!  However, I wonder if anyone has had similar problems and if so did they manage to find a solution? PS: we are in a non dégroupée area.

Can I hold both a Livret A and an Assurance Vie?

Stop Press: just phoned AIB and they are now waiting to hear (1 or 2 days) from the Irish Government to see if the 100% backing will be applied to off-shore accounts!!

[quote user="Polremy"] be interested to know if anyone has any better ideas for savings in france.[/quote] The Anglo Irish Bank is offering a 7.21% (AER) bond with 100% backing from the Irish Government! (As far as I am aware you can open multiple online NW bonds - it is still at 6.5%)

Thanks for the recipe, Clair. I made the cake yesterday: lovely and moist; it disappeared in minutes!

[quote user="BJSLIV"]The properties that are more likely to suffer are ones that are part of the UK property market, but just happen to be located in France. Particularly at risk  are the ones that have been over-improved relative to prevailing French  price levels and taste. [/quote] Let's not be too parochial: there are also enormous amounts of Dutch and, to a lesser extent, Belgian-owned homes in France that also fit the above criteria.

Is there a recognised procedure for registration? What form should we ask for at our local mairie?

Thank you for the helpful replies. Am I right in thinking that when we submit our first French tax form (in May 2009), we use only the FD5 and then for subsequent years we use only the R43?

Has anyone had any problems using a UK address for UK bank accounts and claiming back the tax on these accounts with the FD5 tax form using a French address?

Has anyone had any problems using a UK address for UK bank accounts and claiming back the tax on these accounts with the FD5 tax form using a French address?

Hi John I used to live in Dersingham and I know Hunstanton very well: when I was at school (40 years ago!) I used to work at the bingo on Huns'ton Pier (before the fire) during the holidays and I've also caught a few tope there in my time. My advice would be to take a few months out and rent (gites) in different locations. That way you will be able to test out your ideas before any permanent move. Good luck

Mmm...not sure about houses, but flour and rice might be worth a punt!

[quote user="Polremy"]So do Nationwide have your French address? (We didn't dare change ours over.) If so, have you encountered any problems using a Nationwide Credit card with a French billing address? Buying airline tickets for example.[/quote] No problems changing to a French address or using our NW debit card (not sure about credit cards - never had one).  If you are in the UK, just pop into a local NW branch and you can do it without any proof of a French address. If you change your address from France, you may have to send utility bills etc. (As a general rule,  most UK banks  will not allow you to open any new accounts once you have a French address - so make sure that you do so before changing your address!)