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Vanman

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Everything posted by Vanman

  1. If I have understood the new treaty properly ...... (if you want to try it out yourself, it's here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/france.pdf )                      ...... then it can't come into force (for capital gains tax purposes) in the UK before 2010/11 (ie not before 6 April 2010), and in France before 1 January 2010. And it will only come into force as early as that if it is ratified this year (ie before 31 December 2009). And although that might happen, I wouldn't hold my breath.
  2. It's very unlikely that the 2004 double tax agreement between the UK and France will ever come into effect, as there is a new (2008) treaty that is clearly intended to replace it. The 2004 one took years to negotiate, and by the time it was in its final form it was out of date......
  3. I'm hoping to be able to tile an outside terrace with terracotta tiles. We've already used similar tiles inside and found that the tiles were extremely porous: we used a large quantity of an oil sealant (sold to us with the tiles) but even then we weren't really happy with the result. I hadn't ever used unglazed terracotta tiles before so maybe they are always like this - please make plenty of allowance for my ignorance. First - are terracotta tiles suitable for use outside? Second - do they need to be sealed? Third - if they do need to be sealed, should that be done before, or after, grouting them? Finally - can anyone recommend a good sealant from personal experience? Thanks in advance!
  4. Thanks,  dragonrouge, for pointing out that HMRC staff at Nottingham they are working all hours to catch up with a huge backlog of post. It's very easy to imagine that individual HMRC people aren't doing their job, but a large part of the blame must be down to the government for making large cuts in HMRC staff and then expecting those still there to deal with the same amount of work (or maybe more). What actually happens is that - with a very few honourable exceptions - the tax staff who are good at their work suddenly discover they can earn twice as much working for an accountancy firm. And many then go and do so. But don't get me started on the HMRC "call centres". I am grateful to dragonrouge, as she/he stopped me from replying to the latest stupid letter I've had from HMRC. My tax return last year said I wasn't resident in the UK (but of course they can't give me an NT code until the French authorities put their stamp on the form - even though HMRC did refund all the 2007/8 taxes I'd paid since I'd left the UK). So now I've just received a 2009/10 coding notice that says "we expect you to pay tax at 40%" - why do they "expect" that? The notice says it's from "CAR Residency .... NR Individuals" - shouldn't they "expect" something slightly different from N(on) R(esident) Individuals? And then they say that they will give me tax relief for my gift aid payments, adding that "the charity may ask you to give a declaration that you are a UK taxpayer". Well surprise surprise - I'm not supposed to be a UK taxpayer, and when I left the UK I stopped the gift aid payments (and I told HMRC. too). If I'd put this rant in a reply to HMRC, the post backlog would just be bigger, and it's obviously a letter written by a computer anyway. An illiterate computer, at that. Whew, that's better......
  5. Thanks for the clarification, teapot. What I wanted to know when I first asked (and what I do know now) is whether there was any major problem in shifting the local technique that distance - the kind of problem that would make it impossible. That's because I need to get planning consent *first* for the abri with the solar panels - and then pour a slab of concrete for the foundations. That's about as far as my DIY skills are going to go - I will be getting in a professional to do the replumbing. I'll probably hire a digger and dig the trenches myself: there's a second trench to go from the panels to the house. The controls for the solar heating will be more complex than I can manage myself. I didn't want to waste to much time on a project that might have proved to be impossible. I'm most grateful for the responses. Still don't know really what to do about a new/different filter medium though! The pool is a salt/chlorine generator one (and, as I've said, so far it has worked very well). But the works won't start until later in the year, so I've some time to make up my mind.
  6. And if I remember rightly, you will be entitled to interest on any tax wrongly deducted (you lucky person) ............ ............................................................................................................ but only calculated from 30 January 2010 if they haven't repaid it by then.
  7. Thanks Andrew that's helpful. To summarise: there'll be more heat loss (unless someone invents a miracle insulation that cuts out all heat loss) and the extra friction from the longer pipes will probably mean I need a bigger pump. As I said, the last few years the system has worked perfectly, nice clean water all the time even when the pool briefly got to 30 degrees with just sunshine, and I don't want to spoil that. We probably would wish to change the sand (for new sand) when we move the machinery. I see you suggest Zeolite. I'd wondered about crushed glass as being a slightly more ecological alternative than Zeolite with a similar filtration ability (2 - 3 microns). I'd like to think all the bottles I send to the bottle bank find a good home. But are there drawbacks to glass? Thanks again
  8. Clair thanks for this post - it's very helpful. Could you just clarify two points. Are these the tax new credits for work invoiced in 2009 (ie they affect the tax return for 2009 income which we'll submit in 2010), or are the ones on the return to be made in 2009? The rolling five-year ceiling. Does this mean that if you had already hit the ceiling with a one-off spend in 2005, you can claim again in 2010? i.e the slate is wiped clean after five years?
  9. Golly - the Leroy Merlin bac a graisse is 500 litres. That's the same size as our old concrete fosse septique!
  10. We had a (50 sq meter) pool installed a couple of years ago by a local firm, and it has been extremely good - no problems at all. But it isn't heated - and the local technique is one of those buried ones. It's difficult to get at the pump and multiway valve (the lid doesn't open very far, and you have to stretch to get at the controls), and we don't like the way the box sits in the middle of the grass. We've thought about putting up a structure like a garden shed at the bottom of the garden, with solar panels on the top, and with the pool machinery inside and a new heat-exchanger to heat the pool a little in late spring and early autumn. In summer the solar panels should heat our domestic water. The new site would also be about a meter lower down than the present one. Here's the question. At present the machinery is about 5 meters from the pool. If we do this, it will be 15 meters further off - twenty meters from the pool. Is that too far? I do understand that we might need a more powerful pump. But is there some other reason why the whole idea might not be practical? I'd really appreciate comments.
  11. Here in the Cantal I'm beginning to appreciate the benefits of a lauze roof when it's blowing a gale. It leaks like anything (half a dozen buckets gradually filling in the attic) but as it weighs a ton (tonne?) at least it is a bit more resistant to blowing off. Touch wood, so far it's all still there.
  12. Alas, that top-up health insurance is complementary, rather than complimentary ! (a pedant writes)
  13. hang on there, Tandem-Pilot: a few minutes with the T-Cut and it could look like this one of mine: [IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss293/Vanman15/HYVanBarn.jpg[/IMG]
  14. Anton - thanks very much for your helpful advice. I've now looked at the forms and printed them out. The application form (the declaration prealable) looked OK - well, not impossible. But I was a bit stunned by the number of attachments listed in the "Bordereau de depot des pieces...". Is there anyone who has gone through this process for a medium-sized garden shed who can list what is actually required by way of attachments to the declaration prealable (unless it really is all 10 items listed on the first page of the bordereau)? I'd be very grateful for some words of experience!
  15. I am also going to do some similar small (but not really small) work in my garden - for a large garden shed with solar panels on top. It'll sit on a concrete pad about 4m by 1.5m. I do understand that permission of some kind has to be obtained but what is the French name for this form/application? I've already spoken to the maire (he's my nextdoor neighbour) and I don't expect any real problems, but I'd prefer not to appear too ignorant.
  16. Something prevents the four letter abbreviation for "National Socialist" appearing on this site: that is what should appear where the asterisks are in the above reading list.
  17. I was always amazed to find that in Rotterdam no-one expressed any dislike for the British (the RAF practically flattened the city, trying to deny the Germans the use of the port) - instead the blame was placed squarely on the occupying forces.
  18. If you will be taking care of your friend's mother *in the UK* then in principle you'd have income that was taxable there (that is, income from a trade or business carried on in the UK). If you are a UK national you'd be entitled to a full year's personal allowances against that income, and if the income you earned didn't exceed the tax allowances you wouldn't be in much trouble if you didn't declare what would be a nil UK liability. But as you are a French resident the income would be taxable in France too - with any UK tax you pay qualifying for relief against French tax.
  19. We are having a Hargassner chipped wood burner installed to heat our barn conversion. I expect it will be great, but: It is expensive initially: these boilers cost more than most other types You need a large silo to store the dried wood-chips in (they are light and bulky - we are using an old external rainwater cistern) The feed from the silo to the burner is via an archimedes screw, which can be noisy (metal on metal, and no lubrication - squeaks and screeches) These boilers require 3-phase electricity - there are no single-phase ones available If you can live with all that, it's certainly the way to go: renewable energy, complete with a 50% tax credit if you are a French taxpayer. Even if you don't go the whole hog to chip and dry your own fuel (the chipper needs to attach to quite a large tractor, I believe), there is the advantage that chipped wood can be dried to the correct moisture content much more quickly than logs do.
  20. The Banque de France rates don't seem to be very close to the oand.com ones. For example, over the last three days of the 2008 they are more than one cent apart, with the Banque de France making the euro value of sterling less than oand.com does on the 29th and 30th, and more on the 31st. I wonder if they simply strike the values at different times of day, and with the exchange rates bobbing all over the place, that gives these differences? But for what it is worth, the Banque de France says that on the 31st December, one euro was worth £0.9525 (ie €1.049 to the £), while oand.com says the figures were £0.9740 (€1.027 to the £).
  21. The new Carte Grise also shows the expiry date for the CT (at letter X.1), picked up from the CT with the UK registration number on it.
  22. I'm sure that if you want the copper-bottomed answer, it is the exchange rate on the day the cash was credited to your UK bank account. And if you'd like to do that, http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory will give you a complete set of exchange rates for the full year. But here's another question. I'm probably not unusual in not yet having succeeded in getting the Inland Revenue to co-operate in paying my pension gross, so I've had tax deducted from it all year. I probably won't see the post-April 2008 tax back in my bank account until May or June 2009. Do you think that for the un-repaid tax, the right exchange rate might actually be the rate on 31 December 2008? It's clear that you have to declare the gross amount of any payment. So I would then use the actual daily exchange rate to convert each net pension payment I get (it's not that many, after all), and convert the total amount tax still owing to me at the year-end rate. What do others think?
  23. Thanks cooperlola: that's rather what I thought. I wonder why in the UK your tax return is sent to you on the day after the end of the tax year (and the form, but without your name on it, is available well before that), but in France there's a three month gap? Is it something to do with fixing the tax rates and allowances for the year after it has ended?
  24. I have just re-registered a 1969 2CV van (originally French, of course) back in France. What took ages was getting the certificate of conformity from Citroen (nearly four months, but at least they didn't cash my cheque until they finished). After that I got the CT, the carte grise, and the new plates all in one day. The carte grise took ten minutes - no-one else in the prefecture today. No complaints about officialdom then. It was private enterprise that was slow!
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