David

I may be misunderstanding the portage concept, but it seems that it may be of limited use, and of no use to me as a consultant. As far as I can find out at, the end of the day when the work is complete, you send your time sheets and expense sheets to the portage company who then invoice your client, and reimburse you by means of a weekly or monthly salary once they have received the funds. This is useless to me, as I would only be doing occasional documentary work for my old friends in the UK as I can no longer do the practical work.  This would amount to no more than a hobby, but would help my old friends as they would send me the complicated documents that they do not have time to work on. Individual jobs may amount to only one a year, or there could be several in a short period of time.  Each job would be independent of all others, and would be invoiced separately.  The fees earned may be tiny, or for a large problem going to court they could be considerable.  At times disbursements for research could also be considerable, and sometimes without receipts.  It would not be possible to forecast fees, and nor would the fees be regular. As a consultant, I would not keep time sheets, or keep expense sheets.  I would agree the fees and expenses with my clients, and then invoice them for total fees and total disbursements "as agreed". It seems simple to me, do the work, all for clients outside France, invoice the clients, and then declare the fees to the French authorities as income - all legal and above board.  However, this seems to be impossible in France. No wonder the black market exists. I have now told my friends that due to French difficulties, I cannot accept any consultancy work. What a shame.  My friends would benefit, I would benefit, and the French tax man would benefit.  Now because of impenetrable paper work, no one benefits. Any ideas or thoughts anyone?

I clarified the position with CPAM with the help of a French friend.  It seems the problem was my invalidity benefit.  The tax people told me this was not taxed as a pension, but was classed, and taxed, as a benefit.  I therefore told CPAM that I did not have a pension.  After a while the tax people seem to have told CPAM that I was receiving money, and CPAM wanted to know what it was.  I told them about the incapacity benefit, and all became clear.  As far as CPAM is concerned the incapacity benefit is a pension. They wanted to know whether I was receiving a pension from a country outside France, or a pension from France, or no pension at all.  They were relieved that I was receiving a pension, as I could support myself, and they only wanted to know who paid the pension so they could decide whether I stayed in the international division, or whether I would be transferred to the French domestic division of CPAM.  As the benefit was paid by the UK, I stay in the international division, and my 100% allowance under the E121 is not affected.

I have been resident in France for about two years, and I have a form E121 which records me as "invalidity".  I have a carte vital and for the last 18 months I have been receiving 100% re-imbursement, and my wife recieves 65%.  All fine. I am only 58 so I do not receive a pension, but I do receive invalidity benefit from Newcastle. I have just received a letter from CPAM stating that they have new information and are suspending my reimbursements.  They attach a letter quoting "attestation sur l'honneur du versement d'une pension (article 28 du reglement 1408/71", and then ask me if I am receiving a pension from another "membre de l'EEE", or from France. I do not receive any pension, but I am in receipt of payments under a private long term disability insurance, and I wonder if the invalidity benefit or insurance could be seen to be a pension.  Both of these have been recently declared to the local French tax office. I do not understand the reason for this demand, and I am worried that CPAM are trying to revoke my 100%. I wonder if any member could advise about the above regulation "article 28 du reglement 1408/71" and what difference the receipt or not of a pension makes to the 100% re-imbursement under the form E121.  

[quote]http://www.anpe.fr/actualites/affiche/aout_2004/portage_salarial_2655.html So in essence you get the Portage Company to bill your customer and then receive about 50% of the invoiced bill once the ch...[/quote] I was very interested to read about the portage company idea, and I think that many recently retired people would like to know about this.  It is a shame it is buried so deeply in the forum. I am recently resident in France and I am a retired marine consultant, but some of my old friends and clients in UK still want me to do some work on a part time basis.  I do not want to set up a French company, with all the paper work involved, as the work will be patchy, and will probably die a natural death the longer I am away from the UK.  I have tried the web site address but my French is not good enough to understand all the content. Please can you tell us more about this seemingly excellent idea. Can you write reports on your own letter head, can you invoice in English (under the portage company's letterhead, or care of the portage company; euros or sterling do not matter), does the portage company deduct commission and tax from fees only, or on both disbursements and fees (I may have to travel with consequent large disbursements), as all tax is paid by the portage company do you have to declare these earnings to the local French tax office, how do you contact the portage company, does the portage company have an english speaking section, can all written work under the portage company system be in English. Would be very grateful for these answers as I have been worrrying how to help my old clients and friends in London without setting up a French company.  I did not want to work "on the black", charge them in sterling, and then pay the cheque into an off shore account as I am too old to flirt with what might be seen to be a possibly illegal tax dodge.  So far I have had to refuse work, so I am happy to pay the portage company 50% of fees, and stay legal.  I would prefer not to pay a commission on disbursements.