frexpt

Just wondering whether anyone has tried to alter the "ownership" of a business in France. My son has a Kbis in his sole name for a bar / bistro leased from the local commune from 1 Aug. His girlfriend has now joined him and they would like to effectively form a 50/50 partnership, but, when you can extract an opinion from anyone, the procedures appear horrendous. So far he has been passed from the Chamber of Commerce to an accountant, to a notaire and the latest suggestion is an advocate.......and we are really none the wiser as to what the options are. They are due to be married in August of next year, so are maybe looking at a PACS in the interim, which appears to allow a certain and reasonably cost-effective "integration" into the business. Any thoughts anyone, please?

These are business rates. Further negotiation has landed us a two year deal at 897€ HT per tonne, plus 200€ pa tank rental. Primagaz offered just over the 1000€ with a higher tank rental for 3 years.

Thanks for the reply, which does answer my question. We have used accountants in the UK for many years and their services have been very valuable at times. Nevertheless, much of what they do is duplication of effort, for which they charge handsomely. Similarly we have received proposals from a number of French ones for a business venture here, but we would prefer to reduce their involvement to the bare bones. The sorts of fees being kicked around equate to 2% of gross turnover, with provisios to charge more for additional work.

We have been trying to sort out a tanked gas supplier for the small café that my son has just opened. The existing supplier, who is still owed money by the previous tenant, originally proposed a 3 year contract at a fixed price per tonne (I think that was the unit). That came down to 2 years at a reduced fixed price, and two weeks after our "non" to that, he has just come back with a one year proposal at 1100€ per tonne. I think that works out at 0.60€ per litre.......does that seem right?

Can anybody tell me what, if any rules need to be considered in preparing quarterly and annual TVA returns for a new café business? Do the returns have to be certified by an accountant and if so, on every return or just annually? Many thanks

Thanks for that. I am not sure that I fully understand what benefit we are paying for, but it is reassuring to learn that there are "only 10 million" people in France who can be stitched up like this at the moment.

Just wondering whether anyone else had come across this on a recent Orange bill? Our August facture included four Contact+ "calls" which added 26 euros to the bill. These sums appear to have been charged when a friend of the family accessed the SNCF website during a stay with us. I have spoken to the Orange helpline, but they cannot explain the actual benefit of this option or whether the cost of a train ticket has been charged to our Orange account, in lieu of a card.....I think not, as there are three charges of 8 euros and one of 2.60 euros. Can anyone explain to me what this Contact+ is, please? I have now switched off the option on the Orange website, as it was obviously defaulted to run.

[quote user="andyh4"]It could well be that they have a French bank account, but as stated normally there will be significant charges - 20ish euros - for handling a foreign euro cheque.[/quote] Perhaps, but if they have a French bank account, this won't be foreign transaction. It is only for 16 euros, so I presume that they know what they are doing.

I have received an email from the company in Belgium and they have confirmed that they are happy with a French cheque. Will send it of tomorrow and report the outcome here in due course.

Does anyone know whether a French speaking Belgian enterprises will normally accept a cheque drawn on a French bank account? I am ordering some spare parts from the manufacturer of a chainsaw and they have asked for payment by cheque. They take days to reply to any sort of question, hence the reason for asking here.

[quote user="parsnips"][quote user="frexpt"]Please excuse me if I jump into this thread with a slightly different set of circumstances...... My wife and I are on the point of informing the UK Inland Revenue that we are retiring here permanently. Apparently we will not have to complete a P85 as we will remain within self assessment. We have a portfolio of rental properties in the UK that provides a significant gross income, but which is written down by 60% (finance costs and other expenditure) for our UK self assessment. My concern is if a French tax return asks for gross rental figures, what will actually need to be produced in support of the figures we enter on our first French tax return to ensure that the return reflects what we actually have to live on.[/quote] Hi,     French form 2047 (Foreign Income) sec VI, has provision to deduct expenses ("charges") before transferring the rent, net of expenses to form 2042 box 8TK ,which ensures that the rents are not taxed in France , but are taken into account to calculate your french tax rate on other income.     You can download these forms for information at www.impots.gouv.fr.  If your figures are questioned (unlikely) then copies of your UK tax documents should be accepted. [/quote]   Thank you.  That is very helpful and encouraging!  Although the rental income, less expenses, aggregates on the French tax return to determine any rate paid on other income, am I right in believing that our UK rental income, being taxable in the UK, does not attract Social Charges in France?

Please excuse me if I jump into this thread with a slightly different set of circumstances...... My wife and I are on the point of informing the UK Inland Revenue that we are retiring here permanently. Apparently we will not have to complete a P85 as we will remain within self assessment. We have a portfolio of rental properties in the UK that provides a significant gross income, but which is written down by 60% (finance costs and other expenditure) for our UK self assessment. My concern is if a French tax return asks for gross rental figures, what will actually need to be produced in support of the figures we enter on our first French tax return to ensure that the return reflects what we actually have to live on.

Thank you Norman, that is really helpful. We already have EHICs, which were renewed last year, so, on the face of it, when the time comes, all we need to do is apply for and register the S1 form. Just noticed your reference to S2.......but can't quite see what the difference is to S1, unless it is the corresponding form for people already having left the UK?

We have been considering a permanent move to France for some time, but our financial circumstances are not straightforward and that continues to delay the decision. That aside, the one area that we cannot get a consistent answer is what our healthcare obligations would be if resident in France. We are both retired, my wife being 62 and in receipt of UK State Pension. I am 59 and won't receive anything until I reach 66. At the moment any treatment received whilst in France we pay for in full and reclaim from Newcastle. What would be our need for "top-up" insurance if we do become French resident and are able to obtain Cartes Vitales? We have never worked in France or paid French contributions of any kind.

Thank you both! I must be completely honest and admit that the choice is not completely random, as we have been introduced to the Banyuls wines already by French neighbours up here

Quite randomly, my wife and I have elected to have a week, mid-Feb, based as far south as we could go, just for a change of scenery. We don't know the area at all, but if anyone has a "must see", "must do" or "must eat at" to share, we would be very grateful. We will be looking to travel a maximum of 90 minutes some days to take in as much as we can. Many thanks

I think we are making progress. I wrote to the Notaire (AR, avis de réception) as suggested above and threatened that I would report him to the local Chambres des Notaires and also, if necessary, to Le Conseil Régional. That prompted a reply within days and the refund process is now under way. Good luck and please post progress......

When we sold our résidence sécondaire 12 months ago, we paid what was a provisional amount of Taxe Plus Value, as certain documents relating to reliefs were not available in time for the completion. The tax we paid was calculated by the Accrediteco organisation in Paris, as the value of our property exceeded the "Notaire limit". That was not a problem, but Accrediteco did have some pretty onerous and, quire frankly, petty, requirements, before we could reclaim the balance of our overpaid tax. Anyway, we have jumped through all of the hoops and provided the evidence to our Notaire more than six months ago. Despite repeated chasing from both Accrediteco and us, the Notaire has yet to pass this info to the assessors. He is ignoring emails, refusing to take our phone calls or make an appointment. The message from the receptionist that we can come along to the office and wait to see whether he has time to see us. We are not prepared to do that as he has done this with friends as well and kept them waiting virtually all day. If this was in the UK, I would be contacting the Law Society, but to get to the point of this post, can somebody point me in the direction of whatever body is to which the Notaire is responsible and I will take this up with them? Many thanks

The contröle technique for the Focus was two years ago and we have moved house in the meantime. DEKRA is now the nearest test centre and they did the second CT on the Focus a couple of weeks ago with no issues at all. In fact they were a pleasure to deal with,

[quote user="AnOther"]What are you doing messing about with DEKRA ? Generally speaking a CoC should come from the manufacturers agent in the country of 1st registration, e.g. UK. [/quote] I was trying to arrange the contrôle technique for the car at the local DEKRA. They wouldn't book it in without a CoC from Renault France. Funnily enough, the local Renault garage which had just fitted the headlights also said that the UK CoC wouldn't be accepted and offered to arrange a French one for 205€. Anyway, this morning I popped into the Securitest centre that did the CT for our Focus and they had no problem at all with the UK CoC which I gave them .........all very bizarre!

We are in the process if immatriculation for our UK legal 2003 Renault Megane. We have just been told by DEKRA, the controle technique people, that the French authorities will not accept an EU Certificate of Conformity issued by Renault UK. It has to come from Renault France. Anyone come across this? We had no such issue with our Ford Focus.

Thanks..................these are very helpful.

Thanks also Dave..... Our bedrooms are all doubles which potentially gives us 8 persons........perhaps a problem? In reality we only have 3 set up as bedrooms, the 4th is an upstairs sittiing room, so I think we conform on that basis?

Hello.....I have formatting issues here. I have started using Google Chrome recently, so can someone remind me of what I have to do to correct this? Many thanks

[quote user="AnOther"]Fosse septique inspections have been going on for a lot longer than 2.5 years, we received notification of a SPANC visit only months after we bought in January 2007. It's possible therefore that yours was inspected prior to you purchasing the property but because the report was adverse the sellers may have decided not to tell you about it. What were you told when you bought ? Certainly worth checking out as it's conceivable that you could have a claim under the vices cache laws (hidden defects). [/quote] Thanks, that's an interesting take on things. However, although the inspections have been taking place for a longer period, I don't think there was any requirement in late 2009 for a seller to have a mandatory inspection carried out for prospective purchasers when a house was marketed, as there is now...... However, we will ask the notaire to look again at this, because, if there was non-disclosure, I don't think he will be very pleased with the seller. At the time, all we were told was that a fosse toutes eaux was installed and working.