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Hi Everyone, hope you can help!


Chris1974
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My Fiance and I are thinking of moving to France to change our way of life, we have visited the Dordogne many times and love the slow pace and tranquility that abounds (as opposed to the rat race here in Manchester!). We are going to buy a Gite complex and run it as a hobby which will hopefully provide a little income but we are not bothered about it being the main source of income. My main question is this, would my fiance and I be able to have a good standard of living if our guaranteed income (before any gite income) was circa 60,000 Sterling before tax, (bearing in mind that we would have bought the gite complex outright so would not have any mortgage).

Any advise genuinely appreciated!

Cheers in advance

Chris and Alli.

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Are you for real? You must have very expensive tastes if you even need to ask the question.I would say that most people would have a good standard of living on half or even a third of this and think themselves extremely well off.
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[quote user="Chris1974"]My Fiance and I are thinking of moving to France to change our way of life, we have visited the Dordogne many times and love the slow pace and tranquility that abounds (as opposed to the rat race here in Manchester!). We are going to buy a Gite complex and run it as a hobby which will hopefully provide a little income but we are not bothered about it being the main source of income. [/quote]

You will live very comfortably on £60 000 whatever your lifestyle but the gites - if at all succesful - will either be time and energy-consuming or you will pay out quite a lot for them to be cleaned and maintained. Taxes are mostly lower in France than the UK - a generalisation depending on your circumstances - but there are hidden charges to living in France whether you work or not.

You do need to do some research.

Sue

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[quote user="Chris1974"]My main question is this, would my fiance and I be able to have a good standard of living if our guaranteed income was circa 60,000 Sterling before tax,

[/quote]

This has got to be a windup [:@]

60,000 pounds ?

Quite impossible for two people to survive on that, you only have to look at the price of Foie Gras and Huitres these days.

[Www][:D]

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Hi There

Thanks for the reply and genuinely no not a wind up, I was just asking the question as I have no idea of the tax situation in France and thought it might be a good idea to get some honest and open responses rather than read through pages and pages of french tax law! I do however appreciate your wit and sarcasm!

Chris

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Chris, as you sound pretty well off by comparison to most resident expats in France, it is important you seek professional tax advice BEFORE moving to France, especially as there are several recent tax changes that might give you arise for concern. These involve the re-introduction of an exit tax if you leave France after being resident there for six out of the last ten years and could prove very painful, as any unrealised gains on property or any other investment in France or worldwide you or your partner have, would be treated as income and taxed accordingly. (Yes correct, taxable even if you have not sold the assets in which it is calculated you have an unrealised gain!) You may not planning on moving on from France, but the fact is that many expats do.

Other areas of potential concern are increases in the inheritance tax rates, which can be confiscatory for bequests other than to close relations. Last but not least you should be aware that France has a wealth tax if your wordlwide assets are valued at over 1.3 million euros. This may seem a high threshold, but if the euro weakens and you have non euro assets it could be reached more easily than you think.

Other areas to look into are the difficulty since 2007 for early retiree Brit expats to join the French health system and even if you can, the significant 8% of income cost for higher earners such as yourself.

Bon chance!

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France calculates tax against global assets. So you'll probably incur ISF. Income tax. Cotisation against the turnover of any business(es) you conduct from France. Private healthcare, unless you do have a business. Insurence to cover the 30% of healthcare costs the state doesn't pay, even if you do work. 2 local taxes, depending on area can be less, or significantly more, than UK local tax.

You are probably the only person with those sort of assets/income moving to France! All the French are running away to BE/CH/UK!

This is the country that invented stealth taxes, and perfected the art donkeys years ago! My payslip, like normal french workers is 2 pages of closely typed A4, line by line detailing the 43% they steal at that time, then there is the annual declaration that is another 10-12% on top. Are you starting to get the picture! (Last time I paid tax in the UK, I paid 33%. Had a pay freeze now for 4 years, so not earning anymore.)

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[quote user="Sprogster"]

Other areas of potential concern are increases in the inheritance tax rates, which can be confiscatory for bequests other than to close relations. Last but not least you should be aware that France has a wealth tax if your wordlwide assets are valued at over 1.3 million euros. This may seem a high threshold, but if the euro weakens and you have non euro assets it could be reached more easily than you think.

Bon chance!

[/quote]

 

And if you have a pension pot stashed away, that is considered as part of your worldwide assets - even if legally you have no access to it. 

Add to that the value of your property in France - and elsewhere if you retain property in the UK for instance - and you can see how quickly you can reach 1.3m.

 

You should have no problems surviving very nicely on 60K, but go in eyes wide open.  A someone else has said professional advice is what is required - especially for a high earner.

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As said by others you certainly need expert advice before moving to France. Preferably from more than one source. Costly maybe but it would cost you much more if your were wrongly advised.

Also open your mind to other permutations, make a list.

Have a simple holiday home and visit 5.5 months a year.

Why a Gite why not a simple holiday home let.(Gites, B&B’s etc are more work and a greater tie on your time than many imagine)

Split your time between say UK, France & Italy or Spain.

Forget buying and Motor home tour all over Europe

I’m sure you can think of a lot more.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

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