Is France a very expensive country to work in today?

[Grimaud dreamer]

I keep reading about how expensive France is to work it - ie the taxes etc.  I am out of touch with things in this area and wonder if anyone could enlighten me?? for instance what is the basic rate of income tax? how much can you earn before a higher rate kicks in? any other information would be more than welcome.

[dragonrouge]

Grimaud dreamer please see my responce in respect to your posting on a differing subject.

Here in the Vendee and to keep commercants in the village the nice guys in Nantes keep on giving out EU money to keep them. What happens they take the money work their time and then move on. Our dentist has just moved after ten years for without support he could not make it tick. Nantes have just given our hairdresser some 78000 euros of EU money to stay without it he cannot make a living.

[Panda]

[quote user="Grimaud dreamer"]I keep reading about how expensive France is to work it - ie the taxes etc.  I am out of touch with things in this area and wonder if anyone could enlighten me?? for instance what is the basic rate of income tax? how much can you earn before a higher rate kicks in? any other information would be more than welcome.[/quote] Hello GD Tax is not an issue at all it is fairly low in France, the issue is with the social charges. These are very high and it's these that cause the problem. On an income of 32k self employed I paid around 10k in social charges, I paid pretty much no tax during my time in France. The new auto-entrpreneur scheme allows you to pay only on your earning which is an improvement and on those earnings you pay a max of around 24% in tax and charges. This is taken straight from the gross figure as allowances for expenses are already built in. The tax/charges situation is often painted blacker than I feel it actually is but this is because you get big bills rather than paye and everyone thinks 'jeeez that's a lot of money' when a bill for a few thousand lands. Panda

[Rose]

GD... totally echo what Panda has just said. We use ae scheme and so far so good. [:)]

[Sprogster]

GD, many posters in the past have commented on the fact that salaries in France are generally lower than the UK, so average disposable incomes in France tend to be less. So in addition to investigating how expensive France is compared to the UK, you should compare income levels.

Also some taxes differ from region to region such as property taxes, which are a lot higher in areas like the Var compared to the Limouisin.  

[Ejc]

All I know is that with the change in exchange rate, what had been a lower salary when I first moved over, is now a higher one than the UK, and I am paying less out in tax than I was in the UK, as we are taxed as a family, not as individuals and there are tax deductable items when you are renovating. We found the local tax office incredibly helpful when we go in and make our declarations.

[Grimaud dreamer]

Thank you all for your responses.  Not sure what social taxes are though could someone enlighten me?

[NormanH]

I think there is some  confusion about the idea.

France is an expensive country in which to employ someone, or run a business, because of very high Social Security contributions, which give a high level of protection if you are unemployed, and which have built up  excellent Health facilities.

On the other hand if you can get a job here working for someone else or the state you will probably pay lower direct taxes on income, and be able to benefit from the system.

This is why there is such a high level of protectionism over jobs.

[Will]

Social taxes?

There are two distinct charges in France which could come under this name.

First is the social security contribution (often referred to as cotisations) which is very roughly equivalent to NI contributions in UK. Because NI is collected at the same time as income tax in the UK, the two are often lumped together which makes UK tax appear high in comparison. On the other hand, the French charges are collected quite separately. This makes French income tax appear even lower in comparison with UK tax, and social security charges can look high in France - particularly, as NormanH confirms, from the employer's viewpoint, as they pay roughly 40% of the employee's salary (the employee pays about 20% in addition).

The self-employed pay somewhere between the sum of these two figures (typically 46%) based on taxable profit, or a lower turnover-based percentage for smaller businesses. Although the lower micro-business percentage can look attractive, particularly for buying and selling type of businesses rather than provision of services, the fact that they are turnover-based means that the contributions are still payable even if you make a loss, or a very small profit.

Second are the 'contributions sociales', which despite the name are not directly linked to social security, and you do not receive any benefit entitlement through paying them. They are a levy on most types of income or gain, though most pensions arising wholly from outside France are currently exempt. The amount can be quite significant - just over 12% on investment income or capital gains for example. The charges were introduced to help pay off the national debt, in particular the part for which health service overspending was responsible, and to establish a fund to help protect against future excess health provision costs.

[life_is_great_except_4_French]

With proctectionism over jobs, how can Brits living our here earn a living when the tourism industry has dried up.

Surly not helping Brits to find jobs will make them go back to the UK and therefore impeed the countries recovery from the recession.

It sounds to me that France is too strict on helping foreigners find work and Britian is too soft. No wonder the French are eager to send migrants on the first trains and boats of the day from Calais to England.

Is the net result higher or lower unemployment in France than the UK as I have heard of people not getting jobs in the UK because their benefit pays more, but in France what happens if you study and when your studies have ended you cannot find a job?

[Clair]

[quote user="life_is_great"]Surly not helping Brits to find jobs will make them go back to the UK and therefore impeed the countries recovery from the recession.[/quote]

[:D]

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Clair"][quote user="life_is_great"]Surly not helping Brits to find jobs will make them go back to the UK and therefore impeed the countries recovery from the recession.[/quote]
[:D]
[/quote]Ah, Clair, what would you lot do without us?[:D]

[Clair]

[quote user="cooperlola"]Ah, Clair, what would you lot do without us?[:D][/quote]

The country would just have to lock the door and put the key under the mat until the Saviour Brits decide to come back!