Living in UK and working in France.

[David & Janet]

Could someone help?

A friend in the UK has been asked to work on a property in France.  He owns his own building company and pays UK Tax.  He would be paid in sterling and also pay tax in the UK on the job.  Does he need to register here and obtain a Siret number to work?

many thanks

Janet

[Nick Trollope]

I like many others (who are actually involved in the building trade) would say yes, he does need a SIRET number (and insurance). Others would say that he is welcome to work wherever he wants. Frankly, unless he takes advice that he is willing to pay for and therefore believe, then he may as well work (what I, and others would regard as) illegally.

Search this forum and see what you come up with!

 

[RichardA]

On the other hand many people happily do work across borders that does not need to be declared to the local country. I do not see a difference between your builder friend coming to do a "one off" couple of weeks' work in France, and being paid in the UK, than a businessman from the UK going to Paris for meetings and working in a French office for a week. He would not be French resident and would not need to declare the work to the French authorities... and besides, they would never know anyway?!! His insurance may need careful checking for work ex UK however.

The above is just a personal view, and may well be a load of rubbish! I am not an expert!

[Chancer]

One scenario where it could go tits up is, whilst an extreme case, nonetheless possible as I have experienced it first hand.

Your friend is injured requiring a hospital, lets hope he has his EHIC, if you are able to take him there and get your stories right then you should have no problem.

If you require an ambulance then the pompier/paramedics have to take all the details of the accident and are especially interested if it happened while you were working, where it happened, and who can be made responsible for the treatment. This is because normally the workers insurance would pick up the tab but if he were working on the black then the householder would be responsible.

For me the albeit polite interrogations continued in the hospital until they were satisfied that I was in fact DIY'ing.

Given the stress of any such accident, the language difficulties etc I could foresee problems, however if your friend was just helping you then perhaps the house insurance would cover him, but this is by no means certain.

Even using the EHIC there will still be some monies to be paid, from my experience these were not as high as people assume, - ie 30% of the total cost of treatment.

The major costs, being the ambulance to/from hospital and all of the operations were 100% prise en charge; However out patient treatment and surgery not requiring hospitalisation, (in my case several laser operations), out patient appointments, prescribed medication etc all had to be paid at 100% and then remboursed, in most cases at 70%. It added up to a reasonable sum, the majority being for prescribed medicies which never semed to get used before the ordonnance was changed, ie you are prescribed and buy one month of an expensive medication only to have the ordonance changed by the specialist on your next visit 2 days later!

I also had to pay the first 18 euros of each operation and 17 euros per day forfait journalier although this has yet to be factured.

Getting back to the interrogations they were very friendly and never got in the way of the splendid treatment, this was in stark contrast to England when after yet another setback I was hospitalised.

The minute the word France (and also I would guess Spain) was mentioned (the previous operation were done in France) they did their very best to avoid giving treatment let alone argue about who would pay. It seemed that everybody including the nurses (who normally would be more iterested in caring than policy) were on the same crusade.

In my case there was no ultimate difficulty as I was entitled to care and could easily prove it, however those who are considering returning to the UK for treatment after the withdrawal of their carte vitales should take note, they will be expecting a sudden rush and (in my experience)are already well practiced at dealing with returning emigrants.

Sorry if this has wandered away from the earning a living section, if the mods want to cut and move it then thats fine.

[Victor Meldrew]

There is a property not far from us that has foriegn workers being used to do the renovations, the property has been raided several times by the gendarmes and other officials looking for illegal workers. However each time they have walked away "empty handed" as the workers are registered with a UK company and are paid in the UK.

From what you have said this seems to be the same thing, but if it were me I would seek legal advice.

Victor  

[Nick Trollope]

To expand on my original point, building is a regulated trade in France. Everyone who works professionally at building must be regulated - registered & insured. Yes, you can be paid in the UK, but you must be registered and insured here. This is probably the case in VM's example. (The Blue Meanies will raid anywhere that they suspect has illegal workers, they don't need a tip-off or "reasonable cause" or whatever.)

There are exceptions (family members etc), but most are excluded.

It isn't difficult to understand! This is protectionist France, the most heavily regulated country in Europe and, despite what the "illegals" will tell you, EU rules do not override national ones (in this case). You are free to offer your services throughout Europe - provided you comply with local regulations.

[Chancer]

Succinctly put Nick.

I dont know if it is an existing law being applied or just the Gendarmes firmly insisting ,but on multi-trade/sub-contractor sites around here the workers have to wear an identification patch (their name and the employer) on their combinaisons or whatever they are wearing.

[Nick Trollope]

Not heard of that around here, but I did get told off once for not carrying my carte d'identification on site. Had to take it to the Gendarmerie the same afternoon.