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Starting a business without actually starting a business


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We are thinking about starting a small business within the real estate world (but not as agents). We don't know if our idea will work or not but would like to start up gradually, and take a step at a time.

Is it possible to work and charge people for our work and just declare this to the taxman, or do we need to go the whole hog and start up officially, setting up relevant paperworks etc. Of course, if we find that our idea is going to be successful, we will set up properly, but don't want to waste time and energy on this side of things until we have to.

Thoughts please?

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The short answer is no, you can't just see how it goes and declare it to the "taxman", it may also be the case that you need specific qualifications for your enterprise. It isn't so much the "taxman" as all the other charges that you need to be registered for and pay.

Chris

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[quote user="Dee"]regarding the sign of the

twins.....Gemini...Could...and probably relates to a stonge willed

person, open, direct...a person who really enjoys sharing..

[/quote]

Yes, I could relate to that - but I find the worst aspect of being a

Gemini is being able to see both sides of most arguments, makes life

very complicated sometimes [blink]

Better continue this by PM's before we get pounced on for going off-topic :)

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Unless you have an exoneration of charges for some reason (you have been receiving chomage for more than a year for example) you may still be liable to pay charges right from the beginning.  Your local Chambre de Commerce may well run free courses on setting up a business - if you ask they will organise for you to go on one.  Beware this is NOT the same course that people have to take when they are actually setting up a business but more a theoretical 'what if I wanted to set up a business' day.  Even if you are setting up a business with the Chambre de Metiers it is the C d C which runs these and will give you some idea of what you can and can't do and how much it is likely to cost.

Good luck

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I think that the micro-enterprise setup has got easier and social charges (cotisations) are now supposed to be pro-rota rather than up front, but are all the charges treated in this way? I think that it would be worth double checking so you do not to get caught out. (perhaps someone else will clarify the reality of this)

There are plenty of umbrella or portage companies, which for a percentage, in France mostly at 10%, will deal with all your social charges/invoices.etc.   If you have no money coming in, you have nothing to pay. Some portage companies that will also promote you to their other clients if you have a service of interest.

Good luck with your enterprise, I wish you every success

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The 'making charges easier' thing was a Chirac idea, which might or might not reach fruition under Sarkozy. It all seems to be tied up with having just two bodies, RMI and URSSAF, collecting charges rather than the three (URSSAF and a variety of primary health insurance and old age caisses) which most independents have dealt with up to now. None of these things stop you paying charges, they just hope to make the first couple of years a bit fairer if you do not get much in. The best way to keep charges down regardless of who is in government is to have a good accountant who keeps your income down.

Dont fall into the trap that some people have done by thinking that 10% is all you pay to the portage companies, making them a much better deal. You still have to pay the social charges as well, not to mention your tax. Your clients have to be companies that the portage co can invoice, not other individuals. But they can work well for some.

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Portage companies are really for people who have a fixed term contract with a client, not for ongoing businesses.

They take control of the contract. They actually form the contract between themselves and your client, your client then pays them at the end of said contract and they (eventually) pay you, less your social charges and their fee, but not tax.

It's really supposed to be for people (artisans for example) who are offered one one-off job at a time, rather than an ongoing business. (You can only bend the rules so far.)

Good luck,

Aly

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