Starting chambres d'hote

[monty]

We wish to let out 2 rooms for B&B and have across a grey area with regard to obtaining a siret number. We were under the impression that as long as we let out less than 4 rooms there is no need to register as a business as we would be classed as non professional. we would appreciate anyones experience in this matter.

[Eslier]

This has come up before on a number of occassions. If you search through the B&B and Gite Owners section you should be able to find some useful information posted by Miki, Gastines and others.

You have entered into a very grey area and the advice given from one department to another seems to vary greatly. If you already have another main source of income then it would seem that it becomes a whole lot simpler as you shouldn't need to register and you just declare the extra income on your tax return. The problem comes where the B&B income will be your sole or main source of earned income. The system wasn't really set up to cope with this and so many officials will interpret it as being that you have to register.

With only two rooms I assume you aren't expecting to make much more than a few thousand Euros so the income will be fairly insignificant and you may well find that you can get away without registering but this might mean that you have to do things the French way - i.e. just act first, don't ask for professional advice and wait to see if someone tells you otherwise. If you want to do things properly and go through the correct channels then you should probably visit your local Chamber of Commerce but they will almost certainly tell you that you need to register and then you will have little option but to comply. Don't forget that you will also need a Class I or Class II license from the customs too.

[monty]

many thanks.