paying foncieres from overseas

[hamlets_shrink]

I've just received my first foncieres bill and I don't have a French

bank account; unfortuantely can't read the French either. Can I just

post the local tresorerie an international money order in Euros ? There

is a paying in slip which refers to TIP 'Titre Interbancaire de

Paiement'

Under the section that  refers to Etablis / guichet / compte / cle

it simply says JOIGNEZ UN RIB. It's no good asking a bank over here in

Australia what to do, not very fruitful in past experience. Who is the

payee ? is it 'Tresor Public' ?

It's probably a silly question and a simple matter but I'm stumped !

any help appreciated

[Will]

You will have many other bills to pay, so the best thing to do is to bite the bullet and open a French bank account. You can do this from overseas, via one of the specialised English-speaking branches. Credit Agricole seens to be the leader in this, their Britline service based in Caen has been followed by similar offerings from Paris and other regions. TIP and RIB only apply to French accounts as far as I know, and yes, taxes are made payable to the Trésor Public.

[hamlets_shrink]

Thanks for this Will, so an international money order sent from here should be fine I guess.

[Dick Smith]

You can send a money order, but Will's answer is the correct one.

[Will]

I'm sure it is possible to send an international money order, but I have never done so and don't know anybody else who has. The staff in a small trésor public office may also be at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it. Do you intend to pay electricity, water, other taxes, insurances etc the same way? I really do think the easiest way is to open a French bank account.

[hamlets_shrink]

Dear Will, thanks for your concern, everything in due course. I'm

moving at my own pace thanks and am very busy here in Australia at

present. This is the first bill I've received since buying the land 18

months ago. When I bought the land I made an arrangement with my

sterling bank in London to have the money sent over to the notaire and

was charged a pretty penny for it. Since this fonciere bill is only 43

Euro I don't want my London bank to charge me over twice that just to

send the money [plus they didn't understand the language or the

procedure and had to find a French speaker to interpret the directives]

it might be cheaper to send by money order from here. I'm sure in due

course it will become imperative to open a French bank account, just as

you advise, in the meantime deskspace here is at a premium and i'm not

overly keen to have to process yet more paperwork from yet another bank.

[alnmike]

When you send the payment and invoice slip I suggest you send it

International Signed-for' as sometimes things do not seem to get

received by French Offices!!

[supercat]

Once you've opening your bank account,  you can save a lot of stress about postage and cheque writing if you pay online.   Get someone French speaking to guide you through it once, take notes, and every payment will be easy after that.    Utilities can also be paid online from anywhere in the world.  The back of your tax bill will give you the website.

[Baz]

[quote user="supercat"]Once you've opening your bank account,  you can save a lot of stress about postage and cheque writing if you pay online.   Get someone French speaking to guide you through it once, take notes, and every payment will be easy after that.    Utilities can also be paid online from anywhere in the world.  The back of your tax bill will give you the website.[/quote]

Whilst this is an acceptable method, it only works if you receive your Taxe D'Habitation and Taxe Foncière. I have found that on a few occasions that the bills did not arrive at my UK address and I have had to remember to contact the Tresor Public to find the amount owing. It is worth noting that there is a 10% penalty for late payment, so setting up Direct Debits solves all these problems.

Baz

[Bastet]

If I may be allowed to develop the tangent about paying on-line, we have just done so for tax d'habiltaion, and social contributions.  We have received by return of e-mail, receipt sconfirming payment etc, but with also the following tagged on:

Vous trouverez en pièce jointe une adhésion au télérèglement comportant votre numéro de compte bancaire. Il vous appartient de compléter ce document des codes établissement et guichet, du nom de l'établissement teneur de votre compte, et après l'avoir daté et
signé, de l'adresser à votre banque dans les meilleurs délais, accompagné d'un RIB.

ADHESION AU TELEREGLEMENT

J'autorise l'établissement teneur de mon compte à exécuter sur ce dernier, si la situation le permet, tous les ordres de débit ordonnés par le créancier désigné ci-dessous. En cas de litige sur un débit, je réglerai le différend directement avec le créancier.

Désignation du titulaire du compte à débiter					N° national d’émetteur
OUR NAME					XXXXXX
Désignation du compte à débiter					Désignation du créancier
Etablissement	Guichet	N° de compte	Clé R.I.B.		TRESOR PUBLIC
		XXXXXXXXXX	XX
Date :					Désignation de l’établissement teneur de compte
Signature du titulaire du compte à débiter

We interpret this to mean we have to complete it with our bank details and send it to our bank with a RIB attached . Does anyone know the point of this?  Is this to allow direct debit in the future? It seems a bit pointless having a paperless method of paying if you still have to post stuff. 

[Cassis]

Bastet - I posted exactly the same observation on another thread in the last couple of days.  On the face of it, it's daft.

Maybe you only need to send the debit authorisation once for each payment type - then in subsequent years you don't need to as the bank has your authoristion for payment.

[Cjlaws]

[quote user="Cassis"]Bastet - I posted exactly the same observation on another thread in the last couple of days.  On the face of it, it's daft.

Maybe you only need to send the RIB once for each payment type - then in subsequent years you don't need to as the bank has your authoristion for payment.
[/quote]

The RIB generated by an on-line payment is a "virtual" one. It's a hard copy of the instructions which will be passed on to the bank.

This will happen each time a payment is made on-line.

I hope that's not confusing.

[Cassis]

Did I say RIB,  I meant debit authorisation.  Yes, that is confusing - and I haven't had a drink yet!

You have to send the debit authorisation by post with a RIB to your bank.

Here's the email (part of) from the impots website.

Vous trouverez en pièce jointe une adhésion au télérèglement comportant votre numéro de compte bancaire. Il vous appartient de compléter ce document des codes établissement et guichet, du nom de l'établissement teneur de votre compte, et après l'avoir daté et signé, de l'adresser à votre banque dans les meilleurs délais, accompagné d'un RIB.

[Mikew]

The first instance you pay your impots on line you get the form to send to your bank to allow them to set up their end of the debit. For all subsequent payments a confirmation e-mail only is sent. This notes the date that your account will be raided for their cash. I set mine up last year, this year - everything went easy.

[Bastet]

Thanks to everyone for this confirmation. We'll get them in the post pronto.