Banking advice please

[NomadFrances]

We have a holiday business in Normandy and have been running it from the UK, paying tax in the UK and in France. Enough is enough so we are moving to France in June this year.

Most of our guests are from the UK and pay by cheque. We have been told that we cannot keep a business account if we do not have a business address in the UK.

What do you expats do? Do you have a credit card payment system and accept cheques when necessary and just keep a private account for them??

I am going mad trying to sort this out and the weeks keep rushing by! All help would be much appreciated.

Thank you

[Nick Trollope]

I have had hellish problems keeping a business account going in the UK. Eventually, I used my Mother-in-Laws' address and didn't tell my bank that I was no longer in the country. I couldn't keep my personal accounts (with a different bank).

Credit card machines are much cheaper here (around 23€ HT per month, plus between .6 & 1%) and everyone has a credit or debit card, so my advice would be to drop personal cheques. Get a CC machine (TPE) from your French bank, simple form, you will need your SIRET & telephone numbers.

Accepting cheques payable abroad will look very sus to the French tax people, who are always looking for reasons to do a "controle" - don't even go there....

[alnmike]

Whilst it is a little costly, we use PayPal from our website for deposits/payments which does give an element of protection for both! With this and your own machine should cover? Or you could receive payments via Moneybookers.com?  http://www.moneybookers.com/app/ 

[Eslier]

Before we came to France we opened a second personl current account (free banking, no charges) at our UK bank (Lloyds) and then changed our address to that of some relatives  in the UK.

We use the no.2 account for all the cheques we receive from our gite guests I simply send them in the post with a paying in slip to our once local Lloyds branch. I take a scanned copy of all the cheques before posting as extra security but I haven't had any get lost in the post yet.  Nothing else is paid into this account so I can provide simple records of the income from the statements if asked to do so by the French impots. Despite the fact that there is ££££ lots going through the account and it is fairly obvious I am using it as a business account Lloyds don't seem to mind. We also have another current account for all other sterling transactions and  an on-line deposit account (quite a good rate of interest) which I can move the money into.  Lloyds on-line banking seems to do most of what I want it to and every now and then I transfer largeish amounts  to France via a commercial exchange company  (Moneycorp). Having two current accounts means that  I can use the £10k per day transfer limit on both accounts if I wish making £20k  in all.

I have no problems asking guests to pay by sterling cheque or sometimes internet banking transfer. I have never had anyone insist on paying by credit or debit card despite the fact that I set up Paypal to do so if necessary. I am reluctant to use Paypal even though it is fairly cheap for debit cards, because of the stories I have heard about chargebacks.

[Miki]

I am reluctant to use Paypal even though it is fairly cheap for debit

cards, because of the stories I have heard about chargebacks.

Then use Nochex for all UK credit card payments, far better overall than PayPal and cheaper  to use.

[NomadFrances]

Thank you all for your help. I had begun to think I was the only person in the world with this situation as the banks are being so unhelpful! Your answers have given me lots to think about.

 

 

[mascamps.com]

We opened a business account with HSBC in the UK before we moved and they've no problem in changing the address to France.

Having said that, it's a bit expensive in that each month you have a transaction they charge £3 plus about 50p for the cheque.

Best plan is to get a TPE for sure. You will need "vente a distance" (customer not present) at an extra cost of around 5€ a month to be able to charge people for deposits etc. without having their card in your hand. One thing to watch is that you can't do these kind of transactions with Maestro (Switch) cards so you can't take those cards as a guarantee. You need to have a French business bank account to get this for which you'll need a KBIS. If you're planning to accept Amex, sign up directly with them as it's cheaper.

 

Arnold

 

[NomadFrances]

Thanks Arnold, I always find your advice really good and do appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Can you now tell an ignorant person what the abrieviations stand for KBIS and TPE ?????????. I am having enought trouble learning the language!!!!

Thanks as always.

 

[mascamps.com]

KBIS is the document that you get when you register as a business in France.(at the Chambre of Commerce for a gite business). No idea what the letters stand for but it's pronounced KA-BIS.

TPE is the little machine that you swipe the credit/debit card through. Probably stands for Transaction Processing Equipement or something along those lines but that's a guess.

 

Arnold

 

[Miki]

Terminal de paiement électronique and a Kbis is basically a business

registration certificate and Kbis is simply the form name. You will

need that form in quite a few instances.

Strangely, I never knew really why Kbis was the name, does it mean

there is a form K and this form is the next one, as in say, 2bis with

houses ?