Reunica.....

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Will,

Normally I have the highest regard for your posts, but you do manage to make some highly patronising generalisations on the subject of EA as a main income.

I agree that for an artisan with high costs (and higher cotisations -- Lord knows why!) living within AE limits is improbable if it's a sole income. For many people who hope to trade commercially the TVA rules could be a trap as well. That doesn't mean that an income from an AE business won't be enough to make the difference between being able to live here or not. My business is not my only income but my (private) pensions are not enough to live on by themselves; there are probably others in that situation.

As far as expenses for professions liberales go, if I expected my expenses to be above 20% then I'd have started as a réel.  As I've been in business for 11 years now I've got a pretty good idea of what it really costs me to operate. My work is project based, with a typical project earning about 5-6,000 and main expenses of one trip to a client meeting -- say €500 max for flights, hotel, car hire... There are a few other things I could charge, but I'd spend the money anyway -- ISP, stuff like that -- so they don't impact the real bottom line.

I'll be ignoring this thread from now on.