Tax reduction on cost of hedgecutting?

[Chrissie]

We have had the same bloke do our (large) hedge for several years but this year he is not responding to calls......  So I asked a new chap for a quote this morning and was taken aback when he told me I could claim 50% of the cost as deduction off my income tax bill.  The other guy used to charge us VAT at 5.5% rather than 19.6%, but that was all.

Anyone know if this is true?  It would make a huge difference.

Chrissie (81)

[Richard51]

I'm guessing if he invoiced you he was on the AE scheme?  If so, this may help:

Avec un de ces agréments vos clients bénéficieront

d’une réduction ou d’un crédit d’impôt

sur le revenu correspondant à 50 % des sommes versées

pour le paiement de services à la personne. Cette réduction

ou crédit d’impôt est accordé à

chaque foyer fiscal dans la limite d’un plafond de 12 000

euros par an* porté à 15 000 € pour une famille

avec minimum 2 enfants (ou 13 500 € avec un enfant unique)

ou 20 000 € pour les personnes dépendantes.

http://www.auto-entrepreneur.fr/service-a-la-personne.php

[Tony F Dordogne]

Claim tax back for having a hedge cut?  I wish, I have two hedges that are both over 80metres long and I'd be more than willing to pay somebody to cut them if it reduced my income tax bill!

[Chrissie]

Yes, Richard, that must be it.  He gave me a piece of paper with some details on, and it does mention "services à la personne" - nowhere is there mention of being an "Auto Entrepreneur".  Would I have to take out a contract with him?  Pay him with a cheque emploi?  (In which case the added cost of the cotisations would eat up the tax reduction........)  Any hidden snags? I did look at the website but it looked very complicate with loads of links etc.

Tony, I know what you mean.  I couldn't do ours as it would take all year to get round it.  We must have over 200 metres of laurel, all taller than I am and about 2 metres thick, thanks to bad maintenance by previous owners.[:(]  But perhaps this scheme would benefit you.

Chrissie (81)

[Chancer]

Isnt it prestations à domicile that qualify for the reduction des impôts? I think gardening services come under this.

Certainly teaching of foreign languages, computer training in the home ect do, which is why all the companies that specialise in this and market themselves to clients charge twice as much as any honest person doing the job.

Is the new gardener asking twice as much as the old one?

[Richard51]

First of all I'm no expert at this - we've just been doing some digging to work out the best way of paying for work done at our house and came across the above link as part of that research.  Our neighbour has offered to look after chageovers for us and we were looking at whether she would be better off using CESU or registering as an AE (or even whether she could do both as she already does work for other people and is paid by CESU cheque).

I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong but if you pay by CESU (cheque d'emploi) then you are effectively employing your gardener as a casual employee (hence why the net rate per hour that you write on the cheque is grossed up to include holiday pay / cotisations when the amount is deducted from your bank account).  I'm assuming your previous contractor was self employed (the fact he charged VAT).  If he was registered under the AE scheme then it seems from the above that you can make the same claim for a reduction / refund of your tax (50%) as you can for payments you make under the CESU system.   If your gardener is self employed under AE he is unlikely to accept a CESU cheque...even if you were able and wanted to pay him this way.   He should invoice you in the normal way (presumably quoting his SIRET number).  Paying 'cash in hand' without an invoice is illegal.

[Patf]

I seem to remember reading about this elsewhere - it was a question about paying a gardener from someone in their 70s. Using cheque d'emploi;

There is evidently a place on the tax return to enter details.

[Clair]

He is referring to CESU.

A quick forum search for more info: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=CESU&f=&u=

[Chrissie]

We already pay our cleaning lady by Cheque Emploi and benefit from reduced cotisations, as OH is over 70.  The previous gardener was indeed self-employed.  I spoke with the new guy the other day and he is not AE, but he didn't seem to be CESU either!  I will get to the bottom of this one way or another.......preferably before he starts work on the hedge.  It is hard to know whether his charges will be higher or lower than the other guy at the end of the day as he will be charging by the hour (don't worry, I have seen him work and he really gets stuck in)

Chrissie (81)

[Clair]

[quote user="Chrissie"]We already pay our cleaning lady by Cheque Emploi and benefit from reduced cotisations, as OH is over 70.  [...] I spoke with the new guy the other day and [...] he didn't seem to be CESU either![/quote]

As the potential employer, you would organise whatever is necessary with your bank (as long as he agrees of course).