Paying for gardening services.

[Padzy]

Hello. We have just had some gardening work done by a local french gardener. He mentioned that it might be possible to save ourselve some money if we paid him by (I think) a "chèque emploi service". I would appreciate some advice please about what this is and how it works. I doubt it would apply to us as we only pay Taxes Foncières and d'Habitation on our maison secondaire, and (as I understand it) one would have to be paying income tax in France to qualify. Is that correct?

Many thanks for any clarification you may be able to offer.

Amitiés, Padzy [8-)]

[giantpanda]

Hi!

Normally before employing a gardener, you discuss the way he is going to be paid.

It should be no problem to pay him with a chèque elploi if he agrees.

Please note that with the chèque emploi, it is you who pays the social costs - in most case you can get a crédit d'impôts over you income tax declaration ( see 2042 , page 4 , box DF.

See here:

http://larecherche.service-public.fr/df/oxide?criteriaContent=cesu&Rechercher.x=0&Rechercher.y=0&Rechercher=tous&page=resultssprubs&action=launchsearch&DynRubrique=&DynCorpus=&DynDomain=SP

New ( this month )  is you can get it on line, and do not have to ask a bank:

http://www.cesu.urssaf.fr/flash/adhesion/demoCesu.html

Yours,

giantpanda

[Hereford]

You do have to be paying tax in France to benefit from the tax credit.  This is a pity but hardly surprising.  We pay our gardener via the cheque d'emploi system and are very happy with it - but then we get the tax benefit!  Why the French government wish to pay half the costs of cutting our grass is beyond us but they thought up the system not us.

If you do not pay actual income tax therefore one of the main benefits is lost, but you will be employing someone legally and they benefit from insurance and it can mean they can join the health system if they work enough hours and have no other job.

Mrs H.

[Padzy]

Thanks very much for theprompt replies, Padzy

[val douest]

Just a supplementary question (thinking of our elderly neighbour): if someone is in the French tax system, but does not have enough income to actually pay tax, would they still receive a rebate in the form of real money when using the cheque d'emploi system?  I know this is what happens in the case of tax rebates for the installation of 'green'  energy appliances (ie you actually receive a cheque for real money if you do not pay tax).