Start Business in France

I have received a questionaire from INSEE today headed ‘ENQUETE AUPRES DES AUTO-ENTRPRENEURS CRESS EN 2010 SITUATION EN SEPTEMBRE 2010’ - it appears to be very comprehensive asking many of the questions that featured in my original application for AE. Is completion obligatory or can it be ignored? thank you - Bruce

Hello Valerie, my wife and I have been running a gite for 3 years which is a separate building in the grounds of our main home. This year we were given a siret number for the gite which has always been registered as a micro bic. We have received a letter from the tax office with an estimated bill for €233 for tax professonnelle, we questioned the tax office about this and were told it is just another tax.

This is our sixth year running a gite, 3 at a previous property, 3 at our present. We have not had this tax before. We have just received our tax fonciere which has gone up by 50% to €1500. €457 of that is for the gite, again we have not been billed for this in previous years. We have not had a bill for tax habitation yet, I shudder to think what that will be. Our income from the gite is around €12,000. My question is does all this sound correct?

Thank you in advance for your help.

I am a qualified English teacher and am considering running personal tuition through Skype, tutoring pupils in the UK. If I decide to do this, the business will serve English pupils only as I am qualified to teach GCSE/A level and want to stay in my comfort zone. As I will be residing in France when I give the lessons, but the company will be serving England do I choose who I register with? Or do I have to register with France?

Merci!
x

Hi, as you probably know from my 100000 earlier posts, I am hoping to sell English cakes on the French markets. My French friend phoned the Chambre de Metiers to find out what I’d need to do and as long as they are ‘dry’ cakes (e.g. no cream, etc) I simply have to adhere to certain rules regarding covering them and protecting them from the public.  However, when I clicked on the different statuses on the AE form when trying to register, the artiste liberalle had some information saying that if you are preparing “fresh bakery” you need a qualification or 3 years’ commercial experience, which I don’t have.

Does this apply to the kind of cakes I would be making (e.g. with no fresh cream/cheese) or is this relating to the pattiserie style cream cakes rather than the “dry” English cakes? The Chambre De Metiers did specifically ask about this, so I’m hoping that I don’t need special qualifications, but I obviously need to know before I register a business I’m not allowed to run.

Many thanks
GILL

I’m just registering my cake making business, selling cakes on the markets, but would I be Activities commerciales/liberales or artisanales?

My husband is registered as an AE, but that’s as far as we’ve got. He wants to sell on markets, and I’ve been reading the section on how to register for the Carte De Commencant Ambulant, but have a question. The information says:

“On reception of your temporary certificate, go and register your business at the Centre de Formalités des Entreprises at the Chambre du Commerce et d’Industrie. The extrait KBIS, official document confirming the creation of your company, will be posted to you within 10 days.”

If we are already registered (e.g. as we are AE) do we still need to register this with the Centre de Formalites?

Thanks
GILL

Hi Valerie, I’m registered as an AE prof. lib. since November 2009, and did not opt for paying tax at source, so should only be exempt of paying CET (former Tax Prof) for one year.

1) Is this year of exemption 2009 only, even though my AE exsited only for 1,5 months in 2009?

2) Because I live in France since late last year, I made my first Income Tax declaration for 2009 this May. Since it was the first time I did not receive the forms automatically, but downloaded them from the internet. I did not however, file a CET/Tax Prof declaration and I’m now suddenly a bit worried about this. Did I make a mistake here and should I have made a CET/Tax Prof declaration for my first AE year regardles the exemption?

3) Should I receive the CET declaration form for 2010 next year, now that I have a tax number?

4) I work from home, with only a computer and some paperwork and earn around 30.000 a year. Will the CET be a large amount?

Thanks again and best regards,
Elise

Hi, I currently have a small AE selling retail. However I’ve seen an opportunity to earn some extra money performing simple garden maintenance locally. From what I’ve read on here I believe it’s possible to have two completely different activities under the same AE business, however as far as I can see the only change I can make to the business online is; my personal details and where and what my primary activity is. I don’t mind changing this in-person however it would be simpler if I could do this online or by post if anyone knows how.

Thanks,
Jimmy

Hi Valerie, I’m an AE and the vast majority of my clients are in the UK, and pay me in pounds into my UK bank account. I then transfer money through a broker in order to pay the mortgage, living, tax etc.

I have my siret number and Euro rate on my invoices. I need to keep this account as we still have some direct debits on this account and it’s handy for when we go back to the UK for visits.

Is this OK? What happens if we get a control by the AE impots, as I declare all the money I earn in the UK on my AE, but not all of it comes into my French account, so I’m declaring more money than ‘comes into France’ - I do internet banking in the UK so don’t have all the statements. Should I get them?

Thanks again!

My husband is starting a small AE business selling concrete garden ornaments, and I am going to be selling cakes. Do we need any sort of insurance? Fingers crossed we don’t, I can’t really think of any reason, but don’t want to not be covered. Costs must be kept down as these are only tiny businesses.

Do we have to add TVA to our goods (concrete garden ornaments) under the AE scheme or are we exempt?

Thanks

Very confused as to what is needed for selling on marktes. I thought you just needed a siret number and to book one, and then you’d pay for your slot, but I have read something on a forum (which may be wrong) saying I need something called a carte non sedantaire and that there are ‘standing charges’ for selling on markets, rather than charges for individual markets.

Hi Valerie, my husband registered his business just under 3 months ago, and has his siret number etc As an AE, he opted to make a tax return every 3 months. My question is, how do we make this return? Do we go online or will we be sent something? Do you know if there’s a deadline to submit the info, as we’ll actually be in England on the day the three months is up.  Also, we haven’t made anything yet (various problems with manufacture) so need to submit a nil return - how is this done?

Many thanks

We currently have health cover through the E106 from the UK until Jan 2011 through CPAM so myself and my husband both have a green card. We are not currently working but looking to set up a business under the AE scheme some time next year.

However in order to have continuing health cover do we need to set the business up in Jan 2011 and if so should I be starting the process now as I have read there are delays in applications being processed and it can take months for your health cover side of things to be sorted out.

I am worried if we registered in Jan 2011 we would be left without health cover whilst the paperwork was sorted out. If you needed medical treatment during this period what would happen?

In France, is one permitted to pay cash, no records kept, to a person who does odd-jobs for you, at home?  Daily help, gardener, odd-job man, etc.?  If so, what is the going rate? I know for a fact that it does happen (which is hardly surprising) but what are the downsides?

We are in the process of buying a small farm in France and I need some advice pre- Compromis de Vente. This is a bit off-topic but it is our next step; the business will come next.

My wife and I, 59/56, UK residents and taxpayers, wish to relocate to France. Both of us have previous marriages and both of us have two children from those former marriages but no issue from our union. We have had discussions with two notaires and their advice is conflicting. So my confidence in notaires has plunged.

I was about to approach a UK based firm of solicitors, Heslop & Platt, who claim to be qualified in the UK and France and bilingual. Their fees are steep, though, and a full service would cost me £2000 at least. Maybe it is worth it? I don’t know.

Our big issue at the moment is ‘which way do we buy the property?’ This needs to be incorporated in the Compromis de Vente which is going to happen very soon. We will either need to instruct the notaire of our wishes or pay a professional to deal with the notaire - enter stage left Messrs H&P and a big bill.

We wish our property to pass to the survivor on the death of the first and for the survivor to have the right to sell, take an annuity, return to the UK, or whatever, without any childrens’ rights being taken into consideration. I believe that a tontine does that for us. However, on the death of the survivor, we want, nay, we require, the interest in the property to be divided equally between the children of both our marriages. As I understand it, the survivor’s children inherit and that is unacceptable to us. Our children are perfectly happy to sign a waiver to their rights of inheritance, not a problem today, but circumstances do change and they might not be so benevolent if times are hard and we are dead.

Should we use a UK/French firm such as H&P or is there a better way forward? Does anyone have a first hand a solution to this problem which, I guess, is pretty common these days?

Hi Valerie, when I moved my business from UK to France, I continued to write on my invoices ‘payment within 30 days’. I have now been advised by an accountant that on each invoice I must specify the payment date, and include a note “in the case of late payment, interest will be charged”. Please can you offer me a form of words for a late payment/interest notice.

Many thanks
Sarah

Hi Valérie, this year I do not have to pay any tax as my income for the part-year in France is so small. However, I have paid some income tax via the ‘versements liberatoire’. Should I get a refund of this amount? Thanks in advance.

Hi Valerie, my friend and I are planning to set up a service business in France later next year and are currently researching items. Can you recommend some general reading for me? I want to learn the basics about company registration formalaties, taxation, on shore versus offshore etc. I don’t want to be any more specific at this stage as we are in the research stage. Any general material guidance would be great.

Thanks
Niall

Hi Valerie, I paid a visit to my bank the other day and asked if it was OK for me to be running a business through my personal account as I was worried about regularly paying cash into my account. My business runs virtually just on cash. They said it was fine as long as it wasn’t large amounts of money, I don’t expect my turnover to be over 6-7k. What’s the official stance on this? How expensive is it to run a business account?

Following our long discussion on “Splitting declaration on materials / labour charges” I hope you can now help me find the correct APE codes to add to our existing codes 4332A Travaux de menuiserie bois et PVC 4391A Travaux de charpente. These our the following things that my husband fabricates from wood:- Roof timbers, doors, door frames, skirting, windows, floors, kitchens (free standing and fitted), furniture, sheds, fences and benches, custom made joinery for offices and shops. He also makes objects such as jewellery boxes and snooker cues, Generally if it’s made of wood he can fabricate it. I have found the following codes that may suit:

1622Z Fabrication de parquets assemblés
1623Z Fabrication de charpentes et d’autres menuiseries
1629Z Fabrication d’objets divers en bois ; fabrication d’objets en liège, vannerie et sparterie
3101Z Fabrication de meubles de bureau et de magasin
3102Z Fabrication de meubles de cuisine
3109B Fabrication d’autres meubles et industries connexes de l’ameublement

Can you find any others and do you think all the above are suitable? Finally is there a limit to the number of codes and how do I apply them?

Thank you.           

Due to ill health I have to stop working in my business, but with many customers relying on us I would like my daughter to take over - she already helps me. How do I do it? Do I have to close the business in my name and then my daughter open an AE in her name? Can this be done using the same premises and customers so that it appears seamless to my customers?

I’m writing a blog article about the cost of hire an accountant for your French business. It seems that the average price I see for French entrepreneurs are lower than for English entrepreneurs… Surprise, surprise!

Could you tell me :
- your business type: entreprise individuelle under micro or reel simplifie, SARL, EURL
- your yearly accountancy fee
- what your accountant does for you

Plus any advice you may give to a new entrepreneur when searching or dealing with a French accountant.

Thanks

I started business as an auto-entrepreneur over a year ago, and opted to pay my taxes along with my cotisations every 3 months. However, I now find that in fact I do not earn enough to pay tax, so can I simply just stop paying this in future? Also, can I reclaim the tax I have paid over the last year? It amounts to about €120.

I have registered as an AE and received my certificat d’inscription with siret number etc. I have also received a letter from the RSI requesting a copy of my birth certificate before I can receive a numero de securite, translated into French by a recognised organization. Please could you advise me as to how i find a recognized organization to do this?

I have also received a form from Inforegistre to complete and return with a cheque for 143.52E within 15 days and I’m not sure what this is for - please could you help point me in the right direction for this?

Continued thanks!
Kirstie

I have a question concerning my turnover and postage costs. When I make my declaration do I have to include the postage costs as part of my turnover? When I sell my product on line, the client has the option to have the item posted, this goes through my online booking system, and I do not make any profit on it, I just charge them the La poste price, I only make the profit on my product I sell.

Therefore, when I make my declaration, can I exclude this and just submit the turnover for the product I sell, this would make a difference as my postage costs are quite high, and having to pay 12% on it , is quite a lot to pay. Is anyone in a similar postion? Any advice appreciated.

Hello Valerie, I really hope you can help - I’ve received a letter from RSI that says the following -

relance amiable, sauf erreur ou omission de notre part, a la date du 3/8/2010 vous n’avez pas regle les cotisations socials dont vous etes redevable. S’il s’agit d’un ou d’un retard, nous devrons appliquer des majoritations de retard, conformement a la reglementation. Dans ce cas, nous vous invitons a regulariser votre situation sous 8 jours. Vous pourrez, apres reglement integral de vous cotisations, nous addresser une demand de remise motivee. en cas de difficulties, et pour tout renseignement, les conseillers RSI sont a votre disposition pour trouver avec vous une solution.

I’ve paid up to date, with both cheques (Q1 and Q2) having been cashed. What does it mean? Is it because I put a covering note (as your recommended and helpfully told me what to write) to say my rate was wrong on the form? (I am professional liberale)

The letter says I have €869 to pay. I don’t know what to do and putting this letter through google translate is not making it any clearer. Please help as soon as possible, thank you so much in advance.

Hi, my husband and I want to look into the cost, etc, of creating a small gym in our barn. We need to know what “legal” implications there are - for example, do we need qualificaitons/someone on duty/first aid, or can people simply take a key and use it. Where can we find this out? This would only be a small gym room in a village - nothing to big, fancy or (hopefully) expensive!
 

I would like to register in France as a plumber / heating engineer. I have been a self employed plumber in the UK for more than 10 years although I didn’t go through an apprenticeship or complete an official diploma. I am hoping that you could tell me what the chambre de metier will require (everyone tells me different things), this is what I could provide at present:

- A reference from my accountant
- References from past clients
- Profit and loss accounts
- A letter from the plumber who I originally worked with (now retired)

Please let me know your thoughts, would they expect more than this? or would it be adequate? I’ve heard rumours that my evidence would be presented to a committee and that I’d only have the one opportunity were it to be rejected; is this correct?

Many Thanks
Ed

Hi, I don’t know if anyone can help with an answer to my last (I hope) tax/VAT/TVA problem? I am self-employed in France but all my clients are in England. I have had a tax inspection here (and actually found it very helpful - perhaps more helpful than my accountant, but that may because of the language).

One of the organisations I work for is Cambridge University who pay me under a PAYE reference for Examination services (writing and marking exam papers) which in the UK is exempt from VAT. They pay me on a piecework basis.

The French tax authorities seem to be saying that this service is exempt from UK VAT but not French TVA and I may therefore have to pay 19.6% of my total earnings from this contract since I set up in France.

Does anyone know whether Education/Examination services are exempt under French TVA?

Hello Valerie, I made my first declaration on 20 July and sent it off to URSSAF with a cheque to the address on the form.  Last week they returned the cheque with no apparent explanation why. The cheque was from a our joint account (however I am the sole AE - not co-joint) and made payable to Tresor Public. Any ideas why they would have returned the cheque?

Thanks
Charlie

At present I charge my company 1000€ per month goodwill, I do this under a micro and have to pay the RSI and TP, I find the RSI difficult to deal with, i.e. my carte vital hasn’t worked for over a year and do not have the time to go to Rennes to speak to someone knowledgeable to sort it out. If instead I paid myself a salary I could get my carte vital under the normal route. So my questions are what are the cost and benefits of each system? As I know to my cost that a business person earning say 1000€ per month would not get the same help as someone employed earning the same.

I work in France for my husband who’s business is in the uk. I pay the cotistations here but have never written out a payslip for myself and cannot work out what goes where as far as the employer/employee is there an easy way to work this out? Also I plan to finish this job and start as an auto-entreprenuer and I have watched the video showing how to do this but if I finish this job, start as an autoentrepenuer but not have any turnover for a few months will I loose the carte vital? Once I do start trading will there be a minimum turnover that I need to achieve to keep the carte vital?

Hi everyone, please can anyone confirm if I have to disclose my numero fiscal to a client. I am fully registered, with my SIRET, correct APE code and full insurance which I am quite happy to show everyone but I believe my numero fiscal is confidential and totally irrelevant. If you could help me out with a link, that would be great thanks - I am looking but it is quite pressing so I am trying to find the quickest answer.

Thanks guys

Dear Valerie, a few months ago I have done some beauty therapy courses in England (Epilation, Manicure and Pedicure, Facials and Holistic Face Massage) at a private institute. The diploma’s are recognised in England, but I would like to find out if they will be recognised in France as well. I have not been able to find any institutes in France who offer the same sort of courses. Can you point me in the right direction?

I have now been offered the opportunity to start practising as from next month and would like to do so under the Auto-entrepreneur scheme. I have insurance in place, but am not sure of my position if my diploma’s turn out not to be accepted in France. Can you give me any advise?

Hi Valerie, well I took lots of advise from many different people and organisations and they all told me that I could and should close down my sarl and start as an AE. The sarl is closed but in the meantime I have had horrendus problems from the cdc in Carhaix and the lady who works there is absolutely adament that I cannot close a sarl to sart an AE - and has put some kind of block on my dossier to make sure that I don’t do it.

I’ve been told however that she can’t stop me from starting up an Entreprise Individuelle; I’d just like to ask you if this is true and if you can, please give me a bit more info on the EI schemes. I’m not keen on moving into something that will give me the same amount of work and expenses as the sarl did; accountants fees and quarterly book-keeping, tva returns etc. I only sell small value items so claiming back and paying the TVA is not actually that beneficial for me; can an EI be registered as TVA non applicable?

Finally; if I wanted to dispute the decision of one lady in the CDC in Carhaix, who would I contact to take this further? Even my accountants and the legal team are shocked by this decision and say that it is a farce as many people in different communes outside of my area are able to close and start up again with no problems.

Thank you

My family is planning to move to France from Canada in the near future. We all hold British passports as well as canadian citizenship. We own an incorporated company in Canada which provides telemarketing services to a number of clients exclusively in Canada. We operate two offices in Canada which are managed by two on-site managers and the staff they hire. My wife is the sole shareholder and I oversee the operations and client relations as well as numerous admistrative tasks. Apart from client meetings, and visits to our locations, pretty much all the work I do is done from home using the internet and phone. My wife and I pay ourselves a management fee for the work we do and of course my wife can take a dividend from the company. Once we move to France, I can pretty much do what I currently do over the internet and phone, plus periodic visits to Canada.

I was under the impression that once moved to France I could pretty much continue to do what I do remotely over the internet and phone plus periodic visits to Canada, understanding that we would be liable for tax in France on the management fees and dividends. However, I am not sure if this is true or not. Some people have suggested that I would need to set up some kind of entity in France in order to do this legally even though none of the company income is generated in France because the actual money making part of it is conducted exclusively in Canada. Could you please advise?

Hi Valerie, we have recently moved to France in the last month. Myself and my (French) wife have an Irish company which sells children’s toys online in France and in Ireland. All the work (warehousing picking/packing etc.) is carried out in Ireland so I understand the company isn’t liable to French taxes/social charges etc.

What are the implications of us taking a salary from the company… would we be liable to French taxes social charges? What would be the most efficient way of us taking money from the Irish company?

Assuming we are not paying French social charges, I presume we wouldn’t come under the Securité Sociale?
What other option is there for us? Is there any way for us to be part of the French Health system? Can the CMU apply to us?

Currently, we have private Irish medical insurance which I have been told will cover us in France for what we would be covered for in Ireland. We have 2 children and a third on the way, can we apply for Allocations Familiales, etc

We are only here a month and have not made a Declaration d’Impots in France as of yet? My wife is French, whatever bearing that has on the situation. In Ireland we would be covered free of change for pre-natal care. What would we be entitled to here in France?

Many thanks,
Jody

Hello. My husband is registered offering handyman services under the micro enterprise regime which we set up when we first moved here as we had easy readily available work. He did very well and he reached the limit of earnings before he has to go TVA registered so we need to change anyway, however now our situation has changed and he has decided to do what he has been educated for and what he loves doing which is making ironwork.

How do we go about changing the business? I presume we now need to register at the Chambre de Metiers? Frankly I am useless when it comes to paperwork and business and have no family or friends that are self employed so Im very liable to getting it all totally wrong! Any help much appreciated!

Hi Valerie, we are about to change regimes from a micro (service industry) to either a reel or Sarl.  We are trying to wade through our options and have 3 questions.

1) Is there anywhere available a comprehensive list of charges allowed on your chiffre d’affaires, I am particularly looking for any charges you can claim for operating a business from your home premises and anything else we may have missed or simply dont know about!

2) Secondly we are trying to calculate our social charges and taxes if we operate as a sarl. After calculating company profit and paying 15 and 33% corporation tax I have been told there is an abattement of 40% that can be taken before before being subject to a 12% dividend tax i.e.
- company profit 50,000
- abattement 20,000
- dividends 30,000 being subject to 12% income tax
Is this correct?

3) I also understand that if we change our regime mid year, in our case TVA would be applied from the month after we passed our turnover under a micro but the whole years chiffre d’affaires would be subject to the new regime i.e. for us a reel or Sarl?

Many thanks for your help

Hi again Valerie, as the title says, I have registered for AE in April and to register for the health insurance I did totally nothing. To be honest, I was expecting to recieve some mail with some Social security number or something similar and a request for me to go do my registeration somewhere. But I did not. All I recieved was 3 letters from 2 insurance companies to ask me to register with their companies. These letters were all like advertisements basically.

Is there any penalty for not being registered for a health insurance? How long can I just stay like this (because I will be out of France for few weeks at the end of August)? And how can I register when I come back, or before I leave?

Thank you very much.

Hello Valerie, using your very helpful video I had little difficulty in making my on-line declaration as an auto-entrepeneur at the end of March as a website designer (debut d’activite 16 April 2010). The registration was made in the Orne prior to moving to a permanent residence in the Mayenne at the end of April. The registration was handled by the URSSAF in Alencon and I received my SIRET number from INSEE on 6th April 2010. My chosen Assurance Maladie RAM offered me a meeting to register but as I explained that as I was shortly moving to another department they agreed that this wasn’t appropriate.

Since moving to the Mayenne on 28th April I made a declaration to notify change of address, for which I received an acknowledgment from URSSAF in Laval on 26th May 2010. They also informed me that they had in turn notified CDI in Mayenne, CMPL in Paris, INSEE in Nantes and CNAVPL in Paris. Since then I have heard nothing. I am wondering therefore if they should have asked me to choose an alternative assurance maladie in this department and also should they have notified RSI in Paris? Should I visit the local URSSAF office to check if everything is being processed correctly?

I should also add that I had a social security number in France prior to 2007. Having notified all relevant agencies I was returning permanently to the UK I’d assumed the number no longer valid and not required on my declaration. Have I made an error in this and if so what should I do to rectify things?

Hi Valerie, my AE status officially started on April 10, 2010. I haven’t declared anything yet. When registering for AE, I remember selecting some option on the form to pay once a year or something like that. Is it my tax declaration? Because I have went to Hotel des Impots in my town and asked them about when to pay my income, they said once a year after September.

And when I registered on the website and clicked to “Acceder aux declarations” link, I get a warning saying:
Vous n´avez accès à aucune des déclarations choisies pour le moment. Revenez ultérieurement, chaque déclaration sera affichée dès que son délai d´accès sera dépassé. What does this mean?

I am kind of confused because all the videos and answers about AE was prepared for 2009 and I always felt somethings have changed for 2010. So I am not sure how to declare my income now.

Sorry if this is a very trivial issue but somehow I got very confused (not to mention the fear of doing something wrong).

Thank you very much.

We are returning to France in October and will be starting up a tourism business. We chose a name but have heard from a friend that the laws in France are very strict regarding what you name your business. We found a busines in Lille with the same name as the one we are choosing, is this going to be a problem for us? We are not in the same region or department but I have heard it might be a problem. Thanks.

Having watched Valerie’s brilliant video. I set about AE registration. Only one problem - I enter my code postale 31350 and my commune, Mondilhan, does not appear in the pop up. In my provisoire I have chosen the nearest, Boulogne -sur-gesse.  Will this cause problems in the future?

Hi Valérie, I have a question about registering for Net-entreprise to make the tax declaration online. When I click on: “Accéder aux déclarations”, it says: ” Vous n´avez accès à aucune des déclarations choisies pour le moment”. I registered today so I am not sure if I have to wait some time before I can pay on line. Do you know usually how long it takes? Would I be better off paying by check (with URSSAF form via regular mail) since the deadline is coming up soon?

Thanks so much for your help!

My wife and I are in the process of renting an aprtment. I am an auto-entrepreneur, while she is in full time employment as a lycee teacher. All the agencies we have spoken to will not take my earnings into account, and seem to almost be scared off by the mention of “auto-entrenprenuer.”

Firstly, is it correct that they can ignore my income, and secondly, is there any kind of official paperwork I could get hold of which means my earnings can be recognised in these cases?

Thanks,
Brian Downie

Hello Valerie. Your advice please on adding another activity to my AE. I’m currently registered as a conseil en communication to cover my media consultancy work, but I now want to add services to non-french property owners - mostly translation work. Is this covered by my current status, or do I need to advise URSSAF of the change? Thanks again for your great website - it must be exhausting keeping it going with all your other commitments!

Hi Valerie, many thanks for your help in the past. I originally registered with Net Enterprise and did this with no problem and paid the first and second cotisiation online, then they changed me to trimestrielle instead of monthly - it threw me a bit but I decided it was actually a better way to pay so I paid the forth trimestrielle online successfully.

However, that’s when the problems began, the site would not allow me access to pay for the first trimestrielle and I panicked and visited St Brieuc RSI and paid a cheque to them (end of March), they gave me the info that I had not been paying my tax upfront, (which I had) and tried to rebate me, and I insisted that I did not want a rebate because of the tax professionelle system whereby if you pay up front you have around 3 years free.

Anyway to cut a long story short all this was eventually sorted out except that RSI keep sending me mensuelle demands (with the correct tax), despite visiting and telephoning them. I was about to go again to St Brieuc to pay via cheque yet again, but tonight just out of curiousity I decided to see if I could gain access to the Net Enterprise to see if they had set me up a second trimestrielle demand and they have. Do you think I am safe enough to fill in this online form?

I much prefer it - they have no record of the payment I made manually at St Brieuc but I have a paper copy of the payment I just want to get back to normal by paying online again. 

Maggi

My husband is employed with the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. He is French, I am American. We live in France. As my husband is a UN employee, we are not in the French ‘system’ at all. Our insurance, retirement, etc. is with the UN.

United Nations employees have a different tax situation, as the UN is considered in terms of treaties and governance as an independent entity (like a country) in itself, treaties between the UN and other countries (France included) dictate how employees can declare income. I know there are family househould income limits for becoming an AE, but I wonder how that applies to spouses of UN employees who are living here legally in France, but are not part of the system in terms of taxation, insurance, retirement, etc. I myself am no longer with the UN. Here in this area of France near Geneva, there are many UN employees so I think this would be a pertinent question.

I find the AE status tempting and would like to know more about how that would work for me, given my slightly different situation. I searched the Forum but didn’t find this question asked.

I’m American and have a very complicated tax situation (with 5 rental properties in the US plus my main income in the US). I have been told by my contracts in the US that I must be there at least 6 mos/yr to keep those contracts.

I have not found an income in our small French town so I must keep the contracts. So I am planning to spend 6-8 months a year in the US to keep the contracts and put my tax liability back in the US (where I can use my many tax deds there to reduce my taxes).

I will however keep my AE status and my consulting work in France doing marketing for a tour company and teaching phone English and paying French taxes on these incomes (they are small incomes). If I live only part-time in France can I keep my AE status and stay in the SS/medical system here if I pay AE taxes and I have my 10 yr Carte de Sejour? Thanks!

Hi Valerie, my partner joined AE in Jan this year as Edition de Contenu Sonore but has been sent an Aappel de cotisations troisieme trimestre 2010 demanding 1580,00€ for the first 6 months and 1575,00€ to also be paid by November. I thought that he only paid a % on what he earnt like I do?  I am confused. Any ideas?

Thanks Valerie
Croissant

We’re about to send off our first two declarations , my husband and I are both AE. He has no paid invoices yet so both will be zero, although the third quarter will show a good profit. Does he put a covering letter in to say that, so he doesn’t look like a chancer, or are they not bothered as long as you get the form in on time?

Also, where would you take it to pay in person, or is it only by post? I’d like some kind of receipt and confirmation.

Thank you!

Does anyone have experience of leasing a car for their business please. I currently work as an independent tour guide but am thinking of branching out and offering my own guided tours but it means I need a fairly new A/C vehicle and I am looking at the cheapest way of acquiring one. Thanks for anyone that could point me in the right direction.

After watching the video relating to filling in my first quarterly return, I am a little confused. The example says that if my business started in Feb, then my first return would be in July (which is more than 90 days). However, my business started on the 1st of June, and I have already received a return form URSSAF for the quarter ending July. Do I need to fill this one in?

Also, there are a couple of postings on this forum, which again cause me a little confusion. Should I be entering my invoiced sales in the month when I invoice, or should I enter them when I receive payment?

Hi Valerie, please could you advise me re a problem with RSI. I have been a micro enterprise for several years as a professional liberale. In February this year I switched to the régime micro-simplifié starting from the beginning of 2010 and have since paid my first quarterly demand and received my second (from URSSAF) - so all is working OK.

However, I had already paid my first quarter’s cotisations to URSSAF and RSI. I have heard nothing more from URSSAF but continue to receive demands for payment from RSI (I paid quarter 2 after they sent a threatening letter and have just received the demand for quarter 3). I have written to them expaining my situation and have today received a letter back saying that to regularise my situation they need a photocopy of my form P0 “justifiant votre inscription au regime auto-entrepreneur”. My understanding was that strictly speaking I wasn’t an auto-entrepreneur and I certainly have never seen a form P0 (in fact I have never had any confirming documents apart from the “do not respond” email when I first registered on line in February).

This is the only thing they have asked for and I don’t have it - any information would be much appreciated.

Hello, can you please tell me what to write in as a covering letter in my first postal declaration as I’ve been wrongly marked as 23.5% but I am a profession liberale, and I have chosen to pay tax at source (tax as I go along rather than later - I hope this means the same thing - I want to pay tax now too)

You’ve previously said that I need to cross it out and put 20.2%, but I want to put in a note - what do I write to ensure all the right boxes are ticked?

Thank you!

I am looking at being able to accept credit card payments via my website.  This would be for the provision of services rather than selling goods.  I already have a personal PayPal account but wanted to know if other options were available, other than their Merchant Account and how I would go about setting it up.  Any advice would be very welcome, please, bearing in mind I am definitely not a computer genius!  Many thanks in advance.

Hi Valerie and other knowledgeable people, we now have our first full 12 months trading figures and would like to see if it would be better to change from AE to another regime (I am a carpenter). I have tried this link but can not seem to make sense of it. Is there anywhere else we can look to check out the different possibilities please, now we have actual figures?

Hi Valerie, I have just signed up to your website as it looks really helpful and exactly what i am looking for - in plain speaking English! I can’t seem to view the videos however - probably me missing something - thanks for your help.

Kirstie

Hi, I have tried to find an answer before posting - hope you can help. I am an AE Macon and for the first time have supplied materials and would like some clarification on how to split my declaration.

As an example: I have received in 6000 euros this quarter - and have receipts for 3000 euros of materials. As I have received the materials at Artisanal rate and have had to run around considerably and also need to add 12 % charges - I have invoiced the client 3500 materials and 2500 labour.

How do I declare this - As 3000 labour and 3000 materials and pay the cortisations accordingly or can I declare as I have invoiced which would be more favourable for me in terms of less cortisations.

Many Thanks Dan

Hello Valerie, I received this form last week, could you tell me what it is and if I can fill it in online, then I can use the google translator. Also what information do I need to complete it and how do I know what to pay them? Say for example I earned 1000€ for the last 6 months how do I calculate what % to pay RSI.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Chevaun

Hi Valerie, we have moved to France in the last couple of months. My husband is a qualified Compliance Officer, he has started working as a freelance consultant to a business group outside of France would like to register as an AE. All work is via a computer from France. Compliance is a Financial Services qualification and he provides anti money laundering advice to Trust Companies and Investment Companies. Please can you advise what code he should register under?

He has issued two invoices so far and we planned to declare these on our tax return as income, but would it be better to add these invoice amounts to the AE turnover, or are they not eligible as they were earned before the AE was established?

His work is for a number of underlying companies within this Group and he invoices the one business group who arrange settlement on behalf of all of the other smaller companies. He issues an invoice each month, this states a sterling amount but the invoice is paid in euros to a French bank account. The companies he works for operate in sterling. Does a euro amount need to be stated on the invoice?

Please can you also advise if he needs insurance?

His ultimate goal is to just work as a Farmer, his work as a Consultant could overlap getting the farming business started. Could he have a second AE for the farming (and if 2 AE’s are possible for one person?) or does farming need to be registered differently?

Many thanks

Hi Valerie, my hubbie is going to be doing some work for a client outside of France who will be paying his airfares and hotels. They’ve also said they will pay an overnight food allowance and any other travel expenses. We don’t want to count this as revenue as it’s not really - it’s money he’s paid out which they will reimburse. Do we have to invoice for this or can we treat it separately outside of the revenue? We’re concerned if we have to invoice it as revenue he would quickly run out of AE turnover allowance given the airfares from France and we’d be taxed on it.

Thanks

Fizzlers
www.UK4Me.co.uk
UK Stores Delivering Overseas

I’ve used PayPal plenty of times as a buyer, however I’m interested in how it works as a vendor in France. Do you have to sign up for a business account with them straight away, or do you only have to bother once you reach a certain limit? Also, If you use paypal for a French business is there a way of turning it onto an English language setting? As although I don’t mind doing everything in French, obviously English would be easier.

Hi Valerie, I’m a newly-established AE. If I’ve understood the regime correctly, declarations are based on actual cash received. Does that mean that if an AE was heading close to the earnings limit towards the end of any given year, it would be admissable to defer invoicing a customer until the new year - taking this year as an example, can an AE do some work in 2010 and defer invoicing the customer for it until 2011?

Or even invoice the customer late enough in December 2010 so that the funds would be received by the AE in 2011 and therefore accounted for in 2011? In this case, would the date of the invoice (ie 2010) be taken into consideration, or is it a straight ‘cash received’ system?

Dear Valerie, forgive me if this is spelled out somewhere else on your site, but I am confused now about the declarations. What are the time periods and deadlines for each quarter? I had assumed they would be Jan - Mar; Apr - Jun; Jul - Sep and Oct - Dec - but I see otherwise in a previous thread on this topic. I cannot find this info on the declaration form anywhere.

It is important as I received a large payment in July and was not planning on declaring that for the next payment - which I assumed covered Apr - Jun.

Moreover, I have not received any form from URSSAF yet for the present period. I will be leaving on holiday on August 2 and be gone most of that month. I don’t use the online system. Will this cause me to miss a payment, and if so is there someone I can contact now to try and get the form as soon as possible?

Many thanks and happy Bastille Day!

Hi, I completed and returned my first declaration, it was sent to me on the 4th May with a date limite d’envoi of 2 August. I sent it in on 6 July with my cheque. On the 8th July the RSI sent me the second declaration for the period ending on the 31 July, but the date limite d’envoi is the same; i.e. the 2 August.

Is this correct and I have only 2 days from the end of the period to do the return and send it to them?

Best wishes
John

Hello Valerie, I am about to start as an auto-entrepreneur but I am wondering what the description would be. I will be storing caravans, would that be warehousing and stockage? Or could you suggest another description please?

Many thanks
Bob T

Hi Valerie, a friend of mine has tried to register under the AE scheme on code 8810A aide à domicile, nature: services and sort lieu d’exercice: en clientele, but they will not accept, they seem to be asking to be more precise and to go in and modify the application. He will be doing small works in the home. Can you advise what he should put in here.

Regards
Mae

Hi, I have looked through your videos, but I just wanted to confirm something. I registered as AE on the 01/04/2010, so when is the right time for me to declare my first tax payment? Also am I best to declare online or just wait for it through the post?

Many thanks

Dear Valerie, I’ve just registered with you and have had a look around at the topics and your two main videos, which were extremely helpful in reducing the number of questions I have.

We are intending to move to France next year and are looking at buying an existing business with Gites and B&B. In addition to that my wife and I will offer artisan services to guests and visitors - they will be the minority part of the business in financial terms. We are intending to operate the business as an Auto-Entrepreneur and I believe that this will be registered as an Activite Commerciale.  Am I correct in sating that cotisation charges on this type of business would be 12% of turnover?

I am 59 and my wife is 53. We will both have paid sufficient UK contributions to get state pensions - at the due time. Is there any reason for tax or social charges purposes for it to be better that one of us is the AE than the other? We would not be conjoint because of the additional cotisation payment required but would add the other as a dependent when registering the business.

In addition to the income generated from the French business we will have income from letting a property in the UK as well as investment income. The letting income from the UK would not be considered as part of the French business would it? I assume that we do not pay social charges on the investment income?

Kind regards,
Richard

Dear Valerie, I am planning ahead to begin my own business when we move to France by next year. We are interested in doing two different things:

1) A homestay for dogs (doggie hotel - NOT a kennel, just two or three dogs at a time in the house with us)
2) Teaching English to French students - a residential programme where students would stay in our home on school holidays, etc. (this may be through an established programme so may not fall under AE).

My question is, do we need a certificat de capacite for the doggie business, and, if so, how do we go about getting one?  My husband’s French is excellent, I am learning but mine is still not good. I understand there is a course and an exam in French. First-time poster, but have been registered with your excellent site for a few months.

Thank you for your help.
Katherine

Hi Valerie, I have just received an invoice from my bait supplier and have a small problem. My business is the sale fishing bait (pellets) and have NAF code 47.99 with the description “vente material de peche”, generally these products are used for recreational use. Some of these pellets are under the default VAT of 19.6% as they are aimed at the recreational market, however a large amount of what I sell is manufactured for fish farming (very high quality) and is given a default agricultural VAT of 5.5%. I explained to them that I would be retailing this pellet and would like to pay the 19.6% VAT as I’d rather pay the extra and know its OK for the Tax Man (they were fine with this).

The invoice I have received has charged me 5.5% VAT and I’m sure it will be easy to get changed, however I thought I would check first here to make sure I do actually need to pay the extra VAT, as it would be very nice not to.

My husband is an AE with an online shop and profession liberales code 59.20. He’s likely to start generating royalties through music publishing towards the end of this year and I had thought it would be taxed as 18.3% plus 2.2% impots at source as his secondary AE activity, but I’ve seen a few mentions on your site about royalties needing a different registration and potentially having a lower tax rate.

Please can you tell me what is the best way to go about this and is it a load more paper work?

As always, thank you for such a terrific site and all your helpful advice.

I am a social researcher who has set up this year as an AE (prof lib). My husband is a time-served Joiner, although has taken time out from paid work since we’ve been in France as he’s been renovating our house. The longer-term plan has always been for him to set up as a Joiner here and word has been getting around about his background, so people have started asking him to do joinery work. We’re assuming AE looks good for him? He just wants to work on his own and can work from home, as we have a barn with all his joinery machines already set up, since these have been needed to do up our own house. We got planning permission to convert the barn to a workshop for our use, does anyone know if doing AE status affects that?

As we are doing 2 very different types of work, I’m assuming 2 AEs on one premises won’t be a problem in our case. But as I’m registered as a prof lib, I’m not sure about anything different/ extra artisans need to do to register. I saw an earlier news post about the possibility of rules tightening up to be in line with artisans on other regimes ie needing proof of experience (would a letter from a former employer count?) and registration with the Chambre de Métiers. Does anyone know whether this is now officially required? Is there a list of what a prospective artisan AE has to do? I guess you will know, Valerie, and it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has experienced this registration process.

Many thanks - such a great Forum.

I have been inundated with correspondence after successfully registering myself under the the Auto-entrepeneur scheme and receiving my ‘Certificat d’inscription’. I am now totally confused as to which seemingly official company/authority I should respond to by completing their enclosed questionnaires.

Putting to one side the tax correspondence which I do understand the others are:
The first is from ‘inforegistre’ who are asking for 87,04€ remitance with thier form. I believe this is a scam of some sort.
The second from ‘B2V’, Retrait Prevoyance -
The third from ‘REUNICA’
The last two ask for details of my general medical history and employment based questions plus details of my bank account. I am assuming they are assurance companies.

My confusion arises out of my lack of understanding as to what company will collect my social charges and therefore link back to L’Assurance Maladie in order my health cover and Carte Vitale remain valid. I chose R.A.M. as my organisme d’assurance maladie actuel on my application but have been led to believe they may elect a private concern to carry out their function.

Any advice would be greatfully received - Bruce

Hello Valerie, I have been told by the maire, at the eleventh hour, that all new cafe /restaurant businesses must have a disabled toilet facility, in addition to a regular toilet. Do you know which official body I can get to view my plans? To view the actual physical postion, of where I intend to put the toilet, before the building work starts? What I am trying to avoid is building the toilet then being told its not suitable, because of its postion or for whatever reason, causing me further delay.

Thanks Valerie

Hi Valerie, is there a set daily allowance that I can claim for working from home? I’m thinking about covering heating / lighting costs. With the phone / internet I guess I can divide my monthly bills by the days in the month then claim that daily rate for the days I work?
Thank you

I have just joined the forum and watched the video on ‘how to register as an AE’, but can not find my business on any lists. I will be opening a dog boarding kennel in August. Anyone know how I can find out what catorgory I will fall under - maybe services?

Thanks in advance
SJ