Lay My Hat

Hello Dear Hatlayers!

I was talking to someone on another forum who told me that everyone, absolutely everyone operating a gîte in France now needs to get a SIRET number to do it. In our household our main income is from my husband's pension and our gîte income (which is what I do but am not registered as such) is much less than 50% of our income. We are classified as a meublé de tourisme and so last year paid tax on 29% of our income.

Does anyone know whether we need to go and get a SIRET now?

Does anyone know if we have to pay social charges (as has been mentioned in another post)? If so, how to we register and pay please?

Thanks so much

My understanding is that ifthe income you receive from your gites is above a cerain amount then you have to register and get a SIRET number. The best place to enquire is at your local prefecture or tax office. We went through it 4 years ago and so the rules may have changed. You also have to pay social charges, which we found out this year and are waiting for them to let us know how much.

I have just been through all this during the naturalisation process as I was told I must show proof of registration with the chamber of commerce. So I got a note from the tax office which pointed out that unless your gross income from the gite is more than 50% of your combined total earnings (from pensions, investments, other business etc) then you do not need to register as a business.

As for social charges you automatically get charged those when you send in your tax returns. You get a demand for both income tax and social charges in the same letter. Before they were sent separately.

Thank you so much Blanche and Dusty!

So I am not even going to bother going to get a SIRET.

We have already had our tax bill for this year which I paid (early so I didn't forget) - it didn't say anything about social charges and it was really very little - I think the reason being is that we really earn so little with my husband's pension and the gîte we probably fall below their limit.

This has put my mind at rest as I have been worrying and as we are registered as a gîte with the Mairie and as a Meublé de Tourisme and also with the local tourist office and the tax authorities I would imagine that someone somewhere will tell us where we have gone wrong (if we have) and let us off any fines! Fingers crossed there won't be any!

Thanks again!

You sound to have covered all bases. When we first got the gite I was worried that we were not being charged our taxes d'habitation and foncières. So I went to our local Trésor Public where they said everything's OK. We've got you down. If we want anything we'll ask for it. That seems to be the way things work here.

I wouldn't think though that the French would bother going to a tax office to find out why they haven't received their bills.

You have to pay social charges on all rental income (Holiday rental,long let etc...) regardless of whether you have a siret or not !

We have 3 children and don't earn enough to pay tax but are currently paying over 1400 euros/year on our rental income!! Which is currently hammering us financially as it just keeps going up every year !!

Yes Jensen it isn't cheap to live in France with all the hidden taxes and social charges and it isn't easy to make a living either - no wonder people choose to be unemployed as it is hard to earn the living wage for artisans. Maybe Macron's government will make it more attractive to work for yourself. It was so easy in the UK and also so straightforward - I did it for over 20 years with no problems whatsoever!
Hope something good comes out of the new government for you and your family!

Pixietoadstool wrote:Yes Jensen it isn't cheap to live in France with all the hidden taxes and social charges and it isn't easy to make a living either - no wonder people choose to be unemployed as it is hard to earn the living wage for artisans. Maybe Macron's government will make it more attractive to work for yourself. It was so easy in the UK and also so straightforward - I did it for over 20 years with no problems whatsoever!
Hope something good comes out of the new government for you and your family!

Thanks Pixietoadstool ! No worries you kind of get used to being poor!

You do not automatically pay charges. I have a gite since 1998 and got a SIRET by the centre des impôts because I do a "déclaration au réel" listing every year my income and charges of the gite has the marvelous effect that I earn hardly anything . But the gite is part of our property and you can deduce all taxes as "charges" which is impossible for a normal person.
I have to declare the existence of the "meulbé de tourisme" in the mairie. To ask a SIRET at the centre des impôts is free (it is not free if you go to the chambre de commerce who always need money). There are income levels too. If you earn more than 23000 or 32000 € (it always seems to change) rules for paiment etc change.
Why make it easy, if it can be complicated .

Sigrun wrote: Why make it easy, if it can be complicated .

Ha ha indeed... this year, after filling in all the relevant paperwork at the Pole Vie Locale to re-register the eldest 2 at the school (address, allergies, vaccinations, insurance, canteen and after school club) I found myself spending a jolly evening filling in almost identical forms with the same info for the benefit of the school, who seem incapable of accessing the Pole Vie Locale's database. 14 times I had to fill in my address... I'm dreading number 3 starting school next year!

P.s sorry for the thread creep

Sigrun wrote:You do not automatically pay charges. I have a gite since 1998 and got a SIRET by the centre des impôts because I do a "déclaration au réel" listing every year my income and charges of the gite has the marvelous effect that I earn hardly anything . But the gite is part of our property and you can deduce all taxes as "charges" which is impossible for a normal person.
I have to declare the existence of the "meulbé de tourisme" in the mairie. To ask a SIRET at the centre des impôts is free (it is not free if you go to the chambre de commerce who always need money). There are income levels too. If you earn more than 23000 or 32000 € (it always seems to change) rules for paiment etc change.
Why make it easy, if it can be complicated .

But is it still the same now? It was nearly 20 years ago when you did yours. I have never heard of asking for a Siret at Centre des Impots; that would certainly make things easier, assuming the same applies to Chambres d'Hotes as gites.

Sigrun wrote:You do not automatically pay charges. .

Tax or social charges (CSG,CRDS) ?? or do you mean social charges as in health care,pension etc.... ?

Social charges (CSG,CRDS) is due on all rental income, investments, salaries and anything else they can get it off you for !! Regardless of how much you earn, rich or poor !

Yes. I have just looked at my last tax demand, Avis d'impôt: impôt sur le revenues et prélèvements sociaux. We did not reach the tax threshold but still have to pay social charges.

I looked it up: SIRET: it is free at the "greffe du tribunal de commerce" of the department if you are a non-professional, which depends on your income of the gite.
https://www.impots.gouv.fr/portail/part ... s-meublees (in French)
The following link can be interesting if you want to know if is better to declare the activity "au réel".
http://www.gites-chambresdhotes.com/fis ... dhotes.php (also in French)