Banking advice please

[Nomad]

We have a holiday business in Normandy and have been running it from the UK, paying tax in the UK and in France. Enough is enough so we are moving to France in June this year.

Most of our guests are from the UK and pay by cheque. We have been told that we cannot keep a business account if we do not have a business address in the UK.

What do you all do? Do you have a credit card payment system and accept cheques when necessary and just keep a private account for them??

I am going mad trying to sort this out and the weeks keep rushing by! All help would be much appreciated.

Thank you

[la vache!]

If you have a micro bic, as long as you keep receipts and have a record of bookings made, you don't need a seperate business account. As a micro you don't need to account for expenses as you get an expense allowance instead. It is not a problem for the centre d'impots if you use an English bank account as well as a French one, as long as you have a record of bookings and income. If you are not a micro-bic then you will need one.

[Hells Bells]

Why not open a Flexaccount with Nationwide before you leave for France? Your guests can then pay you by bank transfer from their account. The advantage of their debit card is that cash withdrawals and purchases made abroad have no hidden exchange charges. There's always Paypal of course.

[enid]

Why not open a Flexaccount with Nationwide before you leave for France?

Just want to endorse this advice; We had Nationwide before coming and we use it to receive UK payments - then I withdraw the money in cash and pay it into my gite bank account here - the cheapest way we've found to avoid charges.

I did ask for a Euro account but that was after I lived in France and so they wouldn't let me open one - you must have a UK address - so I'd open that too before leaving. They mail everything to France with no extra charge.

Also their e savings account yields 4% interest and their online banking facilities are excellent.

[Loopy Lou]

Thank you for this useful advice! I have both HSBC and Nationwide accounts - I will close the HSBC one and keep the Nationwide one before I move to France. Brilliant - because most of my direct debits are with HSBC so I can get rid of them in one foul swipe once my house is sold. Fab!

Thank to Nomad for asking the question and thanks to Helen and Enid for helping me to make up my mind.

You are stars!

Loopy

[Hells Bells]

Thanks Loopy!!

[paolo]

Frances,

Obviously it would be easier for your guests to pay into a UK account. But I ask payments to be made to my French account because that is where I want the money. Admittedly I have relatively few UK guests, the great majority are from further away and would need to do a transfer to another currency in any case.

I wonder if you would lose any bookings if you did demand payment in euros - by transfer or bank draft/money order. Anybody have experience of this?

[Hells Bells]

Paolo, I have changed my pricing structure to euros, and have only used the sterling amount for those already booked that way. All except one of those actually then paid in euros, one by transfer (French customer), one by Paypal(UK customer), and one by cheque(French). I now accept Paypal only for deposits, but will accept a bank transfer for the final balance. I add the bank details to the final invoice. The account is a flexible mortgage/current account, so immediately on receipt the money is transferred to the mortgage account, so emptying the current account, and savingme mortgage interest.

[Guest3]

They mail everything to France with no extra charge.

Enid..we have a Flex Account..but I'm a bit confused...if you have to have a registered UK address to open the account, do they still let you keep the account if you change the address to an EU address?

[Nomad]

Thank you all for your helpful advice. I will open a flexaccount as HSBC have been the ones who have caused me the problems.

I do have some guests who pay me in euros and when I do the advertising for next year I will put my pricing in both currencies as the majority of my visitors are from the UK but I am desperately trying to get in to the rest of Europe.

[enid]

Enid..we have a Flex Account..but I'm a bit confused...if you have to have a registered UK address to open the account, do they still let you keep the account if you change the address to an EU address?

Yes they do - but they don't let you open another one - that's why I advise opening a euro account.

Re pricing - I do price in euros - and I set the GBP rate then - so if folks want tp pay into my UK account or with a UK cheque they can but at my rates as given on my web site. Does that make snese? - as Crtstal has spotted I'm great at confusing peopel!!!

[Loopy Lou]

Hi Enid,

Does that mean you set your GBP rate on your website at the beginning of the season so that the fluctuating exchange rate doesn't affect you?

It seems to me that if we are living and letting in France it is not unreasonable to ask our guests to pay in Euros, or am I being unfair to guests?

Loooopy

[Hells Bells]

I still live in the UK, but now only charge in Euros, after a brief dual pricing spell. I need to pay the money into a French account anyway.

[paolo]

It seems to me that if we are living and letting in France it is not unreasonable to ask our guests to pay in Euros, or am I being unfair to guests?

I don't think so. But I would offer PayPal too for people who want to pay by credit card.

[enid]

Does that mean you set your GBP rate on your website at the beginning of the season so that the fluctuating exchange rate doesn't affect you?

Exactly - we charge in euros - if you want the facility to pay in GBP you pay the GBP exchange that we have set - then we both are happy. If you don't like the GBP rate we have set - pay in euros. C 'est comme ca