Just got a letter from my Mairie - advice please

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oasiscouple
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Post by oasiscouple »

paolo wrote:
Frenchlady wrote:Sorry, but sick of seeing Brits do their own thing when the rest of us are paying our dues and collecting the tax sejour from our guests
My experience is that a French owner is more likely not to pay the taxe de sejour than a British owner.
Frenchlady wrote:Brits all moan about the immigrants not playing the game in the UK .........
No we don't, any more than the French ALL eat frog's legs and wear strings of onions around their necks.
Can't help repeating what I said recently on another similar post:
"This is an interesting discussion. British owners seem to go out of their way to make sure that they pay all the taxes and charges that may or may not be payable. French owners just sit back and wait for the demand. Sometimes it doesn't come so they have saved money."
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Ecosse
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Post by Ecosse »

ginelli wrote:
And how does payment of taxe de sejour work? Is this in the form of a tax return or do I simply do a virement to the mairie?
Don't worry about beurocracy with regards to payment no Taxe de séjour... while it varies from commune to commune (speak to your mairie to find out your commune's protocol), generally it's pretty simple. For example, our commune emails us a form every 6 months, asking us to list the number of bed nights each month, and the amount collected. We then drop the form in with a cheque to our mairie. No hassle, neither to they chase you up or penalise you if you're late... and as our Taxe de séjour pays for the free buses, flowers, events and general 'niceness' of our village and surrounds, making it much more attractive for our guests, I'm more than happy to collect this Taxe on behalf of our mairie.
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Post by Frenchlady »

gitemontjoly wrote:
ginelli wrote:
our Taxe de séjour pays for the free buses, flowers, events and general 'niceness' of our village and surrounds, making it much more attractive for our guests, I'm more than happy to collect this Taxe on behalf of our mairie.
Exactly my point. My OH went to see a lady from the UK who had owned her French rental house for 2 years and during their conversation she said she had no knowledge that you had to register at the Mairie or what the tax sejour was. Ignorance is bliss ......... but let us hope they don't whinge when the French tax man taps them on the shoulder or the Maire sends them a letter!!!
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Bassman
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Post by Bassman »

gitemontjoly wrote:We then drop the form in with a cheque to our mairie. No hassle, neither to they chase you up or penalise you if you're late... and as our Taxe de séjour pays for the free buses, flowers, events and general 'niceness' of our village and surrounds, making it much more attractive for our guests, I'm more than happy to collect this Taxe on behalf of our mairie.
Unfortunately i havent seen any improvement since our TS was introduced 6/7 years ago even though its been raised from 0.35cts to 1€ per nuitée. The single lane road around our property is in a bad state and guest (French & British) have made negative comments about it. When we asked for it to be improved we were told to tell "tes gars" to use a different route!
JP
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Post by JP »

Dont ignore the letter as they will fine you and also inform the tax people who will come after you big style.
Just pop down to the Marie and they will help you fill in the form and you receive a stated certificate in the post a week or so later showing you have permission to rent and for how many people.
As far as tax is concerned if you think the the UK tax man is bad the french make him look like a pussy cat when it comes to dishing out fines and they will go back for years.
The tax form is quite simple, you just have to decide which tax regime you want to enter, the micro bic is the easiest, they basically just allow you 72% of your total income tax free and you pay tax on the remaining 28%, you can elect to go down the full tax route where like the UK you allow all you expenditure against income which can be better if you have a lot of outgoing for work in early stages but is much more complicated and this is where an accountant is necessary to say what you can and cannot claim for. In later years when your expenditure is less the micro bic works better but you cannot swap so make your choice now. I do micro bic and all I have to fill in is my basic details (name address dob etc) on the main form and then a subsidiary form for people living overseas which is basically just your total income. Then when you do your UK tax return any tax you pay in France is deducted from any tax you may have to pay in the UK so you won't have to pay more than you do now and on your UK form you can obviously allow for expenditure. Someone I know got caught out like you and as well as the fine for not informing the Marie they got a €1800 fine for every tax offence for each person for 6 years previous. Just get it sorted asap.
Sarlat Lady
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Post by Sarlat Lady »

Hi everyone

I haven't posted on here before but regularly read all the great information arising from the discussions. However, something on this thread has puzzled me so I'd be really grateful for some clarification.....

My understanding is that the only tax regime available to a UK resident (for income from a French property) is a flat 20% on the income (payable to the French Taxman) with no deductibles etc.

We've only had our property six months and have had to install a new boiler during that time which has wiped out a huge chunk of our profit.

I assumed that we'd still have to pay 20% tax on all income from the property and just take the cost of the new boiler on the chin, putting it down to bad luck as we can't offset it because we aren't eligible for regime reel because we are UK resident.

Can anyone confirm? Thanks!
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JP
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Post by JP »

I cannot answer your question on available tax regimes but I am in micro BIC and it is a flat rate of 20% but you also get a flat rate of 72% of your income tax free and this is why you don't off set anything against income.
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Post by Sarlat Lady »

Thanks for replying, much appreciated. However, I'm still confused.....

If you are under micro-bic regime then I'm assuming you are French resident?

Are you saying that both the options you mention below are available to UK residents? I thought UK residents only had one option: to pay a flat rate of 20% on French income. So if we earned 10k then we would have to pay 2k in French income tax?

Isn't the 72% tax free option only available to French residents as one of the simplied tax regimes? I'd be very happy if it's available to UK residents as well as that would equate to 560€ Instead of 2k!!

It's a couple of years since I looked into it but, to my knowledge, only the flat 20% is available to UK residents, unless it's changed?

Can you (or anyone else) clarify?
Many thanks!
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Moliere
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Post by Moliere »

Sarlat Lady wrote: My understanding is that the only tax regime available to a UK resident (for income from a French property) is a flat 20% on the income (payable to the French Taxman) with no deductibles etc.

We've only had our property six months and have had to install a new boiler during that time which has wiped out a huge chunk of our profit.

I assumed that we'd still have to pay 20% tax on all income from the property and just take the cost of the new boiler on the chin, putting it down to bad luck as we can't offset it because we aren't eligible for regime reel because we are UK resident.

Can anyone confirm? Thanks!
No Sarlat Lady, that's not right. I declared my income, listed all deductions for electricity, local taxes, advertising, cleaning, repairs (which would include a new boiler if appropriate), loan interest, insurance, etc - every expense which I incurred in relation to the property. Tax was then levied on the net balance.
Do talk to a French accountant (whose fees would also be deductable).

Bonne chance and welcome to LMH

Moliere
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Sarlat Lady
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Post by Sarlat Lady »

Thanks Moliere. Are you a French or UK resident?
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Moliere
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Post by Moliere »

At the time I was English resident. It's only since I retired that I've moved to my former rental villa.

Moliere
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Sarlat Lady
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Post by Sarlat Lady »

That's VERY interesting. I would be delighted if we could do that but I've not been able to find anything that explicitly states that it's possible.

Here is the French Embassy in London's take on French Rental income for UK citizens.
http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/FAQ-Rental ... #FURNISHED

Do you think the rules may have changed since you were in the UK?

We will be moving to France later this year and will be needing the services of an French accountant (English speaking) once there anyway so any personal recommendations would also be gratefully received!
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Moliere
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Post by Moliere »

Tbh, I can't say whether the advice has changed or not - I moved here in 2013, so it's possible.
When I started out, I knew nothing about the tax system or the various "regimes". As a financial professional, I did the obvious (to me) and visited an accountant and left everything to him. I'm sure he saved me his fees many times over.
From LMH I gather I may have been on something like régime réel, but basically I did what I would do in the UK, I listed my rent, deducted everything in sight and the rest was taxable.

I'm afraid Sarlat (lovely place!) is a bit too far north for any accountants I know, unless you want to work long-distance, which isn't the best idea. However there are loads of Anglais around Sarlat, so you'll get plenty of recommendations there, I'm sure.

Moliere
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JP
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Post by JP »

Sarlat Lady wrote:Thanks for replying, much appreciated. However, I'm still confused.....

If you are under micro-bic regime then I'm assuming you are French resident?

Are you saying that both the options you mention below are available to UK residents? I thought UK residents only had one option: to pay a flat rate of 20% on French income. So if we earned 10k then we would have to pay 2k in French income tax?

Isn't the 72% tax free option only available to French residents as one of the simplied tax regimes? I'd be very happy if it's available to UK residents as well as that would equate to 560€ Instead of 2k!!

It's a couple of years since I looked into it but, to my knowledge, only the flat 20% is available to UK residents, unless it's changed?

Can you (or anyone else) clarify?
Many thanks!
Hi
I am a UK tax resident and use this regime, as far as my situation is concerned it is by far the easiest and most efficient way for me to declare as I do not have any form of loan to offset against my earnings.
James
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