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Moving to France looking for advice

Moving to France looking for advice

Old Oct 24th 2017, 7:13 am
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Default Moving to France looking for advice

Hello everyone

My daughter and I at present live on the west coast of Scotland with our 2 dogs. We have been thinking about moving to France for quite some time as I am due to retire next year and my daughter has not been enjoying her job for some time. We both work full time at present and also run a self catering flat. If we moved to France we would like somewhere rural with land and gites so we could continue to do self catering. Any suggestions on locations? We were thinking of Charente. Is running a business similar to the uk anyone experienced any problems? Also what was the best way to get your dogs over?
Many thanks
Catriona
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Old Oct 24th 2017, 9:04 am
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Default Re: Moving to France looking for advice

I suggest you have a read through the threads on here re Moving to France.(Use the search button on the beige line above) It is not as easy as it seems! French bureaucracy , health insurance , taxes, etc, etc.
Cannot comment on where to locate, but for dogs - get pet passports and drive them over in your car! I hope it eventually works out , but be prepared for hiccups!
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Old Oct 24th 2017, 9:09 am
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Default Re: Moving to France looking for advice

Here's a start for you: http://britishexpats.com/forum/franc...e-faqs-866999/
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Old Oct 24th 2017, 9:14 am
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Default Re: Moving to France looking for advice

Originally Posted by Catriona.reid
Hello everyone

My daughter and I at present live on the west coast of Scotland with our 2 dogs. We have been thinking about moving to France for quite some time as I am due to retire next year and my daughter has not been enjoying her job for some time. We both work full time at present and also run a self catering flat. If we moved to France we would like somewhere rural with land and gites so we could continue to do self catering. Any suggestions on locations? We were thinking of Charente. Is running a business similar to the uk anyone experienced any problems? Also what was the best way to get your dogs over?
Many thanks
Catriona
Do try renting in France first, many French people dream of living on the west coast of Scotland so you need to understand why that is.
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Old Oct 24th 2017, 9:47 am
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Default Re: Moving to France looking for advice

Originally Posted by InVinoVeritas
Do try renting in France first, many French people dream of living on the west coast of Scotland so you need to understand why that is.


And contrary to the promises made by La République En Marche, for many, during 2018 there will surely be increased expenditure. I note a general increase already planned for a number of charges, namely fuel (diesel), mutual insurance, and postal charges just to name a few.
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Old Oct 24th 2017, 10:52 am
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Default Re: Moving to France looking for advice

Welcome to the forum!
Apart from following the above advice, take a look in the on-going thread from another Scottish couple looking for land.
Even with a UK State Pension, the annual income from a gîte probably wouldn't be sufficient to keep you both all year round. Your daughter would have to sort out her healthcare insurance.
As suggested, read the relevant threads in the FAQs above, bearing in mind that, although renting is highly advised at the beginning, you need to comply with landlords' financial requirements (see Thread "Renting").
Research, research, research is the keyword!
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Old Oct 24th 2017, 7:19 pm
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Default Re: Moving to France looking for advice

Originally Posted by Catriona.reid
Is running a business similar to the uk anyone experienced any problems?
No it's not very similar, the regulations are different and there are a lot more of them. Businesses don't run themselves in France like they tend to do in the UK. But as long as you take it seriously and don't go into it assuming it will be like in the UK, it can be quite rewarding. The reason most Brits who have problems have them, is because they don't bother to find out what's involved before they start, they think it should be just like in the UK. So they keep getting fined for not obeying the rules, and they're never prepared for bills when they arrive, and they're constantly complaining about how stupid the rules are and how difficult France makes it, even though the rules are usually logical and it's easy enough to find all this stuff out from the government website. Which obviously requires a decent level of French, because the authorities don't do English.

Not trying to put you off, just making the point that moving to a different country also means different laws and a different mindset and culture - which should be obvious but you'd be surprised how often it comes as a shock to people. If that's what you're looking for, go for it!
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Old Nov 16th 2017, 1:53 pm
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Default Re: Moving to France looking for advice

Have you visited the Charentes area? You must be sure that the area is to your liking. It'll be a massive contrast compared to Bonnie Scotland.
Some friends of ours recently sold an old farm that they had run for years as a little give complex. They had full bookings (Brits mainly) every year and I believe it ticked over quite nicely. Very hard work though and they did struggle with French administration at times. A real adventure though!

If you set up a little company for your enterprise, you can make it a "micro-entreprise" (or "auto-entrepreneur" - the same thing). This enables you to simplify the administration and as long as the yearly turnover is less than 70 000 euros a year approx (thank you Macron - it used to be 33 000 a year), you don't have to bother making it a SARL (PLC) and admin is simpler.
Mind you, with all this Brexit garbage going on, things could get sticky about medical, "prevoyance"retirement and even the access to set up as a micro enterprise. Who knows what is going to happen.

Last edited by Purple Jim; Nov 16th 2017 at 2:07 pm.
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Old Nov 16th 2017, 2:11 pm
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Default Re: Moving to France looking for advice

Originally Posted by Purple Jim
as long as the yearly turnover is less than 70 000 euros a year approx (thank you Macron - it used to be 33 000 a year), you don't have to bother charging VAT and having an accountant, etc.
Hello Purple Jim and

Sorry to nitpick here but in fact, it's been confirmed that the VAT threshold for franchise de base won't change. So if you exceed the current micro ceilings (around 32k for prof lib/services and around 70k for commercial activities) you will in fact need to charge VAT.
https://www.federation-auto-entrepre...savoir-en-2018

Though in practice, once you get above the existing thresholds it's probably time to move to a different business structure in any case. A prof lib or service provider with a turnover of 70k would be paying cotisations of around 17,000€ a year... that cannot make sense

I think Macron took his eye off the ball when he thought that one up.
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