TinaBee

It's not the taxes that are high in France, but the insurances associated with employment or running a business, i.e. health, pension, unemployment, etc. Unlike the UK where we pay just one National Insurance, all of the insurances in France are separate, but not optional. These are referred to generally as "cotisations" and typically take more than 23% of income depending on whether you are employed or running a business, sometimes a lot more.

As for setting up as self employed, the cheapest and easiest method is to become an "autoentrepreneur", but this may not suit all circumstances.

If you google "starting a business in France" or "autoentrepreneur" you will find several websites that provide free information.

You will also need to ensure you have appropriate healthcare cover for the family, until the business is set up, either by bringing an S1 form from the UK (entitlement based on previous NI contributions) or having private insurance.

Apologies if you know all this already.

ardlifeinit

Hi all.
Can we just say that we have moved over to France, arrived on 1st may, purchased our house on 24th may, getting our keys on 1st september, and so far have not encountered any problems, though we suspect there is some to come. We are in a camping car at the moment on a site, english owned, and the owner has been very helpful though he only speaks pigeon french. Everywhere we go, probably because we have two dogs, french people asume we are french and start conversations with us in french, when we say, pardon, je suis anglais, 95% start talking english to us, and 5% start speaking very slowly in french with lots of gesturing and shrugging, we have never encountered any one giving up and just walking away. even if none of us understood what the other has said we have always walked away laughing.
The other amazing thing is the amount of people who say bonjour as we pass, even teenagers and children, it took us a while to learn to respond as we had never encountered this in England from teenagers and children. People here are polite and friendly, I lived in my home for 25 years and only new a handful of people in the same street and those I recognised as being neighbours never responded to my hellos, just looked at me as if to say, who the hell are you. Our estate agent speaks english as does the bank clerk, even the notaire spoke franglais, we walked into a store to look at ranges, fridges etc and was approached by a very nice english asistant, the only person so far who has not spoken any english has been the seller, but the estate agent has always been there. We even had a conversation with a roofer we saw doing another job and managed to convey that we might need him in the future and got his business card, just by hand movements and the odd word here and there. We have found that if you are waving money in their faces they are very responsive, probably due to the economic climate.
We hope it works for us, but we strongly believe it is your state of mind and attitude to those around you that will make or break the situation. Come here negative thats what you will get back, come here positive and you will shine.
Also, remember ignorance is bliss.
Good luck.

Peabrain

Hi,
I wouldn't say that taxes are extremely high in France. I think the most widely encountered tax, la TVA or VAT is about the same as in the UK. Many couples earning two decent salaries, married with say three kids can often end up not paying any income tax at all, or very little. In addition, income tax is not deducted at source, but worked out according to the previous year's earnings and thus paid the following year. Income tax is only paid by fewer than 50% of the working population, and the top rate is 41%, calculated on a sliding scale.
Yes, welfare contributions are high, but "you get what you pays for", i.e. an extremely efficient health service, good unemployment benefit, high family benefit and so on. The French state still implements policies to encourage people to have children through the welfare system, which is why the birth rate here is one of the highest, if not the highest in Europe. Even our beloved Fuhrer is at it.
However, (there's always a however) next year we have the presidential elections coming up, with more than a reasonable chance that the left, if they can get their act together, will be back in power, in which case taxation may go up, but then so might welfare payments.
As regards independent workers, I couldn't say. All I have to go on are the artisans I use to do up my country pile, and they certainly don't seem be suffering from extortionate rates of taxation, although they all moan about "les charges sociales" that prevent them from taking on more workers. That, plus the fact that the French educational system does not know how to produce plumbers, electricians, carpenters, bakers or butchers. It remains very abstract, and many parents would not countenance seeing their children taking up a manual job. So if there's anyone out there that wants to be a butcher, baker or candlestick maker, France is your oyster.

Tweedpipe

This is an interesting thread with some stimulating points raised.
Just one point of clarification regarding the mention of Jane Birkin. Agreed her French pronounciation (like Petula Clark) used to be with a very exaggerated English accent which I have little doubt was contrived, but which gave added appeal especially to many of the French population, which in turn assisted in her popularity. Over the years the accent has changed to become more 'authentic'. I have even heard it said a few times (in an uncomplimentary manner about Brits speaking French), "Oh he/she speaks like Jane Birkin! This I reckon should be taken as a compliment, as witnessed by her many appearances on tv and interviews in French - which imho proves that her French is first class. Here's just one example - once passed the first 40sec of the clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ym2rP-kP7s

Here's what she's saying, and regardless of what others might think, this is good French.
"Je crois que quand j'etais très petite j'avais un père extraordinaire. Il était dans la résistance Francaise et quand j'etais petite on a deja marche ensemble contre la peine de mort en Angleterre, et il m'a initie d'avoir un conscience que les gens n'avaient pas les vies aussi épatantes que les nôtres. Donc il se portait garant au garçon pour qu'il n'aille pas en prison. Il était contre l'idée incarcerale anglaise"……..etc

Now I'd be the first to admit I don't express myself exactly like that in French, if I could I'd be more than satisfied.
Interestingly enough for those of you fluent enough, for what it's worth, I noticed there are one or two minor expressions that betrays the fact that she is not a native French speaker.
One thing is for sure, those of you with young children who are given the chance to be educated in a French school will generally reap the benefits of being totally bi-lingual and - assuming they are young enough - speak with a true French accent.