Wild Rover

Later this year I will be moving to France to live and am planning to set up a business working as a project management consultant. I already have at least 6 months guaranteed contract work with an international company based in US.

I am a British citizen and the question I have is whether I would be better to set up the company in the UK and work out of France, or whether to take the plunge and set up in France from the start?

I know with either option I will pay French taxes as this is where I will be considered domiciled, but I have heard the French system to set up a business is so beurocratic it is a nightmare.

Just wondered if any of you had any experience of this and if you had any recommendations for which is the better option?

tommyauvergne

Hi,

My other half (who is French) and myself came over from the UK about 9 months ago. Project Management is the service we offered in the UK and hoped to offer in France. For the first couple of months we traded from the UK business, but as laws dictate eventually we had to set up a small enterprise. Warning. Please please please think twice.
The amount of tax and setup costs, as well as accountants fees are astronomical. Luckily enough we had a helping hand from our UK business. But now that can no longer hold the strain. The market and industry we hoped to service is very limited. Instead we've had to diverse. Luckily I have some experience in IT that may help, but I'm not French and with sky high unemployment who knows when I'll bring some work in.
As an example of the tax you'll pay for - 2 employees. Each payed €1900 after tax. The tax you'll pay as a business is €2000 per month. €24000 per year!! And it's all in relation to the salary. So if you're income is ten times more, you'll pay ten times more. Its as if we employ 3 not 2. No wonder the unemployment level is so high. There's plenty of people out there who want to work, but no small business can afford to employ them.
I too looked into working from a UK business while living in France, but have found the authorities were extremely clued up on this and the penalties harsh.
Don't let the above put you off. I have found the people very welcoming (we're all in the same boat) the country is lovely and the foods good. If they could just fix their employment laws!! If I could vote I know who I would vote for

Tom.

herbie

Tommy is right, please think twice and do loads of research! Several of my friends have nearly gone under. Thankfully, my partner and I come under Maison d'Artistes and the rules are different. They seem a little kinder to artists. I'm a painter and my partner a website designer. Both come under this bracket which makes it much easier. I wish you luck.

Wild Rover

Thank you for your advice Tom and Herbie, your comments sort of confirmed what I feared. The thing is, I am committed to move to France anyway so I guess I just need to make the best choice in terms of registering the company in UK or France. I'm currently in the process of talking to various accountants in UK and France to see which would be the better option.

Thanks again, and I will let you know what their advice turns out to be.

herbie

It would be good to know of any advice you're given. I tried to register in the UK but without being able to say how much time I was likely to spend there, it was not possible to do so. It must be possible because lots of people work all over Europe. It's been frustrating me for some time now. Every time I think I've got the info I need and I can go a certain way, someone tells me differently! I wish you luck with your move and hope it all goes smoothly! Who knows, with a different government in place, maybe things will change?

tommyauvergne

Herbie, I think you're right. I think I understood last night that the working laws and enterprise ethics were first on Mr Sarkozys agenda. Unfortunatley it will probably take a couple of years before any change will affect us. In the meantime the search goes on........

Tom.

herbie

I really hope it does change. Quite frankly if employment laws don't change here this country will grind to a halt! My worry with Sarkozy is that he's not very keen on foreigners! Not sure how that's going to affect us. He made a comment about having British friends but he didn't want to see beautiful villages turning into British communities! What's he going to do about that I wonder? How have these villages become beautiful? Foreigners have been doing up all the wrecks! That's how! Let's hope that he at least sticks to his word about the employment situation. Not sure I believe anything any politician says anymore!

tommyauvergne

Good points. We can only wait and see. I do however believe he was the better choice yesterday. I think he had more of a plan outlined. I know he's against immigration in a big way, but from what I've heard here it's more to do with the 'ghetto' type areas where all the 'young and unemployed' immigrants seem to be in larger cities. The fact he's trying to provide more jobs and opportunities may go down well in these areas.
I recently spoke to a member of the UMP party and he outlined their policy on immigration. I asked on personal curiosity of course. He said that they are trying to encourage small businesses from anywhere in Europe to make a go of it in France, unlike the last lot. The aim is to then hire local workforces, helping the economy. So as long as you come here, pay your way, and input all is well. Those who don't I think will be 'encouraged' shall we say.
Bit late for my situation, but at least I've learnt. Give it 5 years and I may go back to doing what I intended to do here in the first place. Then again I'll probably be a builder, auberge runner, hotelier or gite owner by then!! LOL

Tom.

Ka Ora!

Yes after the 10 day holiday period sarkozy plans to go at it all. fingers crossed he will make it a little more simple and encourage small enterprises. But every new leader or party comes in with big plans and promises how many deliver the goods. And will the populus like what he offers the French are a funny sort they want to eran more money but a mot do not want to do the hours how many of us brits were putting in 50 plus hours a week at work to earn more regardless of the hourly working week cap. As for the immigration policies yes i hope this is aimed more at non European immigrants as it would cost trance a lot to cause problems for the European residents in France that are not French. A lot of young french people are moving to england. One of sarkozys gripes is turkey and immigration as if they join the EU we all know were half the population of turkey is going first France on its journey to the uk.