From the 1st January 2014 TVA is increasing from 19.6% to 20% and from 7% to 10% for the intermediate reduced rate which applies to renovations (yes I am not happy about that), restaurants and hotels.
At a time when restaurants are closing down and artisans are struggling for work due to the slowdown in the property market surely this can not be good news for France.
For us it will affect our everyday spending but also have a significant impact on our renovation budget seeing our costs increase 3% over the new year. Frustrating.
Does anyone know if we will have to get all our devis requoted or whether we are entitled to 2013 vat if the bon pour accord was in 2013?
I am trying to remember what happened in the Uk. I think that the VAT increase was put on work which had not yet been carried out. If you can get any (some or all) of the work done before the increase so that there is no question of the increase being applied that is best. I doubt the artisans will be able to absorb the extra costs themselves.
I went to see the contrôleur at my hôtel ses impôts last week on this very subject. She told me that the tax office had not yet received the official "textes", but if the rules were as per the previous increase (when TVA went from 5.5 to 7%) then any devis signed with a deposit paid in 2013 would qualify for TVA at the lower rate.
However she also told me that you then had 2 years to complete the work, and still qualify for the lower rate, which I found hard to believe (as did my husband who works for a French company in the building trade - he thinks she must have meant 2 months).
One thing she was sure about was that the TVA would definitely go up on 1 January 2014.
But I won't believe anything until I see the official textes in writing.
Just spoke to my other half - his plumber mate has confirmed to him, that so long as the devis is signed before the end of the year, its the old rate that applies :-) Just goes to show that it's always best to find the official text!
I charge various rates of TVA and my accountants say that the TVA is payable when one is paid. Therefore the deposit taken before 1st Jan will be at 7% and the balance afterwards at 10%. As usual, no one knows - try Service Pulic or something like that, I seem to remember thats where I found it last time!
When it changed last time , I was in the middle of a renovation project. Some artisans said that if it was signed before could continue to bill as such, others said that the bill had to start being paid but not necassrily 'soldé' befor ethe end of the year and others again siad that they had been advised that if it wasn't paid in full by end of year they would have to charge new rate for all work....so as you can see these guys were being advised by their accountants who obviously didn't have a clue so they all did different things...with seemingly no consequences. Ask the builder what he has been advised....should be at previous rate espcially if you have made a stage payment before.
You're right Andrew, even in your area. If the price is right buyers will come crawling out of the woodwork from all over the world! I put this property on our website a couple of weeks ago and I've had over 20 enquiries and three viewings. Second visits planned before the end of the month.
interesting, we're having rewiring done at the moment and were told that if we signed the devis for other work before the end of the year then the tva would be at the old rate. Everything in my business changes on the 1st though!
but that's an expat market - a tiny percentage of sales in France. I'm talking about the French market - I've always bought from French and sold to French and only really know what's going on as far as they're concerned ;-)
We had a meeting with our accountants yesterday afternoon and this was one of the things we discussed. We run a multiservice business and bill out at both 19.6% and 7% TVA as we work with with businesses as well as individuals. Our accountant was very clear, TVA is chargeable at the point of billing, therefore if we bill after 1st Jan it's on the new rate of TVA regardless of any signed devis.
Less buyers because of that Trouchet scandal in the south of France, and the hideousfrance website that clearly shows the truth - has given many people the willies I think, it shows that your property is not safe in France if anything. Visions of landgrab in Cyprus and Spain, come to mind for many - the fact that mayors can now change the land opposite your house means that a Non Constructible area can become constructible if the mayor really wants it to - and to appease his friends. General consensus from removal firrms is that they are bringing back more than they are taking out at the moment. In all I think the boil has now gone off France - if it really were so good why are so many Brits leaving ?? If only the stupid little mayors would realise that France is now in a very sophisticated technological era where people will not put up with the "pot de terre contre le pot de faire" - as investors, people want to know whether their property is safe, and most importantly, "will it retain its value". Clearly, in that case, the website(s) show that is house has been devalued by £200,000 . I doubt any of us would be happy with this. Edited: I have just checked that site and I see he considers he has lost £650,000 not 200,000 aswell as health problems with pinched nerves caused by lead and acetone poisoning. I have also seen tweets that it is going to court in the South of France on the 28 November with paris lawyers involved, so this should be interesting.
This is very interesting point you make. We have a builder doing some outside plaster work for us starting in late March, I'll have to ask him, but surely, all work would be covered by the devis at that cost.
thanks, Stuart. A year on and everything's fallen into place (well we had to make it happen which wasn't easy!) it's just a bit difficult finding the time to do everything as the tabac is open 80 hours a week :-O
Stuart, we used to be just down the road from you and we found a buyer back in the spring of 2012 after only a few weeks on leboncoin (plus local agents including ifergane in Figeac - they didn't have the time to market fully!), but she didn't get her mortgage offer despite being a well placed fonctionnaire. Back on the market in the autumn and found another buyer and signed the acte authentique in the spring of 2013. So yes things are moving if the price is right. We've bought again near our tabac on the Aveyron/Tarn border - loads of over-priced places on the market when we were looking but those that were correctly priced were selling. The place we bought had only just gone on the market privately (boncoin) and we struck a deal with all the inheriting children whilst sitting round the kitchen table one sunday afternoon...!