Hi Celia,
I would advise you to go the "Portage Salarial" route but no just any portage. PLS call "AKUIT" http://www.akuit.com/ (Gaelle Muller-English speaking General Manager) on my behalf They are one of the very few catered to the English speaking/International labor force in France so understand your specific requirements (tax deductions, etc...). Besides, you will find their fees to be quite competitive.
Best of luck. ChrisJ
The agency I was going to work for was 100% French, Celia. The portage employer isn't mentioned on business cards etc. It's just a convenient way of getting round the system!
Thanks Mike, I'd very much appreciate it! If you need any voice over modules let me know!
Thank Doug and Andrew. I'm not sure if the company I'm contracted to will agree to work with a portage system. My contract specifies that I become an agent commercial registered with RSAC. I guess I could ask them, but they've been pretty patient waiting for me to get started and I don't want to upset them! They're French, by the way.
How does it work re business cards etc? Does the portage 'employer' insist you use theirs, or are they less intrusive? I note that one I looked at, http://missions-portage.fr/index.php, list many well-known companies as their clients although I'm not sure that these are salaried through them.
Just to add to Doug's very comprehensive replies, I looked at going back into agency work with an agency here in France and the portage system was the best by far for the reasons outlined by Doug. Some had been set up specifically aimed at agents.
Have paying clients here doing training at the moment and so very busy but will post the info over the weekend.
Regards, Mike L
Celia
I just found this on Wiki that answers your question about RSAC - seems that if you have the right portage company then you can work as a commerciale - :
Des professionnels, primitivement des cadres consultants et de plus en plus souvent des prestataires de services sont embauchés pour réaliser des missions[réf. nécessaire]. Les entreprises de portage salarial inscrites au R.S.A.C. peuvent porter des commerciaux. En accord avec l'entreprise de portage salarial, ils négocient les conditions de leurs missions.
Hi Celia
My carte is provided by the Portage company, since they are effectively the employer - they are the ones who make the ss payments and cotisations and they are the ones who issue the bulletin de paie. It may be different for other trades or businesses though - I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one and am certainly no expert on the subject, just a user.
I would suggest that you contact a Portage company and see if you fit their criteria - some are trade specific such as the one I work through, FCI Immo, but others are broader in their scope.
What I didn't mention in my previous comment and should have, is that the Portage system also allows you to claim expenses back - in my case up to 10% of brut salary. The company I'm with pay this to me directly without it going through my pay statement (not quite sure how this equates to UK having never been self-employed there) I'm able to claim travel, office equipment, 'phone and some client-related expenses such as lunch etc.
Good luck and I hope you find the right solution for your situation - I know it's a real mine-field ! I had an AE running as well until recently.
Thanks Doug, I've been looking into this and find it very interesting, but I don't think the company I'm contracted with will accept it. They require that I register as Agent Commercial affiliated to RSAC so that they can get me my green card, or whatever colour it is.
Do you know if I can go the portage route and still register with RSAC? How does it work?
If you're looking at Agence Commercial as an option you could perhaps also consider the Portage Salarial system - set up to enable "consultants" to work a series of short CDD contracts with one or more clients, it take all the stress out of making SS payments and paying all the other cotisations which are a necessary evil. It would depend upon how you work and how many clients you work with as to whether or not it's a valid option for you, since they have to sign a three-way agreement with you and the Portage company, who in essence manage your payment of all contributions, take a handling fee and pay you net of all deductions. The client pays the Portage company, they do their thing, and pay you at the end of the contract and send you a Bulletin de Paie - Simples!
I have been working this way as an estate agent for over five years and find it works very well for me - the big plus is that you only pay cotisations when you earn and you don't have to worry about making up-front payments to URSSAF. It's very flexible and if you don't work for a while you have nothing to pay.
I hope this helps - will be pleased to discuss my experience of this system with others curious about it - beware that even the Pole Emploi often haven't heard of this system so you do have to dig around on the 'net to find out how it works.
Mike, thanks for your input. Please could you tell me how to register a second activity? I've been wrestling with this for nearly 2 months and have been forced to come to the conclusion that it isn't possible! I first registered last year, and would like to add agent commercial (AE) rather than dump my voice over registration.
Grateful for any help you can offer!
You can register for more than one activity under the AE Scheme and the additional activities can be added after you first register. I had a chap here last week who had 6 different activities (non related in any way) on his certificate that is issued after you register. I am registered for 2 different activities (Training people and llama trekking). So it can be done.
Regards, Mike L
Thanks Tracy, I'll send it off and keep fingers crossed!
My reading of the form is that these are options but you don't necessarily have to fill them in unless they apply to you.
Subsequent to this, I'm filling out my form CERFA DÉCLARATION DE DÉBUT D’ACTIVITÉ AGENT COMMERCIAL
and I'm stuck on one bit, can anyone help? I've chosen the Micro Fiscal Simplifié option in section 12, but section 13 asks for other things I wouldn't have thought applied, but it specifies at the top of the form that this must be filled in. Screen shot attached (I hope).
This section doesn't seem to go with an AE application!
Celia butting in but will you be better off in Uk?
And could I ask why....YOU love it here.
Brian there are things you could do .....surely...
Many of us who are not in perfect health find a little corner
of life which we did not know existed.
Maybe you should call a truse on the 12TH????
My command of English and my store of info is fragile and vague
but my ideas are possibly endless.
I have fantastic health cover, so my choices would be NHS (groan) or the Swiss private (need insurance and to be in the system, 'pre-existing' conditions are excluded). I can make my way round the system here a bit but worry about the people with little French or support.
Awful situation Brian. I've even been considering a return to the UK which is really not something we want to do. I love it here, just don't love the system any more than the locals do.
Madness embodied. I am an AE but because of health issues do little work. They do not want us to stay AE but where does somebody in my situation go? I now have my 100% health cover from RSI and can get bits and pieces of 'help' but not with the AE scheme from which I cannot afford to escape because I cannot afford the upfront payments which are highly likely (certain) to exceed my income. I have been to URSSAF to talk about it and they were totally honest - they have no answer because they simply do not know. There are apparently neither regulations nor guidelines that cover people like me. Much the same for you not being able to generate income to justify the amount of upfront but without the health issue to 'justify' the fact you are not earning what they imagine you should be earning. Daft is putting it mildly.
yes, it's a very daft system, or very daft and extremely complicated multitude of systems...!