Hi John Sculley.
Your statement about a business being a separate entity is the same as my understanding. So. You can generate your income or incomes anywhere in the world outside of France: and. If you pay personal tax on that income to the authorities in the country where the business is operating, you do not have to declare any personal income here in France.
However.
If you have a business in another country that then directly transfers un-taxed income to you here in France, then that income has to be declared and you will pay tax on it just as if it were earned from a French registered business.
It's also my understanding that you can operate and control a business in another country without having to register for a siret here if you are not selling product here.
It is complicated but this is what we get for living in a global economy. Multi-national businesses coping with what is right and wrong when selling into countries when they have no base of operations there.
Apple is a prime example.
iTunes is not registered to a business here in France and so all income and profits go to.....
No, I don't think so Helen. A business is a separate entity to oneself so you can have a company anywhere in the world. For example I have a Limited company in Ireland, that company has to make returns every year to the Irish authorities. I live in France and pay my taxes here so I make my personal returns in May and any money that my Irish company has paid me is included in my French tax returns. The two things are completely separate.
Thanks Helen :) very useful. Will have a look at the FB group too.
yep Chris it's pretty much that - you can first go to a free half day basic reunion d'info which is very general (and confusing as it covers all 3 types of AE, microentrepeneurs), the chambre des metiers or the cci for your departement will be able to tell you when the next formation/course is, and will tell you about the paperwork etc. Only thing to note is that jewellery is pretty regulated in France, but if yours is in polymer clay it should be fine
Also if you have facebook you may find the group Ladies In Business In France useful - they're a mine of info and we're all from different business regimes and backgrounds - you can find me there under my maiden name of Raynsford
I have had a buzz registered in France for few years but moved all my activities back (to Germany, so €uro). Have had many reasons and based on lessons learned I recommend you to move your buzz only if really needed.
Most importantly: You need to evaluate the mood on the potential outcome of the referendum in 2017 in UK is staying in the EU or not. When it comes to "vox populi" it looks UK is leaving, but then England was always the country of "supra-natural-spirital life", e.g. the SNP got 56n seat with one million votes while this individual of the UKIP, who is getting paid by the EC went to Brussels to get the UK out of his paymaster archived only one seat with four million voters.
Where your website is is largely an irrelevance, where you pay taxes is not. However you can live here and prove you pay taxes in another 'recognised' country then you would not have double taxation applied. However IF you make money from sales in France then this will be taxable IN France as it will be deemed, quite rightly to be derived from the French economy. This is one area of the French Tax Return that is quite clear. Of course evidence of payments to any other tax regime must be provided.
I will definitely NOT keep my bank account in the UK in the long run as we are not moving back.
That might be a decision you later regret. Others have said that there is sense in maintaining a UK private (not necessarily business) Bank account (we have) for all sorts of reasons. The only thing you have to be mindful of is the requirement to disclose the details of the account to the Impôts when you submit your tax returns (there is a substantial penalty for not doing so - anti money laundering et al). If you later find that you need to have a UK bank account, you will have the devil's own job setting one up from France.
I also can't see any reason why you need to abandon your UK website; it's not illegal to trade with it in France AFAIK just that you absolutley MUST declare all your worldwide income.
Thanks Helen, that last one is the case. I make jewellery and home decor items with polymer clay. I also teach the techniques but that will have to wait until we are settled.
Do you know what this course entails? I take it's the equivalent of business start-up courses in the UK where you learn mostly about the required paperwork?
Thank you
once you are here registering as an AE (now called micro entrepeneur) is pretty straight forward and quick - I sent of my application to become a commercant (selling at home and as an ecommerce) last week - the cci phoned me today to check up on a couple of details and she is already setting up my status and sending me the list of extra docs to send .in (but I am officially today an AE)
Note though if you are MAKING yourself the items you will be classed as an artisan and have to pay for and do a week course before your application is approved
Helen, no problem with registering in France... only trying to get my head around the practicalities. I do not want to end up in France having temporarily closed the online shop while moving, only to find that it will take me months before I am allowed to sell when being in France.
Hence my question.. maybe a confusing one, so apologies for that.
ahem... thank you Helen and Joseph. I was certainly planning on registering in France as I do need a Carte Vitale and still work for another 10 years at least. I was only asking if anyone had any experience and maybe I should have phrased it better.
I would like to know from someone in a similar situation, what they have done:
Did they keep their website up and running until they were registered in France? When is the best time to switch over for tax purposes? etc. I will definitely NOT keep my bank account in the UK in the long run as we are not moving back. I am only interested in the intermediate period between leaving the UK and being fully up and running in France.
I hope this is a better explanation?
Thank you for taking the time to read and trying to help though.
I agree if you are in France for more than six months then by French law you have to fill out tax returns every may , just done mine, if your reaping the benefits of living here pay for it , too many Brits are scamming it and giving the ones who are serious about making a fresh start here a bad name with the French people, please stay in the UK if you don’t want to pay your taxes here
sorry to disagree but living permenatly in France means you need to register your business in France
Hello, I'm following this post :) I have 2 Etsy shops and wonder how this work in France. I also get paid via paypal.
Hi.
A friend of mine runs his UK business from his permanent residence here in France. He gets paid in the Uk in £'s and then when he needs money here, he transfers funds to his French bank account. He's not selling or has any customers, French or English, in France and so it's my understanding he doesn't need to register the business here.