Many of our buyers move to France but they still need to earn an income. Unemployment is very high in France so many consider setting up a business in France. Setting up your business in your own country is difficult enough – but becomes more difficult in a foreign country. France has changed some business laws in 2012, so here is a post about the changes …

A few changes were voted in the Loi de Finance rectificative and will have a direct impact on your French business in 2012. Here is a summary of the key changes including: new turnover threshold for micro entreprise, minimum wage increased, new rules for sub-contractors and simplified public tenders.

1. New turnover threshold for micro entreprise

The maximum turnover threshold for micro entreprise (BIC, BNC, entreprise individuelle micro)  and for businesses not liable to VAT, may be slightly increased. This change still has to be voted as part of the 2012 plan de finance. Once voted, the new turnover threshold would be

• 83 200€ for trade (also called Micro-BIC Benefices Industriels et Commeriaux), against 81 500€ en 2011.
• 33 300€ for our services (also called Micro-Benefices Non Commerciaux BNC), against 32 600€ in 2011.

For now this changed would not be applied to auto-entrepreneurs, since their tunover threshold was frozen for 2012 and 2013.

2. Minimum wages SMIC increased on 1st January 2012

The minimum hourly wage, SMIC, has been increased twice on 1st December 2011 and again on 1st January 2012, increasing from 9€ per hour gross to 9.19€ in December and to 9.22€ on 1st January. The minimum monthly rate has increased to 1.398,37€ gross per month (against 1.365 euros on 1st January 2011).

3. Sub-contractors will have to provide certificates

From 1st January 2012, code du travail requires companies subcontracting work to ensure that their subcontractors are up to date with their social charges payment. This decree voted on 1st November 2011 states that subcontractor will have to provide a certificate dating less than 6 months. This certificate will be issued by URSSAF. More information on cotisations des sous-traitants (in French).

4. Simplified public tenders: marchés publics

From 1 January 2012, for all public tenders in excess of 90,000€, the public purchaser will have to accept applications and offers transmitted electronically. Until now only paper applications were accepted. The threshold for which not public tenders are required has also been incresed from 4000€ to 15000€. This wil save time to many small businesses having to complete complicated tenders for small jobs.

5. 14 days retraction delay for e-commerce

Online customers will now have 14 days retraction delay to cancel their order against 7 days in 2011. This  new rule is the direct implementation of a European decree voted in June 2011. The customer has up to 14 days, upon receipt of the parcel, to cancel the order. The customer then has another 14 days to send the parcel back. The seller has 14 days to refund his customer from the moment he is informed of the cancellation. Alternatively the seller can delay the refund until he has a proof that the parcel is being sent back. Read more on the implementation of art 10 Directive Europeenne ecommerce .

6. Reduced VAT rate of 5.5% increased to 7%

Until 1st January 2012, renovation work within the buidling trade, restaurants and fast food outlets were benefiting from a lower VAT rate of 5.5%. This VAT rate has been increased to 7% in 2012.

Kindly published from Start Business in France

We are pleased to work with our currency partner: Worldwide Currencies. They continue to go from strength to strength. Worldwide Currencies (WWC) is pleased to announce that, having worked successfully under the rules and regulations of the FSA for the past year, they are now fully authorised under the Payment Services Regulations 2009 as an Authorised Payment Institution (525361) for the provision of payment services.

David Tucker, CEO of WWC, stated that “Authorisation with the FSA is a significant step for our business, as it is imperative that companies such as ours are properly regulated and that our working practices are controlled and monitored”. Commenting on the sector as a whole, David went onto say “There have been examples of poor working practices in our industry that hopefully this
requirement by the FSA to be authorised by the end of April, at the very latest, will address. It is important to protect not only the client’s interests but also the more professional companies operating in this sector, like WWC”.

WWC has had a very profitable 2010 as it continues to build upon its success in foreign exchange and continues to grow the company. The annual turnover of the company has almost trebled over the past two years, as has the gross profit. With
costs tightly under control now, they have employed an additional 10 people over the past two months and are planning further growth in the second half of the year, once they have moved into their new and larger office in the City next month. “It is
essential that you continually review your services and listen to your clients needs.

We have found that the major banks are charging more for foreign exchange and not providing a service to clients, which is great for a company like ours” David Tucker added “to this end we continue to improve our processes and intend to launch a number of innovative products later in the year”. WWC believe that having the right team of people providing the best possible level of service is key to achieving their objective of becoming the pre eminent company in this sector.

For more information on Worldwide Currencies please contact either Tonya or Arran Duke on 020 3326 4444.

Some of our best partners and resources:

Gascons love its “sweetness of life”: its food (such as foie gras and Armagnac brandy), its medieval towns and villages locally called bastides nested amidst green rolling hills, its sunny weather, the beauty of its landscape, with the occasional distant views of the Pyrenees mountain range, all contribute to the popularity of Gascony as a tourist destination

Gascony Property & Lifestyle – choose a Gascon lifestyle, and sample the beautiful properties in this area.

Pure France - The specialist for quality holiday rental homes, villas and chateaux in France.

Directories

Residential Property Directory – UK residential property directory listing top residential lettings agencies.

Free UK Web Directory & Website Links

Europe Real Estate Directory – Real Estate directory across Europe. Get information about European real estate properties, commercial real estate, agents & brokers, relocation services, vacation rental and more.

EuropeRealEstateMarket.com – Share your Europe real estate experiences & knowledge about real estate agent & broker, mortgage, luxury homes, property investment, apartment & rentals, for sale by owner.

International Real Estate – including French Properties.

Residential Property Directory – UK residential property directory listing top residential lettings agencies.

Guides

Each region of France Guide gives you more information on the following topics….

• Regional Tourism
• Video Guide
• Accommodation / Travel
• Books on the Region
• Maps on the Region
• Regional Weather
• What’s On in the region
• Properties and price in this region

We hope these regional guides will aid purchasing a property in France.

French Language: Improve your French pronunciation using these lessons and other resources.

Looking Abroad?
Cheap flights -Joy Travels,an India based travels agent and tours operator,offers exciting holiday packages which suits the budget traveller as well as the most luxurious holiday seekers!

Timeshares
Buy timeshare – Buy a timeshare directly from the owner and save a lot of money! Timeshare sales, timeshare rentals and timeshare resales are our specialty.

France does have an equivalent to the UK’s business rate called: taxe professionnelle.

Rather like the UK, taxe professionnelle is calculated according to a national formula, but the calculation includes local factors. The formula includes region, department and commune factors so there is significant variation across France as each region, department and commune will add elements to the grand total. In general, more desirable areas have higher “business rates”.

The taxe professionnelle calculations are extremely complicated and there are many examptions. Certain trades have different rates – for example, accountants, architects, artists are taxed at 6% of gross earnings. There are total exemptions for farmers and tradesmen. There are also reductions and exemptions for companies located in development areas.

There are caps and rebates too! So you need an accountant to investigate!

The tax is payable at the end of each year in December and can also be paid in two instalments or you can elect to pay monthly. However, a new business gets 100% relief in the first year and 50% in the second year.

For more advice speak to your Centre d’impôts to establish the likely level of the tax for your business.

More Info:
Businesses in France
French Businesses
Gites

As twitter becomes a mainstream marketing tool, we have added a twitter page for our latest properties.

Our twitter page is:
http://twitter.com/1st4FrenchProp

You can get these “tweets” sent by SMS to your phone!

One of the ways you can use our “tweets” is to sign up with Twitter (free!!) and choose to follow us. Your twitter home page will then receive each of our new property listings (each property listing is a “tweet” and our twitter page is updated every 30 mins with new “tweets”).

If you want to find out more about the Twitter phenomenon:
Twitter.com
Twitter Intro Video
Twitter Tips

We have just started a new section on 1st for French Property: French Businesses for Sale

We often get asked – “how can we move to France but also earn an income?” “We love France but we cannot afford to retire yet – have you any suggestions?”

So in the new Business section we have commercial business such as bars and hotels.

We also have Gites / B&Bs that up & running plus properties that have the potential to be converted. There has been a growing demand this year for Land – so that properties can be built and sold for good profits.

Finally, a big favourite – Lakes! We are suprised by the number of enquiries we get for setting up fishing businesses.

Fancy moving to France but need income? Buy a business! Currently we have over 600 business opportunities on the website.