Get down to business in France

For many people currently living in the UK France appears to be the obvious choice when thinking of starting up a business.

Be it a restaurant, a bed and breakfast, a hotel or a travel agency, France's proximity and excellent transport links with the UK make it the ideal market to set up shop.

There are however a number of differences between the way businesses work in both countries and it is important to keep these in mind.

Perhaps most important is to do your research on whether your business idea will work and how many similar kinds of firm already exist in France.

This could include looking online or even getting in contact with someone running a business in your chosen sector to find out how they managed.

If there are very few such businesses around it may be because there isn't enough French demand to support your idea but this should not be a problem with B&Bs or Gites.

Gites or holiday homes have proved particularly attractive as a business venture because many of them are exempt from French business law that requires new firms to register with the Chamber of Commerce and pay taxes and social security contributions from the moment they are formed.

Anyone who is planning to start up a business in France which is not exempt would need to have cash set aside from before it even opens to cover these costs.

They will also need to be sure that their business will succeed and start generating revenue fairly quickly as social security contributions can be up to 9,000 euros (£6,000) a year.

France is currently ranked 13th best place in the world for new business start-ups and 44th in terms of overall ease at doing business.

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