I’m not an expert on French business structures and setup but I have been through the process of starting and running a SARL for the last 16 months and thought a few comments might be useful to someone.
Bear on mind that you will always need legal advice before choosing a business structure in France, these [...]

There is an advert running on French televison at the moment that amazes me every time I see it.
One of the leading opticians in France, Afflelou, has a scheme called ‘NextYear’ in which you can order a pair of glasses now and pay for them next year. Not very exciting and nothing out of the [...]

Good news for the Greens this week – starting next year France are introducing a Carbon Tax of 17 euros for each tonne of carbon dioxide that gets emitted into the atmosphere.
Well, good news if it has any impact on our behaviour, sorts out the planet, and gives our grandchildren something like a breathable atmosphere [...]

Back in April I posted about a problem with house insurance – or rather the startling finding that our (and probably many others) gites were not properly insured. You can read about that at ‘oops I forget to insure my property‘ (as it should have been called).
Now a new and equally startling insurance quirk has [...]

Thought I’d offer some slightly more constructive advice than usual today, for anyone looking to make money from home with their favourite hobby or interest. And it’s not me offering to pay so you don’t need to worry about bouncing cheques.
There are now apparently well over 150 million websites on the internet, the vast majority [...]

After four days huddled in the dark I have finally emerged from the gloom – only to find it’s pretty gloomy outside as well, so I guess I didn’t miss much. I’ve been working on our company accounts.
Sensible people running a company would keep on-going accounts and records, so that when the accountant calls to [...]

One of the big successes in France this year is the new ‘auto-entrepreneur’ system for starting a small business, with an estimated 120,000 businesses already registered under the scheme. This post is to outline the advantages and possibilities – we don’t actually have an auto-entrepreneur business ourselves so please take this as a casual guide [...]

I hear a lot of questions about how well holidays in France are booking this year, and I know that while some rental properties are as booked as usual, others have significantly less bookings than they would expect for the time of year. So the big question is, will the whole of France this summer resemble an abandoned holiday [...]

This thrilling instalment will bring you tales of lies, deception and daylight robbery. It will also have to touch on the subjects of accountants and banking, for which many apologies. These are all subjects best avoided – but stick with it because it might also save you a great deal of money. I came across [...]

A blog about taxes, that should go down well, I thought, and attract a lot of fascinated readers. Let’s have a go at France’s infamous Taxe Professionnelle. Note that this tax is widely disliked by all involved, including all French businesses and, it seems, M Sarkozy – it’s not just me being grumpy.
I’ve talked before [...]

The internet is littered with guides and information for ‘home business ideas’,  ‘work at home mums’, and ‘making millions of pounds on the internet’. The general principle is that starting with little except a bright idea and a little enthusiasm you can become very rich with very little effort.
Most share the common features that:
(a) they [...]

I think most people would agree that pensions are pretty important, and anyone able to should contribute to a pension scheme of some sort – government, private, whatever seems most appropriate and sensible.
So I was perfectly happy to see that part of my obligatory social contributions goes to something called ‘retraite complementaire’. No problem at [...]

We went to see the company accountant yesterday – always a pleasure as you can well imagine. In fact they are very pleasant, but it’s still not really a highlight of the month.
A typical meeting with the accountant involves us asking over and over if there are any expenses we have overlooked, in a sad [...]

Amazing for October, but its been so warm and sunny I’ve been out cycling every day. Partly for the exercise and the chance to enjoy the autumnal countryside, and partly because it is a diversion from opening the bills and demands for information that arrive in equal measure from the accountant and from URSSAF, who [...]

A very useful book if you are running a business in France is called L’Encyclopedie Pratique du Gerant de Sarl. Sounds gripping, don’t you think?
Among other things it talks about the legal requirements of operating a company, the paperwork that needs to be kept for 10 years and so on. It also talks about the [...]