Can anybody advise me as to how I get to open a french bank account?
Is it the same procedure as at home.Its basically for clients to pay us in euro's when they hire our mobile home,we are getting more and more european clients this year than previously.
Many Thanks
Mandy
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Mandy, if you open a bank account here in France for the express purpose of taking and banking earnings from your rental, you'll also have to declare that income to the Impots. It's money earned here in France, therefore tax will have to be paid on it. It's trop compliqué, and my advice to you would be to remain as you are, asking your EU clientele to pay by SWIFT/IBAN - it's well known here in the EU as a method of payment.
Would definitely agree with Floydfan. We have an apartment in Switzerland which we rent out but even though we have a Swiss bank account for paying bills we find it easier to get clients, regardless of which currency they use, to pay straight into our bank account in the UK using our IBAN. Beware of bank transfer charges though, make sure the client is aware that they are liable for them or you may end up out of pocket. We also had an incident where a client from Dubai paid by bank transfer and an extra amount was deducted by an intermediary bank, so be prepared.
Susie
------------- Live every day as if it's your last - don't waste it
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You've had some good advice here. I just wanted to add that Barclays does a Euro account for UK residents. It's a bit pricy for just a holiday, but might be ok if you wanted to keep your € as € for spending over there, and not swap back and forth.
Actually, even if you are UK-resident, I think if you are renting out a property of any kind that is located in France, even just to UK customers, you are liable to pay French tax on the income.
I used to rent out a cottage in France, always to fellow-Brits, and one day I read an article in something like Brittany Ferries newsletter about this, telling you how to go about. it.
I am going back a bit here (I stopped renting in 2001), and my info may no longer be completely up to date, but you had to complete a French tax form each year on which you enter the euro equivalent of the total sterling fees you charged. The French authorities calculated your tax by dividing the income in half; ignoring one half and then taxing you one-third of the remainder. That seems fairly fair.
Then when you complete your UK tax declaration, you state what tax you have paid in France, and because of the "double-taxation agreement" between the two countries you are not taxed twice.
I also discovered from my local Mairie that I was due to pay them "taxe de sejour" for every adult and child that was in the rented property during July and August. It was a few pence a day, so I just stumped it up myself, but I suppose you could add that on to the rental charges. I used to keep a chart of how many adults and children were there for what nights in this period, add it up and pay the Mairie once a year.
If you want to keep you nose clean and conscience clear, this is the way to go.
It's so long since I opened a French bank account that I cannot tell you today's requirements, but I bet you have to show ID, proof of residence (France and UK), birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce certificate (if relevant!) and maybe details of your current bank balances in the UK. But I am guessing. Beware, that in France you are NOT allowed to overdraw on your account (penalty is 10-year suspension from having a bank account!). So always be aware how much is in it, and top it up regularly.
If you accept cheques in euros and pay them into your *UK* bank account, which I have to for work, I find that my UK bank charges £8 per transaction; this can cover several cheques paid in together, so it's worth hanging onto two or three to economise on charges.
Angela
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Angela, I'm afraid times have indeed changed, and the tax systems for 'loueurs en meublé' have been 'redefined' as it were. It has become over-complicated (as is the French way), and it's because I'm unsure as to whether this would apply to Mandy's rental, that I've erred on the side of caution by giving the advice above.
The arguments are still raging as to what régime fiscal is applied, in which cases, and I doubt it'll be solved in the near future!
If Mandy resides in the UK, and pays her tax on the rental in the UK (as I'm sure she does), then all she needs do is fill in the French tax form as such. This is always presuming that she receives a French tax form each year. Also, taxe de sejour isn't always payable. I believe it's down to the individual communes, so many communes don't collect it. Ours being one of them as far as I know. Our Maire hasn't mentioned this to me at all, and he's been here enough times! The only thing he's charged us for is for our waste collection when he saw how much we generate in high season!
Ah, Stu, that seems more reasonable. And good advice, as ever.
It had got awfully complicated when I was involved in the French system, during the 1990s, because they started estimating your earnings based on previous years, and asking for instalments of next year's tax before you had done the return for the current year. I got fearfully confused. Even after I had stopped renting property, I had to fend off French tax demands for several years!
I think the obligation to pay taxe de sejour depends on how "touristique" an area you are located in. My place was 25km from the coast, so maybe that is why I had to pay it.
Oh my god,I really hadnt realised half of this stuff your all on about.I think my best bet would be to continue doing things the way we have for 16 years,its worked .
The only thing was that this year we have had a lot of french/dutch enquiries about the new mobile and thought it may be easier to have them pay into a euro account.
You could do as we do for our business and accept credit and debit cards. We use Streamline, which if you go for a low user tarif, will charge a small amount for terminal rental and a small percentage for the pleasure of taking payments. I'm sure you can use an online payment service (paypal maybe) for taking card payments , but I've not looked into this.
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Topic: Opening a french bank account
