Working in Paris

[ASB]

Paris is pleasant in August because the Parisians are all away on holiday.

Quite. Paris would be fine were it not for the bloody Parisians. Still most of them are finely balanced. A chip on both shoulders.

[expat]

Paris is pleasant in August, other than that it ain't great IMO.

Paris is pleasant in August because the Parisians are all away on holiday. That should tell you something.

If you love Paris (as a tourist), ask yourself if it is always wise to marry a mistress.

[ASB]

Thanks all. This is going to be harder than I thought. Can anyone suggest a good accountant? I'm looking at all the posts about expenses etc and a bit over my head to be honest, but sounds like the simplest thing would be to charge a daily rate that would cover my accommodation and flights back to the UK every week and living expenses. Although that would mean I would pay Income tax on that and that hardly seems fair!

Don't know if this helps but what I did was:-

1) Charged my fee.
2) Agreed with client 200 gbp pw flights, 300 gbp accomodation.
3) Kept as many receipts as I could, Train tickets the works.

I itemised 2 on the invoices. I submitted expense claims to myco which mirrored 2 and paid them to me. Our accountants (not unreasonably) had a bit of a head fit.

When investigated I did expect some bother from HMIT about the expenses. They checked some of the cliams, compared them to what receipts were attached etc. Ultimately they charged me a 1000 bik and called it even.

This strategy may not suit those of a cautious disposition.

Paris is pleasant in August, other than that it ain't great IMO.

[rootsnall]

Thanks for the advice TazMan but doesn't really do it for me since I'm female but will keep it in mind. Paris sounds like fun - lots of shopping, and it would be an experience - good or bad - we shall see!

I had a good year in Paris but its 10 years ago now. You need to speak to agents, accountants and ultimately the taxman to suss out the best way of being paid, the IR helplines will probably be a decent source of info. I would think if you aren't outside the UK for a full April to April tax year you'll be UK tax resident and working through a Uk Ltd would be fine and less hastle than other routes. Getting a flat and sorting yourself out initially could be a pain without good French. You'll need to be on decent money to get a centralish flat, the burbs can be grim. There is a decent english expat scene over there if you want a rest from speaking french !

[Goya]

. . . but doesn't really do it for me since I'm female but . . .

You may then be interested in a rumour I heard that all French men stink of garlic & have onions hanging round their necks. Still interested in Paris ???

[Adamski]

Thanks for the advice TazMan but doesn't really do it for me since I'm female but will keep it in mind. Paris sounds like fun - lots of shopping, and it would be an experience - good or bad - we shall see!

[ChimpMaster]

I would hate working in Paris , and they would hate you too. Stay in the UK, or find another country.
From my experience:
Spain was great and had fit women
Switz was OK but a bit boring
Germany was fun - they're actually very nice people
Norway was boring as feck, people were nice tho
Sweden was nice, very organised and friendly too
US (S.Florida) was great - fit women and loads to do

[Adamski]

Thanks all. This is going to be harder than I thought. Can anyone suggest a good accountant? I'm looking at all the posts about expenses etc and a bit over my head to be honest, but sounds like the simplest thing would be to charge a daily rate that would cover my accommodation and flights back to the UK every week and living expenses. Although that would mean I would pay Income tax on that and that hardly seems fair!

[DaveB]

Why whats happening in April under brolly with PAYE?

If your on PAYE with no dividends then you lose the expenses. No travel, no subsistance, no nothing.

If you are using a brolly and getting divdends you lose them as well.

Have a look at this

[matey]

Ditch the brolly and set up a ltd co. Come April you will lose a lot of income running through a brolly.

Why whats happening in April under brolly with PAYE?

[ASB]

Personally I just invoiced a French company from my UK limited and I was still resident in the UK for tax purposes.

I was possibly also resident in France but I ignored that. Doing a weekly commute helps. Essentially you become resident in France for tax purposes after a 3 month period. However there used to be some weird rule that this didn't kick in until you had met the requirements for requiring a carte de sejour. I seem to recall that this couldn't happen until you had been physically in France for a period of 15 consecutive days.

Ultimately you need proper advice related to your circumstances.

[dang65]

From what I've read, the French authorities will consider your company to be based in France if the director of the company (your good self) is working in France. This will make you liable for French corporation taxes which are quite, er, comprehensive.

Working through an umbrella in the UK will mean that your company (the brolly) will clearly still be based in the UK, paying you through the UK PAYE system and you should be able to carry on as a UK employee with no French tax obligations.

I'm not certain of the implications if, say, you were living and working there permanently, but in a short contract position and for simplicity you could find a brolly would be a lot easier in this situation. Trying to run your own UK limited while taking money solely from a French client could get complicated.

Probably best to get some professional advice on this though.

[DaveB]

Ditch the brolly and set up a ltd co. Come April you will lose a lot of income running through a brolly.

If the people paying you are UK and your Co. is UK based then thats where you will be deemed resident for tax etc unless you spend a lot of time out of the country. On a 3 month gig it's nothing to worry about.

[Adamski]

Hi all...I was talking to an agent about a role in the UK. After speaking to his client, he came back to me with a possibility of another role but based in Paris. Both the agent and client are based in the UK (I would be beased at the client's client office). Obviously would love to do it for the experience, both for the role as well as working abroad. Am working through an umbrella at the moment, but does anyone know/can offer advice about what I should consider - ie. tax implications of working in another country. Does it make any difference where I am physically based if the company is a UK one anyway? Thanks