After twelve months hard work, the cottage has been transformed from dilapidated old barn with mud floors to a finished house. See the results here. Brittany Holiday Cottage

I’ve blogged in the past about Auto Entrepreneur as a great way to start a new small business in France, you only pay tax on your receipts, without any fixed costs like some regimes.

I recently received an unexpected tax demand for Tax Professionelle (or rather Cotosation Fonciere Des Entreprises – CFE).  I knew when starting the programming business that I was exempt from tax professionelle for the two years following the year of creation (2009 in my case).  After a quick visit to the tax office this morning to question the bill, it turns out that it was sent in error, and has been cancelled for this year (2011).

I will need to pay from next year – but the bit that surprised me was that the bill is NOT based on your revenue.  It is based on the number of employees, your company assets and the location of the business. The lady in the tax office confirmed that if your sales are very low, then it is entirely possible to be out of pocket at the end of the year.

Not much of an incentive to become an entrepreneur !

A word of warning to anyone running an Auto Entrepreneur who receives a Tax Proffesionelle (aka CFE) bill, check the date you started your business and if you have very low revenues, then it might not be worth it.

NOTE – I am not a lawyer or tax professional, so this does not constitute advice and you should seek professional advice.

Good luck.

With the kids back to school tomorrow and the clocks having gone back I thought it was time to take some advice from Gardeners World and put the Geraniums (I think they are Pelargonium’s actually) to bed for the winter.

I’m not really a gardener, so no greenhouse, but I do have a garage with a window. The advice seems to be to put the plants inside and water very occasionally. The last bit is easy, finding space in the garage was not so easy.

After 9 months building work, the garage was a complete mess. Everything was scattered everywhere, with tools all over, muck, half bags of cement, paint pots, wood off cuts, rolls of insulation. You name it, it had just been chucked in the garage, and I could hardly get in the door.

Making the space took all day, and a couple of trips to the Dechetterie (rubbish dump), to clear out and organise. At least I can lay my hands on my tools without climbing over compressors and insulation.

Let’s hope the plants make it over winter to adorn the gite next spring.