I've been living in the Pyrénées Orientales region of France and running my own business for over 10 years now. Initially it was as an employee of my own English limited company - registered as an "entreprise étrangère non établie en France" (a foreign business not established in France) and subsequently with a secondary activity as an auto-entrepreneur in France. At the end of 2017, I took the plunge, moved my UK clients across and changed from the micro-entreprise system of quarterly returns and social security deductions based on turnover to the "régime de la déclaration controlée" where I pay social security based on my actual profit the year before. However I still get to grapple with the micro-entreprise system as my other half is registered with the Chambre de Métiers as a handyman and I do his paperwork.

It occured to me that my struggles with French bureaucracy might be of help to others, so I've decided to start this blog - it will be a mixture of "how to" articles as I go about the business of doing my books, filing returns, paying contributions, tax etc., and anecdotes on the travails of running a business in France. I hope you find it useful. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any comments or questions.

Adding a business activity

I have spent years grappling with the finer details of French business administration and the intricacies of French bureaucracy in everyday life. I have also filled in forms, made phone calls and accompanied lingustically challenged friends to meetings for all sorts of different reasons from doctors' appointments to carte de séjour applications and have accumulated a lot of experience.

Recently it occured to me that I might as well put this to good use and do it professionally. Around the same time, somebody I know who is being posted abroad for a couple of years, asked if I would look after her house while she was gone, check for leaks, forward post and organise any work that might need doing etc., so I decided to add that as well. This is an explanation of what I had to do to add those activities.

Year end paperwork for a Profession Libérale

Here's an explaination of what you need to do as a Profession Libérale to complete all of the required paperwork. This is a little late to help those who had to fill in the forms this year, but may be of some use for you next.

Claiming VAT from the UK Part 2

Or Why I am ruing the day I started this

So, following my claim for the VAT that I had spent in the UK while on business, I got an email from HMRC with various questions as to what I was doing in the UK and whether the clients I have were VAT-registered. I was completely up-front and disclosed that while the vast majority of my clients are VAT-registered allowing me to use the reverse charge mechanism, I had one job last year where the client is non-VAT registered and am in the middle of a second now.

Claiming VAT from the UK Part 3

I finally got my refund

But had to jump through several more hoops before they gave it to me.

Invoicing Foreign Clients

There are two parts to invoicing foreign clients. The first is the invoice itself. The second, if you are VAT registered is the treatment of VAT on the invoice.

Claiming VAT from the UK

And why I wish I hadn't bothered

As I said in my previous post, one of the main reasons that I bothered to register for TVA in France is to be able to claim back the VAT that I pay in the UK when over there on business trips. I've just completed the form to reclaim the VAT for 2018 and my god the paperwork involved is unbelievable!

How long to keep business paperwork

We all end up with piles of paperwork but do you know when you can legally get rid of it, and whether it is wise to hold on to it for longer? The timeframes below are the minimum given legal requirements and considerations, but you may want to keep it longer, or digitise it and store it indefinitely just in case!

Where to find your Attestation Fiscale

I've seen quite a lot of people running micro-entreprises asking in various chat rooms where they can find the Attestation Fiscale that gives them the figure for their tax return. The RSI used to send this to you as a paper form but stopped in 2017 and like a lot of French paperwork, it isn't obvious where you have to look to find it, so I've put together a step by step guide.

From micro-entreprise to the régime de la déclaration controlée

In early 2018, I changed from the micro-entreprise system of charges paid quarterly based on actual turnover to paying on account based on my previous year's profits despite not having gone over the limits for turnover as a micro-entreprise. Here's what I had to do and why I did it.

Learning to do the books the French way

As you might expect bookkeeping in France and the UK follows the same principles but the French tax authorities have different rules on what you can and can't deduct as expenses. This post is about my experiences getting to grips with the French system.