Number 90 - June 20 2004 France Voila our newsletter and weblog from Rentals France and the French Property Digest. You will only receive it if we have been given your email from one of our websites and asked for more information. If you do not wish to get this regular magazine, please unsubscribe by using this link. Unsubscribe In this issue... 1. Another Official Pick-Pocket and your Capital Gains Tax 2. Wellie Throwing, Paella and Jazz in Nizas 3. A "Posh Do" In Pezenas ======= 1. Another Official Pick-Pocket and your Capital Gains Tax At first sight the new laws this year about Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on the sale of your second home in France seemed to be very good news for owners. The tax rate has been reduced from 33% to 16% and the time you have to own the house to get full tax relief is down from 21 years to 15 years. If you are selling a property in France, you are required by law to make a CGT declaration However, there aint no such thing as a lunch you don't pay for- there is no reduction in the CGT allowed during the first 5 years and between 5 years and 15 years there is a progressive reduction in the amount of CGT payable. Some allowances can be set against CGT including improvements and alteration you have made, but the cost of any alterations and building work is policed by an Official Government Representative. Before 2004 the allowances for improvements and building were calculated by the Notaire handling the sale. The Notaire would examine papers and bills and even allow a percentage of these costs for doing the work yourself. All this is gone out of the window. If you sell within 5 years of buying your property, there is no tax relief allowed at all and the only costs which may be allowed will be from a certified French builder with invoices in French. Worse, you are legally obliged to pay for an official agency to inspect you claims. One we have got some mail about is SARF - Societe Accreditee de Representation Fiscale - their website has a little information in English. SARF A reader, who is an accountant by training, recently sold his house in France. SARF have withheld 15% of the difference between the purchase price and sale price of the Dordogne house and are apparently disallowing many, if not all, of the invoices kept. The rule (as from January 1st ) is that any bills not in the French language are unacceptable - his pool was built by a professional English builder. Many other invoices are also being disallowed. SARF fail to reply to any queries, either written or by telephone, and in addition have so far 'pocketed' 6000 euro in fees for their "help". On their website SARF say "You have nothing to fear so call upon SARF. You have everything to gain." Sounds to me like the only people gaining are SARF and the French Government (why am I not surprised?) Worse, according to SARF's website, it seems that from 5 to 15 years the only allowances for building work will be a fixed 15% value of the original purchase price. We have made some calculators, to help you determine the CGT payable, on our site at... CGT Under 5 Years and CGT Over 5 Years ======= 2. Wellie Throwing, Paella and Jazz in Nizas The end of the school year means a two day party for the village, first the school "Spectacle" (School Play) and then a "Kermesse" (Village Fete). Our village school has grown from 22 pupils to over 70 in the 10 years we have lived i nNizas (I bought a bicycle). There are classes for children from 2 to 11 years old and 8 staff work from 8 am to 6 pm six days a week to keep the little treasures under control. The long week means a long summer holiday of 10 weeks (it is too hot to be in school anyway) so the end of term was this week and the stage was put up in the center of the village and festivities commenced. I will not write more about the play - I am biased (Jack was in it) if you really want to see the action photos are at ... Spectacle Do not give a microphone to a Frenchman (or women or a child). At the end of the stage show- a thank you was made by everyone to everyone about everyone - this took almost as long as the show - we were all waiting to go to the park to have our paella under the stars. At last the final tearful farewell was made and we left for our aperitif and piles of wonderful food and drink. The next afternoon was the fete for the school, this year it was suggested that parents of each nationality dressed up in national costume and had a side-show typical of their country. The Dutch, German and British teams took up the challenge and the photos can be seen at... School Fete Lacking a clear idea of a British National Costume - we decided to wear English school uniform - the story about my trying to by adult gym-slips for men last time I was in England is currently under review from the public prosecutor so I dare not reveal it. However we managed and there are some photos of us on the page. Seeing Carole in school uniform made me instinctively look for some bicycle sheds to take her behind, but none were found so the national British Sport of "Wellie Wanging" was demonstrated to a very puzzled audience who thought it would be easy - little do they know about what I explained as a Martial Art known only to few English experts. Tonight we have Jazz and Soul music round the fountain. ======= 3. A "Posh Do" in Pezenas Tea and sticky-buns with the Vicar? This was not! A new "de-luxe" guest house has just opened for business in Pezenas - look at their website... Hotel de Vignaimont The fact we were plied with excellent food and Champagne has nothing to do with my recommendation of this very special place to stay in the Heart of the Herault. The attention to detail, the food, the comfort and the welcome from Tracy and Rob McVeigh make this my first five star recommendation in Languedoc. ======= Our services are on our websites... RentalsFrance.com FrenchPropertyDigest.com We try to talk about important issues for renters and owners of property in France, whether you come for a day - or much longer. The aim is not to "paint over the cracks", but to improve the quality of the French experien