Practical

IF YOU declare income in France and have not yet received your avis d’impôt income tax statement, this is normal – they will be arriving soon, at different dates depending on your situation.

If president Macron goes ahead with his campaign promise to end the taxe d’habitation to boost household spending power then 16.6million families could be better off by between €126 and €714 with an average of €325.

Micro-entrepreneurs (the name for auto-entrepreneurs) have won a victory over the tax office as the government has back-tracked on plans to force them to use business software to stop VAT frauds – because they do not charge VAT.

I read in Connexion that there was to be a big change coming in the way that tax is collected in France with income tax coming out of our pay packet instead of by self-declaration. Now that there is a new president, is that still going to happen and what are the deadlines?

We put questions from readers to the office of Thomas Fatome, director of social security. Several relate to Puma, which replaced CMU de base for people such as early-retirees who have not worked in France.

Organic products have never been so popular, with latest 2016 figures showing more shoppers going “bio”, the opening of new specialists all over France, a rise in the range and amount of organic products in supermarkets and the number of farms converting from conventional methods.

If you have long hair and want to get it cut short you could donate your locks to an association which helps cancer sufferers on low incomes buy attractive, comfortable wigs after chemotherapy.

People with Linky or Gazpar ‘smart’ meters for electricity or gas can now sign-in online to dedicated sites to get details of usage, set usage alerts or check their usage matches their tariff.

Changes in feed-in tariffs for power from solar photovoltaic panels could give the industry a shot in the arm as they end problems over built-in and self-use systems.

The Opération Tranquillité Vacances service from the French police or gendarmerie has swung back into action, and you can easily make use of it if you’re going on holiday over the summer.

When you have a difficult site to work with – perhaps it is hemmed in by other buildings, on a restricted piece of land or in the teeth of the wind – you have no option but to make the best of it.

Minister vows to end lottery as 87,000 wait to discover what they will study in year ahead

If camping conjures up images of cooking sausages on a camp stove, sleeping bags and chemical toilets you might want to think again

I read in Connexion that there was to be a big change coming in the way that tax is collected in France with income tax coming out of our pay packet instead of by self-declaration. Now that there is a new president, is that still going to happen and what are the deadlines?

France’s new government is set to move ahead this month with the first steps in its plan to reform labour laws, the Code du Travail, using edicts called ordonnances to cut delays.