Your Questions

Have the French cancelled their tax treaty with the UK? We have received a demand for payment of French tax calculated on our gross UK income for 2018, ignoring tax taken in the UK. We have been told to reclaim tax paid in the UK from the UK.  M.N.

I live in France but my wife works abroad. She had a three-year contract in the Middle East but was made redundant. She went to court for wrongful dismissal and won a sum which represented the full earnings she would have earned. Is this taxable in France if transferred? She was assessed locally but had nothing to pay. Now she works in Central Asia. Will the French tax her? It has been suggested to me that she has to be out of France for six months in the year to avoid it. She pays tax there at 12%.  P.F.

I am a micro-entrepreneur. I would like to know how to get a VAT number. I will go over the €33,200 limit soon. EH

Are ESF ski instructors state workers or, if not, are they officially regulated? J.A.

I was listening to a radio report about a recent tractor protest in Paris and heard the reporter refer to the farmers as paysans. It sounded insulting, like they were calling them “peasants” – did I understand correctly?  R.G.

I have been struggling to use BBC iPlayer at my French holiday home – is there a way around this? I thought the BBC was bringing in the right to sign in from abroad temporarily for BBC licence-payers?  H.D.

The Paris 2024 Olympics logo is clever as a flame and a woman’s face – but who is it supposed to be? G.S.

I was told people can join the French Foreign Legion to avoid prison. Surely it is not true?  S.M.

I read about a Breton family winning a court battle to keep the tilde on their son’s Breton name Fañch. In Spanish, this alters the sound of the letter N. What does it do in Breton?  S.B.

We had an issue with a car hire firm in the UK when we were charged costly insurance which we had not requested. We emailed an ombudsman for the UK car hire industry and they helped. Is there equivalent help in France? H.B.

I want to do the one-day training to be able to ride a 125cc scooter but is it possible with a British driving licence? I have held a car licence since the 1970s. One local driving school told me it is not possible. Is that true?  R.R.

I am having lots of visitors to stay for Christmas – any tips for improving my wifi?   

How can I deter burglars from an empty second home? It is isolated, so an alarm isn’t enough. J.C. 

I am retired and live in France and have rental properties in London. I opened a small business account with Barclays while I lived in the UK to deal with consultancy work I had and continued the account with rent being paid into it. Barclays now says it is closing business accounts held by people outside the UK but I can keep my personal account. However, it says I cannot pay the rent into it as it is not a salary. Is this right?   S.L.

For a UK NHS pension (non-government) or state pension, a P60 end-of- tax year form is not available. If tax relief at source is provided through the UK, there will be no need for an annual UK tax return and so no year-end UK tax calculation statement of income from HMRC. In this case, how should these UK pensions be submitted for French tax? C.D.

We had a pleasant surprise when we checked our avis d’impôt tax statement and saw there was a rebate of over €200 on top of the fact that we owed €0 as usual. Our income is government pensions and UK rental income, taxed in the UK. Is there a logical reason for this rebate?  I.S.