Trip to the Tax Office!!

After being here for nearly 8 months and working hard on the gite we thought it was time to get our tax affairs in order. A friend who lives near Tours came to visit for a few days, so I took the opportunity to go with her to the tax office at Moissac. I prepared lots of documents I thought necessary to take and we set off on the 20 minute drive.

The offices from the outside were attractive and the architecture appealing but inside the building was large, cold, uninviting and resembled a Victorian mental hospital. I didn't change my opinion after visiting the second floor. Walking from one dormitory room to the next whilst the occupants looked blankly from behind their desks when I asked about setting up an "auto entrepreneur business, I got the distinct impression that rather than dealing with our request it was easier to push us onto another department and we were then out of their hair!

Finally, on the third attempt we were directed to a slightly more appealing room where three middle aged women sat surrounded by pot plants each concentrating hard on piles of administrative papers to be filed and entered onto their computer screens. The heating was on and a bottles of water were dotted around the room, whether they were for the plants or the women I could not tell. After explaining the reason for our visit for the umpteenth time and actually getting somewhere we started the process of registering the gite business, however after 10 minutes it became clear that there was more to this than was indicated at the start of the conversation. The upshot of it was that in fact due to my other work commitments being self employed, but working on a contract for my previous company for one of their clients my situation was not a straight forward one.....now there is a surprise.......... not. Finally after an hour and a half we came to conclusion that we in fact needed to go to the USSAF administration centre in Montauban.

By the time we had made our way back to the car it was late and we took a chance that the French equivalent of the DVLA Office would still be open, as my first attempt to register the car with French number plates had gone the same way as my visit to the tax office. How stupid am I..........if course it was not open, it was Friday and 4pm. Note to self.......... ensure I don't attempt to go next time on either Friday afternoon, Saturday, Monday, during a two hour lunch break or after 4pm or a bank holiday or if it is raining or if the wind is blowing in a northerly direction!

Next instalment on my tax progress will follow shortly!