Foncs giveth and Foncs taketh away

[Bayleaf]

..................In my experrience, the French never admit errors.

If they do, as you have noticed, it is by telephone. Not by any way which leaves a record.

Not sure why the word "désolée" exists - I've never heard it used, even when blatently in the wrong!

[L Austin France]

..................In my experrience, the French never admit errors.

If they do, as you have noticed, it is by telephone. Not by any way which leaves a record.

Not sure why the word "désolée" exists - I've never heard it used, even when blatently in the wrong!

A few years ago our first meeting with the chief tax dragon was to sort out the tax implications of our S1 status which the minions refused to accept & did nothing but gesticulate & argue.
We left the meeting with the promise she would investigate the situation & later phoned us with the imortal words "vous avez raison".

[Bayleaf]

It never pays to stick your head above the parapet! Something similar has happened to us, but from our Social Security people, MSA.

"To respond to your email of 08/09/2022, we inform you that your spouse's AT PENSION was wrongly counted as earned income for the calculation of the PPP.
Indeed, the financing law n° 2018-1317 puts an end as of 01/01/2019 to the taking into account as professional income of AT/MP annuities for the calculation of the PPP
We have just integrated this legislative element not taken into account by our PF information system until now, which results in a drop in your PPA, but also an overpayment for the period from 01/10/2021 to 30/06/2022."

Sounds like they've cocked up big time, as I can't believe we're the only ones affected by this "oops" moment. Of course, I'll contest it - and at least ask for the debt to be reduced, and paid back monthly.

[DominicBest]

All very well if you are "retired" in the traditional sense, with time on your hands, rather than spending every waking moment trying to renovate a wreck on a basic state pension, no savings or help from expensive professionals, with your own bare hands. Many of us quickly learned building terms and enough to follow French electrical regs and deal with permissions, etc. but no time to lol about in cafes and bars chatting with the locals learning the conversational skills. Not everyone is the same and people who criticise should think before they speak.

Strangely I did a lot of chatting with the locals and learning conversational skills whilst renovating a wreck with my bare hands. Their input was invaluable to both the building progress and my basic language skills. From what you say I’m not sure why you feel that you are being criticised, it sounds as though you have had a fair bit of interaction.

[Mangetout]

I learnt my language skills by joining a choir. Did it for 10 years. Only required 1 evening a week, 3 hours at a time. Did the trick for me along with maybe the odd hour a week head in books.

[L Austin France]

It's just returned to my dodgy old memory that, not long after we arrived here about 20 years ago, I spent months helping Hubert a retired local farmer build dozens of cages etc in his redundant chicken shed to house his hoped for flocks of rare chooks & other birds. Just him & me alone in a shed for hours on end was a good introduction to the French language.
That was followed by joining with a couple of neighbours where months were spent logging each winter for a few years.
Sort of total immersion for ages must have helped.

[exile]

Went to the tax office this morning. Madam, who I had dealt with before was not to be seen (she may well have retired in the interim) but the "lad" on the desk was equally helpful.

As an aside, I was just pipped at the guichet by two Dutch ladies (could have been Flemish). The elder was trying to sort out tax affairs after bereavement while the younger was acting as interpreter. So it's not just Brits who have been here for ages but don't speak French well.

Anyway back on track; I explained what seemed to be the problem and having checked that our incomes were due to be taxed in France, he said (having checked his screens) I don't really understand what had happened here - which I think is Fonc for we have cocked up, sorry. Anyway, all sorted, no aggro, no accusations of wrong filing and I can expect a revised Avis and a heft repayment bill in the post