Much as we'd love to retire, the 3 kids, the dog, the mortgage and the fact that we aren't even at mid life crisis stage have told us otherwise. So we have spent the past month trying to tell the tax authorities "Hey we are here, we are working and we are ready to pay tax".
Simple? Non!
In the UK, you work, you earn, you fill in a tax from and you pay your taxes. Here it's like climbing a mountain, sliding back down and then doing it all over again....ten times. Not only that but the French have invented a whole new working language which goes something like this.
Visit to the Accountant. Discuss our business options - EI, AE, SARL, EURL and BNC. Glad we know the alphabet.
Register with URSSAF to obtain our SIRET from INSEE which includes our SIREN and our NIC. Choose our CAMPLP. Wait for letter from RSI in order to pay CSG-CRDS using an RIB. Wonder whether we should submit a DUE or BNP. Maybe we would if we knew what they were.
Need to still discuss with the accountant about CNAPVL and CNBF which is supposedly about retirement and CMU and ACCRE should the need arise - something to do with state aid.
And that's not even the half of it.
I must say though that everyone we have met from the accountant to the business advisor to the bank manager to the insurance companies have been nothing but ultra helpful. They too laugh at the ludicrousness of the bureaucracy and even admitted that they don't know what some of the 'Secret Codes' are.
So as of the 1st January 2009 we hope that we are in the system. We haven't yet decided which letters to go for but maybe MYOB would do for now.
Apart from trying to pay our taxes we have also been busy enjoying the Christmas preparations here in Limoux which are much more low key than back in England. Peverse as it sounds, I kind of miss the manic frenzy of Christmas preparations and fraught parents and over indulged kids wherever you turn.
We have also been sampling the delights of the 'Foire au Gras' and the local fetes and fund raisers not to mention getting ready for Bill's parents arrival - our first visitors which will be very exciting. 
And most exciting of all.....23rd December 2008 is the day we are signing the Acte de Vente. In other words we get the keys to our new house. I do feel for the owners thought who failed to get their mortgage (he is self employed and French banks don't like to lend to non-salaried people - bizarre) so they are moving into rented accommodation. I hope it doesn't spoil their Christmas too much but then again at least they got a buyer for their house.
Next Time: Winter in Limoux. Can we cope?
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