Although I am now living in the States, I still have to pay some taxes in France. One of these, the taxe d'habitation, was due today. I got the notice a few weeks ago and promptly threw it on a Pile of Papers That I Need To Do Something About.
Well, sort of. I studied the thing and noticed that I could pay online. With that little nugget of information in my brain, I relegated the notice to the Pile.
Yesterday I went to pay the tax, thinking that I could even use my American account, and wouldn't that be easy peasy?
Uh, no.
I should have known. Nothing is EVER easy in France.
I thought I'd be able to type in my credit card number, as you do, and voilà, taxes paid!
It was a little more complicated than that. First of all, I had to be paying out of a French bank account. Okay, I still have one. But I couldn't use the card associated with that account, no sir.
How can I 'splain? In France, when you sign up to have your bills paid automagically, you have to give the utility (or creditor) a RIB, or relevé d'identité bancaire. The "reeb" has your account information on it, including a series of numbers that correspond to your bank, your bank branch, your account number, et cetera. You give the RIB to the company, and they give you a form that you have to sign and give to your bank, in essence giving the company permission to debit your account every month. Are you following me?
So the process of paying taxes online is much like this. You can't just use your credit/debit card. First, you have to identify yourself by typing in reference numbers that appear on your tax notice. Once the fisc understands that you're you (and not some impostor who wants to pay your taxes for you), you're prompted to enter your bank information, or basically, all the code numbers that appear on the RIB.
Then you have to confirm. Proceed? Yes, proceed.
Attention, la somme de 187 euros sera débitée de votre compte bancaire!
Yes, proceed! I understand that you're taking money from my account, you rat bastards!
Then, get this: you have to print out an authorization form, date and sign it, and send it to your bank. Even the Trésor Public needs your permission to debit your bank account. Okay, I guess I understand the principle behind this, but shouldn't doing things online make them simpler? Isn't it a given that by paying online, I am giving permission for this money to be withdrawn from my account?
Apparently not. So after I paid my taxes online, I went to the Post Office to mail the authorization form to my bank. Can you see me rolling my eyes?
Next time I'll just send a check or the stupid TIP (explanation about halfway down the page), since I evidently can't avoid the Post Office for this kind of transaction.
Holy complicated!
Posted by: kkonmymind | November 15, 2006 at 17:39
migrane! i feel a migrain coming on!
Posted by: melanie | November 15, 2006 at 19:39
I wish an imposter would anonymously pay my taxes for me.
Posted by: Mist 1 | November 15, 2006 at 20:41
Can you be an anonymous imposter? Does that even make sense?
It seems that if you're an imposter, you want people to know who you are.
I'm going to need some time to think about this. Carry on.
Posted by: Mist 1 | November 15, 2006 at 20:43
Ce n'est pas facile. And that's an interesting "taxe" since you now live in les Etats-Unis. Bizarre works well in both languages.
Posted by: Margaret | November 15, 2006 at 21:18
Margaret, these are taxes for 2005. I will have to pay for 2006 also, since I was still in my apartment on January 1st of this year.
Posted by: Alison | November 15, 2006 at 21:59
What would happen if you didn't pay? Would they not let you back in the country?
Posted by: Patrick | November 15, 2006 at 23:33
"and not some impostor who wants to pay your taxes for you"
I SO want one of those! I laughed out loud when I read that line, startling my sweet sleeping dog by my side out of his deep slumber.
Posted by: deezee | November 16, 2006 at 00:36
Your driver's license, the Treaty of Ghent, and the translation of all of it in triplicate from the approved translator, please.
Posted by: The CEO | November 16, 2006 at 00:38
I've been "travailleur libéral", (I work on my own) for four years now.
There was one of those stupidities every day when I started. In fact, French administration integrated Internet to do it more complicate in order to give to "les fonctionnaires" some work.
Grrrr...
Posted by: coldbear | November 16, 2006 at 02:24
Actually very useful inormation for next year. Thanks!
Posted by: misschrisc | November 16, 2006 at 04:23
hehehe...vive la france :)
Posted by: meredith | November 16, 2006 at 05:24
Embrace complexity, eh? And this is one doozy of an example of complex. Good luck to you.
Posted by: ally bean | November 16, 2006 at 09:23
ah, yes....taxes and eye-rolling. i can relate completely.
Posted by: rebecca | November 16, 2006 at 09:24
It is good to know that red tape and bureaucracy is international.
Posted by: Neil | November 16, 2006 at 12:12
Gotta love all that red tape. That's what makes living in France so...interesting!
Posted by: Deb | November 16, 2006 at 13:25
That made me ache a little inside. Yuck. And I hate the post office as well.
Posted by: Melissa | December 09, 2006 at 22:32