In France there are two taxes on property, taxe d` habitation and taxe foncière.
When Macron came to power in May 2017 he promised to introduce a number of reforms including abolishing taxe d’habitation.
Taxe d’habitation was a way for local authorities to raise capital to finance public services and infrastructure, such as schools, social services, roads, the environment, management of drinking water and sanitation, waste collection and sorting etc.
In France, it applied to both owners and tenants and was paid by the person who had the private use or enjoyment of the taxable premises on 1 January of the tax year.
The 2018 Finance Act initiated the abolition of this tax for main residences by gradually reducing the applicable rates and by 2023 it was completely abolished for primary residences. It however remains in force for secondary residences.
New reporting requirements
Every property owner, whether a private individual or a company, is subject to a new reporting requirement to declare their property online impots.gouv.fr. This requirement is designed to provide the tax authorities with information about the ownership of the property and who is liable to tax d’habitation and who are not.
This concerns 34 million owners for 73 million premises.
All owners of real estate for residential use, both individuals and companies, must submit the declaration. This includes individual owners ; usufructuaries and non-trading property companies (SCI).
Property owners have until 30 June 2023 to make their declaration and will only need to be updated when there has been a change in your situation.
How to declare
Online on impots.gouv.fr, the declaration is made in the “Manage my real estate properties” section.
For each property you own, you must declare the occupancy. If you are not the actual occupants of the property, you must provide various information such as the identity of the persons residing there or the length of time the property has been occupied.
What are the penalties
In case of non-declaration, error, omission or incomplete declaration, a fixed fine of €150 per property is incurred.
If we can help you any further please don’t hesitate to contact us at startherefrance@strabenshall.eu
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