Jump to content

Taxe de séjour forfaitaire


Clair
 Share

Recommended Posts

In their wisdom, the officials in our commune des communes have decided to start collecting a taxe de séjour from 2010.

Rather than charging per head/per night, they have opted for a one-off yearly payment from the owner.

I have read previous posts on the matter and looked at several sites concerning legislation and application and I think I have a good grasp of what is involved. I know the rate varies according to the rating, number of rooms and length of opening.

Can owners who pay this "tourism tax" give me an idea of what is being charged in their area?

How fair or equitable is the one-off charge?

On another tack, I know of a couple of British-owned properties where the resident-owners offer holiday accommodation to British holiday-makers. I know they are not registered with any organisation and are not known to the Tourist Office in any official capacity.

It has crossed my mind they might not (know they have to) declare their income...

If I do not see them at the taxe de séjour meeting next week or if I find outh they have not been contacted, I must remember to mention their websites to any interested party... I would so hate for them to miss out...[Www]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We used to have 3 gites in an area where taxe de sejour was levied, like yours, as a once a year thing based on an assessment of your likely occupancy.  We just paid it and called it a necessary expense.

Now we have 3 gites in an area where it's levied at a fixed rate per person per night, and the documentation that they've provided makes it quite clear we're supposed to collect it from our guests.  We're even supposed to give receipts! 

It's 30 cents per person over the age of 13 per night.  I really can't be bothered to ask our guests to pay such a petty tax, so, like lots of Brits I imagine, I just fill out my 3 or 4 page declaration every few months and pay up, but I'm sure most of the French gite owners in the same area collect the Taxe assiduously from their tenants.  A fixed annual levy really would save us and everyone else a lot of time.

As for Brit-owned gite websites, I'm surprised there hasn't been a big investigation yet into how many of them declare anything.  What an easy job for any employee at the Hotel des Impots with a computer, internet, and the nous to google "gites". 

Patrick

     

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Pat.

As I understand it, the tax must be listed as a separate item on the final invoice so the paying guest is aware of it being collected.

Most French holiday-makers are aware of its existence, so collecting it or charging for it is not seen as petty, just part of the holiday cost, but I can see how it would appear to be this way for non-French owners [:)]

I am not convinced a one-off payment is fairer than a per-head-per-night collection.

Although easier to manage and integrate in the weekly rent, a one-off tax based on potential occupation,is likely to make me rethink my year-long open period...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have to collect 75cents per adult per night - unless they pay Taxe d'Habitation at another address in Deux-Sevres in which case they don't have to pay twice.  When it started the procedure for bringing back from UK people who had refused to pay it was explained to us and I said that if anyone did refuse I would simply pay it on their behalf and the Taxe de Sejour team were horrified - we must never pay it for them!

It's not too onerous but as our gite is really only occupied during the late spring, summer and early autumn it would have to be a pretty low one off payment to equal that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Clair"]In their wisdom, the officials in our commune des communes have decided to start collecting a taxe de séjour from 2010.
Rather than charging per head/per night, they have opted for a one-off yearly payment from the owner.

Can owners who pay this "tourism tax" give me an idea of what is being charged in their area?

On another tack, I know of a couple of British-owned properties where the resident-owners offer holiday accommodation to British holiday-makers. I know they are not registered with any organisation and are not known to the Tourist Office in any official capacity.
It has crossed my mind they might not (know they have to) declare their income...
If I do not see them at the taxe de séjour meeting next week or if I find outh they have not been contacted, I must remember to mention their websites to any interested party... I would so hate for them to miss out...[Www][/quote]

I'm on the Commission de Tourism for our Commune de Communes and this has been discussed all the time.  Some of the communes in the CdeC do levy a daily tax, others don't bother and the taxes range between 50c and 1 euro perhead, I think all for over 13s.

As part of an exercise to have an idea of how many gites there are in our CdeC, we did a sort of audit.  We have 11 trading gites in my commune of which one (1) was registered with the Mairie and none paid taxe professionale.  Also we found that several of the gite owners (1 Australian, 2 Brits, one American) weren't paying any taxes either despite being wholly resident in France!  That situation has now been rectified and one of the Brits made it clear that THAT wasn't the reason he was one of the people who asked me to stand for the Council.  Ho hum :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This tax was grumbled about briefly at a meeting a couple of days back. We dont have it here, but that might be set to change.

Im curious though - what does the raised revenue go towards? Does it stay in the area to improve tourism or is it just swallowed up the he normal tax black-hole?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="dave21478"]what does the raised revenue go towards? Does it stay in the area to improve tourism or is it just swallowed up the he normal tax black-hole?[/quote]

Details here: pdf file

USe of the proceeds from pg 26

[quote]L’article L. 2333-27 du CGCT prévoit que : « Sous réserve de l’application des dispositions de l’article L. 2231-14, le produit de la taxe de séjour ou de la taxe de séjour forfaitaire est affecté aux dépenses destinées à favoriser la fréquentation touristique de la commune ».

L’affectation du produit de la taxe de séjour ou de la taxe de séjour forfaitaire dépend de la présence ou non d’un office du tourisme sur le territoire de la

commune ou du groupement.

Article L2333-27 of the Code Général des Collectivités Territoriales - Subject to the provisions of Article L. 2231-14, the proceeds of the tax or the flat tax are earmarked for expenditure to promote tourism in the municipality.

The allocation of the proceeds of the tax or the flat tax depends on

the presence or absence of a tourism office in the territory of the

municipality or group of municipalities.

En l’absence d’office du tourisme, l’article L. 2333-27 déjà cité prévoit que le produit de la taxe est affecté à des dépenses destinées à favoriser la

fréquentation touristique de la commune.

In the absence of a tourism office, Article L. 2333-27 cited above provides that the proceeds of the tax is earmarked for expenditure to promote tourism in the municipality.[/quote]

minimum tariffs per head night on pg 17

minimum tariffs calculation for one-off payment pg 20

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"]As part of an exercise to have an idea of how many gites there are in our CdeC, we did a sort of audit.  We have 11 trading gites in my commune of which one (1) was registered with the Mairie and none paid taxe professionale.  Also we found that several of the gite owners (1 Australian, 2 Brits, one American) weren't paying any taxes either despite being wholly resident in France!  That situation has now been rectified and one of the Brits made it clear that THAT wasn't the reason he was one of the people who asked me to stand for the Council.  Ho hum :)[/quote]

By sheer coincidence, last night I met up with a Belgian couple who rent out three gites in the area.

They are not resident-owners and told me they had not been contacted about the taxe de séjour meeting. This is despite them being known at the mairie, as they had to apply for a building permit when they converted their barn 3 years ago and have asked about a taxe de séjour when they started taking bookings...

They have asked me to keep them informed as they do not want to be seen as doing anything wrong...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our commune (in the Lot) and adjoining ones charge per adult per night in high season, and they admit it's really aimed at the big campsites, but they try to catch the b&bs & 'gite's too.

I manage holiday accommodation for absentee owners, and their booking contracts simply say that any additional local daily taxes blah blah blah will be collected by their local agents - which we do. We leave a polite note, say how much it is, and an envelope. Never had any problems at all, over umpteen years.

Come October, I fill in the forms, pop them into the Mairie, and the Trésor Publique (or Trevor Pubic as we call him) eventually sends a bill to the clients, which I duly settle up with envelopes of accumulated coins and a giggle with Trevor's cashier;

As the deemed Senior French Speaking Brit Resident I have been asked about various Brit owned houses, whether they are let or not. I'll answer honestly on behalf of our clients, but for those who don't have a management contract with us I just say 'no idea, you'll have to ask them directly'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting point about campsites, Polly.

The area covered by the commune des communes, which groups five small communes, has three large campsites and I suspect they are the real target of the soon-to-be-implemented tax.

One of the small communes has a fair number of foreign-owned holiday properties and I have started to bookmark the websites and pictures of those which are advertised as holiday rentals.

If the owners appear not to have been contacted about the taxe de séjour, I will pass on their details to the people in charge. I'll be very annoyed if I have to pay even more while some absentee landlords can get away without paying anything at all... [6]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My campsite owning friend is required to collect this tax in July and August. He hands over about €500 per day to the commune. His brother's site, being larger, hands over around €1.000 per day. Adults and children aged, I think, over 13 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back from the meeting...

The charging period had been set to 62 nights (8 weeks) for CH, gites and meublés de vacances. Based on current info, I calculate I would have to pay €87 in 2010.

The camp-site owner was not happy to hear he would be charged per pitch per day the site was open and I think he will reduce his season considerably from 2010.

Quite rightly, he protested that 6 to 12 pitches over April, May and June did not justify his paying for 40 pitches a day over the same period...

On the positive side, we have been told special passes will be available for holiday-makers to use at the local lake, where the current entrance fee is €5 per car per day. The cost of the pass to the holiday-maker will be for the owner to decide (freebee, token charge or other) and the owner will be charged a minimal fee by the commune for the facility.

A good incentive to encourage families to use the local facilities...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...