Jump to content

Not received tax fonciere or d'habitation bills


chickledupickle
 Share

Recommended Posts

We bought a house last July in Ariege and paid the solicitors the proportion of the tax fonciere from the date of us buying the house until the end of the year for them to reimburse the seller.  I'd assumed we would get a bill for 2013 at some point, but haven't received anything yet.  We have a neighbour checking our post box in France also.  The house is unfurnished and uninhabited currently so I assume tax d'habitation isn't yet payable until we move hopefully in July.  However, I don't want to 'assume' anything, don't want to incur any late charges and have no knowledge of any of the systems, so was just wondering if someone could tell me when bills are usually received and any advice on how to sort it out if it seems something is wrong![8-)]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The bills for 2013 won't be sent out until the last quarter of the year. This is because, for residents, any reductions they may be entitled to are calculated as per their 2012 income, which is not declared until May 2013 - so the tax office can't send out the habitation / fonciere bills until they have worked the income tax out. However, because the bills are sent out towards the end of the year, they have to be paid in full, within about a month of receipt. If you want to arrange monthly payments for 2014, you will have to set this up before the end of 2013 and start paying in Jan 2014.

If the previous people were paying taxe d'habitation, and unless you have officially claimed that the house is uninhabitable, the chances are you will have to pay it as from 1 Jan. Normally this tax is only waived if the house is in an uninhabitable condition, as opposed to just uninhabited because the owner happens to be living somewhere else. Also, normally the maire would want to come round and check for himself that it was uninhabitable/empty on 1st Jan before he would agree to let you off the tax. Taxe fonciere is always payable whatever state the property is in.

Hope this helps.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is really helpful yes thanks, I can stop worrying now!  The house is definitely uninhabitable at the moment!  But hopefully we will be moving/doing it up in the very near future so I'm not gonna try and claim back a few months.  We will be ready to make the payment in the Autumn then.

Thanks again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just beware, what you call uninhabitable and what is classed as uninhabitable in France, may not be the same thing. In my old village, one family with a boat load of kids lived in a house with mud floors and no bathroom. For me their property as not inhabitable, but in fact it was inhabited.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you are coming to live over here don't forget to make a tax declaration, as this can decide whether or not you pay tax d'habitation among other things.

The system here is that you declare the previous year's income around May and pay any due tax in October/November about the same time as you pay the local taxes.

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...