Taxe d'habitation

[John Brown]

We have owned a small house in central France for 4 years.   Other English people with second homes in the village pay taxe d'habitation annually.   When we had not received our bill, we asked at the Tresor Publique on 2 occasions to be told we did not owe this taxe.   We have just emailed the maire of the village asking why we have not been asked for this taxe yet again.   He has allegedly checked with the TP and said again that we owe nothing.   As far as we are aware, we are not eligible for any exemption.   Please can someone clear up the confusion and explain why we, and not our friends in identical circumstances, seem to be exempt.  There has been no problem with taxe fonciere which we have paid annually.

Many thanks.

[Chancer]

Probably because the propery has always been unoccupied on the first of January when the tax is levied.

Worth bearing in mind if you are planning a Christmas/new year visit, cheaper to take a cruise!

[Angie]

Is this really true?  We have a second home in France and have never been there on 1 January as flights are too expensive, we also have not received a tax d'habitation.  Surely it can't be true that just because you are not at the house on 1 January you don't pay this tax!  If so, then great.  Although the exhorbitant cost of our taxe fonciere more than makes up for it!!

[Jako]

You don't have to pay tax d'habitation for a maximum of four years if the property is uninhabitable ( e.g. due to renovations).

Many counsels just give you the four years without checking.

[Pommier]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Probably because the propery has always been unoccupied on the first of January when the tax is levied.

>[/quote]

No, sorry but this is wrong. The house has to be unihabitable to be exonerated from Taxe d'Habitation, and you have to get an attestation from the Maire to confirm it.

[Chancer]

My experience differs from your belief, perhaps the rules are interpreted differently dependant on where you live.

My property was abandoned and uninhabitable by any decent standard but not as regards imposition of TDH.

I purchased the building in 2004 and to my knowledge no TDH had been paid in the years that it had been uninhabited, I moved in in March 2005 and recieved the TF and TDH bills later that year, I questioned the redevance audiovisuelle as I did not have a telly  I went to the Mairie who gave me an attestation stating that I was domiciled there from April.

I sent this off to the Hôtel des Impôts and received a degrevement for both the redevance audiovisualle and TDH I was surprised about the TDH element but it was definitely decided on the inoccupation on the 1st Jan, the building was no more habitable when i moved into my tent in the bar area in April [:D]

Contrary to this in the last month I successfully negotiated a degrevement of 80% of my taxe d'habitation on the basis that most of the building is now definitely uninhabitable even under the French definition, speaks volumes about my renovation efforts of the last 4 1/2 years [;-)]

[JandM]

I have a similar story. I bought my house in October 2002 and have since paid only taxe fonciere. It's just a holiday home, being occupied for only a few weeks a year. Yesterday a taxe d'habitation demand arrived out of the blue. I've no idea why after seven years.

From my research so far, it looks like the 1st January date is a bit of a red herring, as 'occupe'  means inhabitable on that day rather than occupied in the English language sense. I suppose I should be glad that I've been missing this tax since 2002, rather than bitter that I've got to start paying now, but it still hurts!

 

 

[banyuls diver]

Is there any exemption after reaching a certain age for owners of a holiday home or will the tax always be due for both elements i.e. house and television?

[KathyF]

[quote user="banyuls diver"]Is there any exemption after reaching a certain age for owners of a holiday home or will the tax always be due for both elements i.e. house and television?[/quote]

Afraid not.  Exemption is akwas based on the income declared in your French tax return.

[parsnips]

[quote user="banyuls diver"]Is there any exemption after reaching a certain age for owners of a holiday home or will the tax always be due for both elements i.e. house and television?[/quote]

Hi,

 There is no exemption for second homes , but if you have no TV set ,or any other equipment capable of receiving TV programmes, ie. no aerial or sat dish, you can apply to the local centre des impots , (not the tresor) for exemption from the TV payment. See claire's post on thread "audiovisual element of taxe d'habitation".

[allanb]

[quote user="parsnips"]... if you have no TV set, or any other equipment capable of receiving TV programmes, ie. no aerial or sat dish, you can apply to the local centre des impots for exemption from the TV payment[/quote]That implies that if you have no TV set, but you have an aerial or dish not connected to anything, you have to pay the tax.  Is that correct?  It seems a bit harsh.

[nemltd]

Hi,

We bought our house in January 2005 and were told by the estate agent that the Taxe d'Habitation was levied if on the 1st January you had furniture in the house. This also applies to the audivisuelle because its on the same document.

We have had two demands for payment in 2007 and 2008 but wrote explaining the house is uninhabitable because of renovations, we did not receive a demand in 2009. We await 2010 with baited breath!

Does anybody know how the taxe fonciere is calculated?

Thanks, Tony