It's getting pricey

[BIG MAC]

So just back from France where I banked €400 Euros just to keep the little bills account going. Then I paid €92 for the pleasure of having my bin emptied (If I fill two bins a year I would be doing well) I get hit for €150 bill for I don't know what applied by some Fkin Fisc in Alsace. Then a bill for Habitation for €185 and €133 for 'Audiovisuel public. I have a freeview box and watch UK TV on the rare occasion I decide to watch TV over there. Do we need to pay for public television we don't use?

[NormanH]

Yes. It's public and available. It's your choice not to watch it.

If you don't want to have it available do away with the TV and just watch things on you computer screen.

Then (for the moment) you don't need to pay the redevance

[YCCMB]

If your tax d'hab Bill is only €185, you don't know you're born!

[idun]

Big Mac, you are a long way from Alsace, and yet you keep mentioning it, please tell me why? I do not understand, unless that is where your bills from, and then surely they will come from Alsace for everyone?

[BIG MAC]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]If your tax d'hab Bill is only €185, you don't know you're born![/quote]

The tax bill comes in two instalments if memory serves and our area has now broken bills down into tax hab, tax fonc, poubelles, audiovisuel, I guess about €1500 PA.

Sorry Idun - it's really peeving me to get a bill from an area I have never been to but €150 has been taken from my account but no idea what for

[YCCMB]

Ours have always been separate...apart from the audiovisual which is rolled up into one of the others...but our taxe d'hab alone is nearer €1800, fonc is similar and bins are on top of that. And no, we certainly do not own a chateau!

[idun]

What exactly does it say on your releve de compte about this amount?  Seems a very 'neat' amount, have you asked at your local Tresorie? I'd be calling them.

I must admit that the amount you quoted was not much at all, and that is it for a full year, not a month?

edit, you haven't mentioned taxe fonciere in that list, just taxe d'hab, tv, and bins.

Our bin bill was only ever separate for anyone who had a pret pap, we always paid it with our other local tax bill.

[tinabee]

AFAIK the fisc (DRFIP) in Alsace deals with tax reimbursements, credits or previously unpaid tax bills.

Info here

http://droit-finances.commentcamarche.net/faq/15295-virement-drfip-et-remboursement-d-impots

Is it possible that one of your previous tax bills was not paid or a bank transfer did not go through? It might be worth checking with your tax office to see what the payment was for, in case it was an error.

[WJT]

When the taxe fonciere prelevement came out it shows up now as DRFIP ALSACE. Apparently they are now handling this for our are in Dordogne. So perhaps country wide?

[BIG MAC]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]Ours have always been separate...apart from the audiovisual which is rolled up into one of the others...but our taxe d'hab alone is nearer €1800, fonc is similar and bins are on top of that. And no, we certainly do not own a chateau![/quote] Maybe we should count our blessings! I do wonder if you are being taxed as a maison secondaire or not...seems pretty steep or are you in central Paris?

[idun]

 Big Mac, lots of people pay such amounts, we paid more in France than we do in the UK. What always surprised me were the tiny amounts that some posters used to mention, I never understood that. Also councils are strapped for cash and bills will be going up.

[NormanH]

A few points.

1) The two taxes have always been separate because they are for different things. TF is a levy on the ownership of property and Td'H is the local tax for living in it.

This distinction which isn't there in the UK rates makes sense, since the property may well be owned by one person (who pays the TF) and inhabited by another (Td'H)

2) Résidences secondaires are subject to a higher local tax than permanent residents in many places

3)  Central Paris is less expensive for local taxes than many other places.  Of course the overall budget for Paris is very high, but it is very densely populated by people with enough money to pay local taxes, so each person has a relatively small bill.

The most expensive local taxes are in places which have an expensive infrastructure to maintain but where there is high unemployment or there are many people who are other wise exempt from Td'H such as pensioners under a certain income.

In these towns the lower budget is paid by a small percentage of the population resulting in a higher bill than for someone in Paris

http://www.capital.fr/immobilier/special-impots-locaux/le-palmares-2012-des-impots-locaux-ville-par-ville/%28offset%29/40/%28s%29/5/%28o%29/d

[tinabee]

Taxes are likely to rise in the future as state funding for local communes is being reduced year on year. Also, in areas where there are housing shortages, there is a proposal to increase tax d'habitation on second homes by 20%.