Audiovisuelle element of Taxe D'Habitation

[DerekJ]

We have just received our first bill for Taxe D'Habitation which includes Euro 118 for Audiovisuelle.  We have already setup a direct debit for the payment of this (and Fonciere) and the house is a secondaire.

I understand that the D'Habitation bill is for 2009. Upto date we have no TV, no aerial/sat dish, no internet. Therefore, I believe we should not have to pay the Audiovisuelle element of the bill for 2009.

So, a couple of questions:

1. I believe I need to write to the Centre des finances publiques (in my case in Cahors) simply stating that I don't have TV access/equipment. I presume that they will either reduce the amount before debiting in mid-December or provide a refund if billing has already taken place before resolution.  Does that sound right? Anyone any experience of doing this?

2. In 2010 we may well get a TV sometime...  probably mid-year. Will we then have to inform them we have got a TV? Will the subsequent charge be pro-rata?

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

[Clair]

1. On your income tax declaration, you should have ticked the box to indicate you do not possess a TV.  Make sure you tick it next year.

Send a registered letter (or take it over, but get a receipt) to the Centre des Impôts indicated on your tax bill.

Sample letter:

Your Name(s)

Your Full Address

À (town), le (date)

Recommandé avec AR

Numéro fiscal (as shown on your tax bill)

Objet : Contestation de l'avis d'imposition

Madame, Monsieur,

Je viens de recevoir un avis de paiement de la taxe d'habitation et de la redevance audiovisuelle.

Or, je ne suis pas détenteur d'un appareil de télévision ou d'autre appareil assimilé à cette adresse.

Je vous serais reconnaissant de bien vouloir rectifier cette erreur et je me tiens à votre disposition pour toute information complémentaire dont vous auriez besoin.

Avec mes remerciements anticipés, je vous prie de croire, Madame, Monsieur, en l'assurance de mes respectueuses salutations.

(Signature)

2.  You would have to possess a TV (or other receiving equipment) on 1st Jan.  of the year in question.

EDIT: I seem to remember this is not your main home, so I have edited the letter accordingly.

[Pierre ZFP]

With regard to point 2.

If you buy a TV (or equipment capable of receiving TV) the shop fills in a form which gets sent off and you get the €118 added to your TdH.  I don't know if it's pro-ratered, I suspect not.

[DerekJ]

Clair.  Thank you so much. The letter is really helpful.  You're right, the house is a secondaire and I haven't completed any tax return form.

Thank you also for confirmation that if I bought a TV in 2010 I wouldn't be liable for the charge unless it was installed on 1st January. Therefor first payment would be due in 2011.

Pierre. Thank you as well for your reply. In fact it is likely that we end up bringing a TV from the UK.

[JandM]

Wow! What a helpful letter. I've received a demand for a tv licence fee as well, and will use this form letter too.

If you don't mind me butting in on this thread, I have a follow up question: 

as the redevance audiovisuelle was sent as part of the taxe d'habitation, which is due by the middle of December, do you reckon I should pay the whole lot now and hope for a refund, or should I wait for a recalculated bill?

Cheers.

James

[DerekJ]

[quote user="Clair"]1. On your income tax declaration, you should have ticked the box to indicate you do not possess a TV.  Make sure you tick it next year.

Send a registered letter (or take it over, but get a receipt) to the Centre des Impôts indicated on your tax bill.

Sample letter:

name

add

A (name of your town/village), le (date)

Recommandé avec AR

Numéro fiscal (as shown on your tax bill)

Objet : Contestation de l'avis d'imposition

Madame, Monsieur,

Je viens de recevoir un avis de paiement de la taxe d'habitation et de la redevance audiovisuelle.

Or, je ne suis pas détenteur d'un appareil de télévision ou d'autre appareil assimilé à cette adresse.

Je vous serais reconnaissant de bien vouloir rectifier cette erreur et je me tiens à votre disposition pour toute information

complémentaire dont vous auriez besoin.

Avec mes remerciements anticipés, je vous prie de croire, Madame, Monsieur, en l'assurance de mes respectueuses salutations.

(signature)

2.  You would have to possess a TV (or other receiving equipment) on 1st Jan.  of the year in question.

EDIT: I seem to remember this is not your main home, so I have edited the letter accordingly.

[/quote]

Clair.  Just a follow up on this. We wrote to the Tresor with the letter you so kindly provided and received an acknowledgement back saying they would credit the audiovisuelle element of the Taxe d'Habitation.

We've been checking our French bank account to see whether they would remove the charge before actually debiting the acount or whether they would debit the original amount then credit back the audiovisuelle element.  Just checked today and they have done the former... removed the charge before debiting the acount.

So Clair... again, many many thanks for all your help.[:D]

[Clair]

Glad it helped  [:D]

[tenniswitch]

Clair, I want to thank you for posting that letter.  We, too, received the first Td'H bill for our residence secondaire this year and have not yet gotten television (it's on the list for 2010).  I used your letter to contest our assessment for the taxe redevance audiovisuelle (couldn't send it certified as we were mailing from the US), and today I received a notice that we have been granted an exemption and we'll be sent a refund check.

I was really surprised that it was so simple and (relatively) fast- I've known people who fought for months over this- and lost.

You are virtually super (I suspect actually super also). [:)]

[Clair]

[quote user="tenniswitch"]Clair, I want to thank you for posting that letter.  [/quote]

Glad it worked for you too [:)] and thanks [:$]

[Gardengirl]

Another successful use of Clair's letter here. I received a reply yesterday from our tax office to say we have an exemption. I planned to walk along the road in November to explain and pay, but as it was to be sent to a town in the north, I was told I had to write to them. Clair's letter came along just in time for it to be expressed perfectly and I sent a cheque without the TV element. Thanks a lot Clair. [:D]

[Clair]

Yeah! [:D]

[DerekJ]

Just a follow up to this old thread.  We just received our notification of our Taxe d'habitation charges for 2010. There has been no charge for the audiovisuel element which is consistent with the earlier communication we had with them (details in previous posts on this thread).

We finally got round to installing a TV around mid 2010 and therefore as no TV was installed on 1st January 2010 this is correct and no charge is due for 2010.

We will inform Tresor of the change to the status which I presume will result in us being charged for the audiovisuel element in 2011 (for which we will receive notification around this time next year).

[Chancer]

You must remember to do that Derek!

Having got a rebate several years ago for the same reasons as above I keep forgetting to inform them of a change of status (silly me!) and it has not re-appeared on the following years demands, in fact it has been so long that I dont realise that something is missing from my TDH bill [;-)]

I have yet to recieve this years bill, perhaps it will be on it this time, has everyone else already got their bills?

[CeeJay]

Having posted on another thread that I have at last received my Taxe Dab and is payable on 15th December, I noticed that it was less than last year!!!

What a pleasant surprise I thought, until I examined it more closely and found that the element for Audiovisuelle had not been included.

We have owned the house for about 13years and have always paid for the TV, the exception this year is that the demand was sent, on request, to the French address not the UK one because we are now resident full time.

Could the change of billing address be the reason? and no, I am not going to be in too much of a hurry to tell them!

[Frederick]

[quote user="Chancer"]

You must remember to do that Derek!

Having got a rebate several years ago for the same reasons as above I keep forgetting to inform them of a change of status (silly me!) and it has not re-appeared on the following years demands, in fact it has been so long that I dont realise that something is missing from my TDH bill [;-)]

I have yet to recieve this years bill, perhaps it will be on it this time, has everyone else already got their bills?

[/quote]

 Yes..............and you might be pleased to know ......this year .....audiovisual ..........E131.00

[Gardengirl]

How strange - and I've only had half a glass of wine! We seem to be back on the 2009/2010 thread instead of the 2013 one!  [8-)]

[Frederick]

[quote user="gardengirl "]How strange - and I've only had half a glass of wine! We seem to be back on the 2009/2010 thread instead of the 2013 one!  [8-)]

[/quote]

Well spotted  !