Dennisj Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 Hello and help please, I have owned a property in France which was bought to renovate, it has never been occupied in some 15 years. However I have been paying the habitation tax throughout this period, the first payment was taken from my French bank account without my knowledge or permission. Some years ago I found out that the tax was not payable and I wrote to the tax office informing them and asking for the money to be refunded, they simply send reminders but have not raided my bank account again. I have explicitedly asked as to the formal process for recovering this money, I do not get a reply. Can anybody advise as to how I go about recovering the money which must be in excess of 1500 Euros. regards, Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 We have paid habitation tax and tax foncia for the past two years on a property which was sold in may 2019, at the time we were told that the payments would be refunded. We sent letters , emails and recorded letters to the impots, all were ignored. Last week we visited the impot offices and made it clear our patience had run out, they told us that things were running two years in arrears, however they accepted that we were due a refund. Three days later the refunds arrived in our bank accounts, not a 100% recovery apparently some part of the Taxe Foncia is not recoverable. So our advice is go to the local taxe office and make your case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 Taxe d'Habitation: To be paid even if house is not lived in. House must be "entirely empty of all furniture" to qualify for NIL tax. You will need to provide a letter from your Mairie confirming your house is either empty of all furniture or inhabitable due to it being in a very bad state of repair. Danny.s isse above is different to yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennisj Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 Thank you Danny and ericd, our diificulty is that we are and have always been UK residents, we used to visit twice a year to carry out restoration work, those years soon flew by, now that we have reached our mid 70' can no longer keep it up and have sold the property. We always looked forward to our trips and our time in France. I wonder if the Mairie is able to do something retrospectively? Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Well, you’ll never know unless you ask them! In my experience and from what I’ve seen of other people’s situations on here, the Mairie is usually pretty good at helping out, unlike your average French civil servant ! As Ericd said above, you’re going to have to specify the dates (mm/yy) from which you bought the property to when you sold it, and explain that the property was empty and uninhabitable. I don’t know, but I suspect that there’ll be a limit as to how far back you could get a refund for, but 1st step is the Mairie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennisj Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Hello and Thank you, the Mairie next stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 NB faux-ami alert! "inhabitable" in French means UNinhabitable in English (“habitable” in French means INhabitable in English) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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