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TAXES

Reader question: How can I challenge my French tax bill?

Living in France involves paying plenty of taxes, but if you receive a bill that is unusually large, here's how to go about checking it and challenging it if necessary.

Reader question: How can I challenge my French tax bill?
Photo by PHILIPPE HUGUEN / AFP

Question: I just received my French tax bill and it’s roughly four times bigger than in previous years, even though my circumstances haven’t changed. Help!

Tax rates in France are generally quite high – overall French residents have the highest tax burden in the EU – but if your bill has suddenly massively increased while your circumstances haven’t changed, it could be a mistake.

Income taxes v property taxes

You get two tax bills per years in France – income tax and property tax.

If you are a resident in France you must fill in the annual tax declaration, even if all your income comes from outside France. The deadline for the declaration is May/June (depending on where you live) and bills are sent out in July and August, with payment due from September.

These bills cover tax and social charges on your income.

Bills for property taxes are sent out in the autumn and cover taxe d’habitation and taxe foncière. Taxe foncière is paid by the property owner and taxe d’habitation is paid by the householder. Taxe d’habitation is gradually being phased out and now applies only to second-home owners and high earners.

Property taxes are set at a local level and taxe foncière has been increasing sharply in recent years – your bill may also increase if you have done significant home improvements such as installing a swimming pool

Income tax

Your annual tax declaration covers all your income (eg pensions, salary, rental income) plus any tax credits that you are entitled to such as family tax credits.

Your total bill is then calculated as the tax you owe on your income, minus any tax that you have already paid (for example for employees who have their taxes deducted at source) and minus any tax credits that you are entitled to.

For most people their bill is slightly different each year depending on exact income and tax credit level, but if your circumstances have stayed largely the same and the bill has suddenly quadrupled, there is likely to be an error somewhere.

Next steps

If you suspect an error, the next step is working out whether it was your mistake or the tax office’s, and whether it’s your new total that is correct or your previous total (as it’s possible that you have been under-paying in previous years).

If your tax affairs are complicated then it’s probably best to get a professional to do this, here are some of the things to check first:

READ ALSO: How can I find professional help with my French taxes?

Do you have income outside France? If you have income outside France – eg a pension or rental income in your home country – then you have to declare this to the French tax man but if your home country has a dual taxation agreement with France (and most countries do) then you won’t have to pay any tax on it in France.

If your bill has suddenly jumped then it’s possible that you’re being taxed on this income – either due to a mistake in the tax office or because you did not declare it as revenus de source étrangère (foreign income) on your tax declaration.

Is your bill for taxes or social charges? French tax bills are made up of two things – impots (tax) and charges sociales (social charges eg unemployment insurance and pension contributions).

Certain types of foreign income such as investment income are not taxed, but may have social charges paid. However, social charges are not applicable to a foreign pension, so if charges have been applied to your pension, then this is an error.

Correct declaration

If you realise that you made an error on your tax declaration, then you can correct it and ask for a new tax calculation to be made based on the new information.

If you file your declaration online, you can also correct it online by going to your impots.gouv account and clicking on Accéder à la déclaration en ligne then clicking on corriger.

If you declared on paper you can file a new declaration, stating on the first page that it is a ‘correct and replace’ declaration.

Tax office

If you can’t work out where the error is, or you’re pretty sure that it’s the tax office at fault, you can visit and ask for help – even quite small French towns have a tax office that is open to the public. 

The first step is to find your local tax office – Google ‘Centre des Finances Publique’ plus the name of your commune, and up should come the address of your local office.

It’s best to check in advance, because officials can only help those in the area covered by a particular office, so they will just have to send you elsewhere if you turn up at the wrong centre.

Most centres don’t require an appointment, so just go in and ask for help – it’s a good idea to take all relevant documentation with you, and certainly a printout of the tax you received and your most recent tax declaration.

To the surprise of foreigners who might be used to dealing with HMRC or the IRS, French tax office employees are not only accessible, they are also by and large friendly and helpful and will be happy to look over your declaration and explain the reasons for your bill. 

If it seems that your bill is an error, you can request a recalculation, and if you visit the tax office the official will help you fill in the form and lodge the request. 

Fines

If your tax affairs are not in order, it’s also possible that you could be fined by the tax office.

The most common reasons for fines levied on foreigners in France are;

Missing the declaration deadline – deadlines for the tax declaration are in May or June depending where you live, and if you miss the deadline you are liable for late fees, which increase as time goes on.

The French tax calendar for 2022

Not completing the declaration – if you are a resident in France you must complete the annual declaration – even if you are a salaried employee who has already had their tax deducted at source, or if you have no income in France (eg you live on a pension paid from your home country). In many circumstances you won’t have to pay any tax in France, but you still need to fill in the declaration.

If you are a British second-home owner who has obtained the post-Brexit carte de séjour (sometimes known as the WARP card or TUE Article 50) you are considered a resident by French authorities and must make the declaration – full details here.

If you fail to complete the declaration and ignore all reminders, French tax authorities do have the power to make an estimated tax bill and send that to you.

Not declaring foreign bank accounts – if you have accounts outside of France, which many foreigners do, you must declare these on your tax declaration, even if the accounts are dormant or only have tiny amounts in them.

This also applies to any foreign investment schemes you have, such as life insurance policies. 

The penalty for not listing accounts is between €1,500 and €10,000 and that applies for each account you fail to declare. 

Please note, this article constitutes general advice only – for individual tax questions it is best to seek professional help.

Member comments

  1. I am an Australian national, resident in France for a number of years. I receive income from my personal superannuation fund which is non taxed in Australia. However although there’s a tax agreement with France it is silent on the question of superannuation and thus I have to declare the income and so it is taxed.

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For members

SECOND HOMES

What second-home owners need to know about French taxes

If you have a second-home in France you will need to get involved in the French tax system - here's what you need to know about bills, declarations and deadlines.

What second-home owners need to know about French taxes

Spring is tax season in France and even if you are neither a full-time resident nor a tax resident, if you own property here you will still need to understand the French tax system. 

For second-home owners there are three main things to be aware of; tax declarations, property tax bills and property-related income. 

Tax declarations

There are two types of tax declaration in France and you’ll definitely have to do one, but probably won’t have to do the other.

Income declaration – The first one is the annual déclaration des revenus (income tax declaration) which comes round every spring – this year declarations open on April 11th with the deadline to have completed in May or June, depending on your address.

Everyone who lives in France has to do this (even if they have no income in France) and second-home owners may have to complete it in certain circumstances.

The first is to do with length of stay in France – France requires the declaration for people who ‘live in France’, and this can apply to anyone who spends more than six out of 12 months here. This won’t apply to most second-home owners, but it can become applicable to people who pay multiple short visits here (especially those who hold a short-stay visa) which can add up to more than six months in 12.

The second category is to do with income in France – if you have French income, including from renting out your property on platforms such as Airbnb for short periods, then you will need to declare it in France. In this case you fill out the déclaration des revenus for overseas residents.

You can find full details on how to find and complete the form HERE.

Property tax declaration – this second declaration is the déclaration d’occupation or property tax declaration. This is a one-off task so you don’t need to do it every year, only when your circumstances change.

It was introduced as a new requirement in 2023 and must be completed by everyone who owns property in France, including those who live in another country.

If you filled it out last year you don’t need to do it again unless your circumstances change, but if you either didn’t do it last year for whatever reason or you have bought a property in the last 12 months, you will need to complete the declaration this summer. The exact deadline is still TBC, but last year it was July. 

This form is much more straightforward than the income tax declaration and just asks for basic details about you and your property including its size.

The crucial section (because it determines how much tax you pay) is what your property is used for – main residence, second home or rented out. If the property is mainly used by you as a second home then you list yourself as ‘owner-occupier’, even if you are not in full-time residence there. 

You can find full details on how to fill out the form HERE.

The 2024 French tax calendar

Impots online 

Both of these forms are usually completed online and to do this you will need to create an account on the French tax website impots.gouv.fr – find our guide on how to set up the account HERE.

The property tax declaration is described as an ‘online only’ process – in truth there are exemptions for people who either don’t have internet access or don’t feel confident completing procedures online.

However as a second home owner it will be much more convenient to declare and pay online if you can, since this doesn’t require you being physically present at your French property at tax time. 

Property taxes

If you own property in France you will be liable for property taxes and as a second-home owner you will pay two taxes; taxe foncière and taxe d’habitation.

Taxe foncière is the property-owners’ tax and is paid by everyone who owns property in France – French or foreign, whether the property is a main residence, second-home or rented out.

Taxe d’habitation is a little different. It used to be referred to as a householders’ tax and was paid by the occupant of the property (similar to council tax in the UK), however in recent years the system has changed and taxe d’habitation has been gradually phased out for almost everyone.

This means that tenants in France now pay no property tax at all, while people who own their own home pay only taxe foncière.

The only people who still pay both taxes are second-home owners (both French and foreign).

The bills arrive in the autumn, usually taxe foncière first in September or October and taxe d’habitation later in October or November.

They are calculated according to a complicated formula that takes into account the value of your property, the tax rate set locally and the national tax rate, which means that bills vary quite widely between different areas of France.

You can find the most recent breakdown of average tax bills HERE and if you think your bill is wrong, you can find how to challenge it HERE.

Extensions, alterations and swimming pools

If you are having work done on your property you may also be liable to an extra one-off tax, known as the building tax – more detail HERE.

If you do work that significantly affects the value of your property – such as building an extension or adding a swimming pool, then you need to notify authorities. Because property taxes are partly based on the value of your property, you can expect your bills to rise after major works. 

If you have a pool, it will be listed separately on your property tax declaration. 

What to know about installing a pool at your French property

Rental income

Many second-home owners rent out their property for a few weeks of the year, in order to help cover the running costs. This summer plenty of people who own property in or around Paris are considering renting it out on Airbnb during the Olympics or Paralympics, to make a bit of extra cash.

If you want to do this it is perfectly legal, but there are some things that you need to know.

The first is that, as described above, having any kind of income in France – including rental income – means that you need to complete the annual property tax declaration. 

Even if you’re just renting it as a one-off during the Olympics you will need to declare it on the spring 2025 declaration – and be aware that Airbnb sends information on hosts directly to the French tax authorities.

If you’re renting out your property you may also have to register it as a holiday rental with the maire – the rules here vary according to area but most mairies in tourist areas require registration. If you’re using Airbnb, the platform itself has a helpful guide to registration requirements, otherwise the best thing is to go to the mairie and ask what the rules are in your area.

Some areas have extra restrictions on the number of days that second homes can be rented out each year, while the city of Paris has a total ban on renting out second homes.

READ ALSO 5 things to know about renting out your French property

You can find more information about taxes in our 2024 French Tax Guide, or our tax section here

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