Unless your affairs are very complicated it is not usually necessary. I've always completed ours in pencil then popped into the Hotel des Impots with all the supporting pieces of paper and asked them to check that I have put them in the right boxes.
As to what is complicated, our declaration has included in the past, French salary, part time 'prime d'emploi', UK self-employment, French rental income and deficit from renovations, French self employed AE, house improvements rebates and childcare rebates. Sometimes all of them on the same declaration:-)
I agree Roger, I would also ask to see the Taxe Fonciere before buying and check out the H1/H2 before buying, it can make a massive difference on top of your mortgage. Our two taxes work out at 240€ extra a month - no swimming pool, no annexes just 180m2 plus a double garage and a long, long garden, that we didn't really want but came with the property
All the Notaire is required to do is to apportion the proportion of Taxe Foncières due to the seller and to the buyer. There is no requirement to check that it is all correct!
Having been caught out when we bought our house, should we ever move again within France, I would demand to see before agreeing to purchase, a copy of the Taxe Foncières, the Taxe d’Habitation, and also the Déclaration Modèle H1, Impôts Locaux - Statement H1, Local Taxes. I would insist these details are included as part of the initial documentation before signing anything.
The details of that document Statement H1, determine the formula used in the assessment of both d’Habitation and Foncière, as we have learnt to our cost!
Statement H1 establishes not only the floor space used for habitable space, but also the total amount of land used by your property, and it is on that latter part that the Raw Rental Value - La valeur locative brute is established, which is then used as the base for calculating the amount of Taxe Foncière. Your declared income and your age then become a part of the formula eventually used.
Our predecessors had not signed off on the installation of a pool, and internal alterations which actually enlarged the property and added an extra toilet, two years before we purchased. I now believe they did not do so because they had been paying both Foncière and d’Habitation based upon a Statement H1 completed in the early 70s - in other words never paying the full taxes during their years of occupation. We innocently completed, as accurately as we could, the Statement H1, which was demanded of us when the failure to sign off on a planning application landed on our doormat. I won’t bore you with the details of where that took us!!
Thanks, HILS. On the way to California to visit my 97 year old aunt. Great lady, lives alone in a regular apartment, does on cooking, cleaning, etc! RE: Taxes. Think I’ll pay a visit to the Notaire when I get there. First, gotta get all my ducks in a row for TDF, my first and bucket list item. Have a great weekend. Paul
I have been reading all your comments on the complexity for the French tax system with trepidation. I lived in France for about fifteen years but I had to return to the UK ten years ago. Now I wish too retire and return to the South West of France by next year. Would it be a better idea to employ a book keeper to fill in all the paperwork and /or check my figures before they are sent into the impo.
Sadly, it doesn't work quite like that. There is a kind of benchmark regarding the rentable value of the property, but then each Commune levies its own multiplying percentages for the TF and the Td'H, and then the Td'H is subject to deductions based on the RFR of the occupiers as at 01 Jan of each year. If the property isn't actually "let", the owner is liable for the Td'H at FULL rate if it's a Maison Secondaire, ie not your main and fiscal residence (& in some places there's even a surcharge, but I don't think that applies to your area). Unfortunately, you can't even compare "similar" properties if they fall into different Communes.
The Hotel des Impots can tell you what last year's TF was (as should the notaire), but the Td'H will have been dependent upon the previous owner's tax status. You can, however, ask the Hotel des Impots what the MAX Td'H would have been. Don't forget to take into account the TV licence, if applicable - NB if there's no televisual equipment in the property (ie no equipment that could possibly receive a TV signal, whether aerial, sat or optic (ADSL) - current exception is computer, but I'm sure they'll catch up with that one soon, even if you don't actually use it for such), you need to tell the Hotel des Impots in advance.
NB once you're into the system for the first time, you can deal with all this stuff on-line, so you'll be able to cancel the post forward contract, if you want to. There is light at the end of the tunnel ...
Thanks Tracy, the notaire took care of the Taxe Fonciere at the time of purchase (according to him). Since I am non-resident, over 60, is there some guideline as to the amount the tax may be? In other words, the amount of tax per 10,000 euros of value? Thanks for the information. Guess I'll have to keep the forwarding contract with the poste in place all the time!
You can find out by asking at the Hotel des Impots Paul. Taxe Fonciere for 2012 will/should have been sorted out by the notiare when you bought the house, taxe d'habitation is payable on the house you live in on January 1st so as you didn't buy till July you are not liable till this year around October time.
My thoughts also but I didn't want to be categoric in case other factors came in to play (& the better-informed jumped on me again ;)). You're right tho' - the Declaration is paramount - & if you're not fiscally liable to do it in France, Taxe d'Hab. will likely be charged at top rate.
I wish ! Nope we are both over 60 and we pay Taxe d'habitation. You must file an income tax return to qualify for any reductions based on age, income etc.
To be honest I can't remember without digging out last year's paperwork - I know age does have an implication, in conjunction with your RFR, but I don't know what the threshold is for this year. Apart from anything else "they" keep changing things. But I think it's also not a complete exoneration unless you're on the poverty line or if you're really "aged" (and that doesn't necessarily apply to the Redevance Televisual); I think there's a sliding scale. Don't worry that the Hotel des Impots won't know; they do have your birthdates, but you would be well-advised to scrutinise the paperwork when it comes in just to make sure. Nothing to worry about just yet anyway; more pressing priorities should be the Declaration de Revenus.
You enter your gross pension amount on form 2042 and on form 2047 you indicate that it is taxed at source in Canada. I don't know if they can charge you CDS (cotizations) on this - they don't for UK pensioners but I can't find any data on it with regards to other countries.
Your Taxe Fonciere bill will be sent out in Aug/Sept and Taxe d'Habitation bill will be sent out in Sept/Oct each respectively due for payment 4 to 6 weeks later. As a maison secondaire you're not eligible for any deductions from the top rate for those two based on a tax return in France - sorry, and you're not in France for long enough to be liable to have to do a Declaration here, are you? But nothing to fret about until September-ish for the Taxe Fonciere or d'Habitation.
Tracey, I am totally new here and have probably overlooked something, but here goes: I have a small house in the Aude area I bought last July. Will I be sent some notice of when and how much property tax? If not, how can I learn the amount? Thanks in advance.
What ever you do, don't throw them away! The first lists any income you have from bank accounts and so on and tells you exactly which boxes to place each figure in. The second is the document you produce if the tax people query your return.
Got a 'funny' from the bank today, well two 'funnies' actually.
I wondered if anyone had any knowledge/experience of these documents. 'Document d'aide a votre declaration de Revenus 2012', and 'Justificatif a produire aux Services Fiscaux (*) Operations sur valeurs mobilieres et revenus de capitaux mobiliers'.
They are usually very helpful, we took the forms down to get them filled out the first few times - that was when I found out that 'vous' was my OH and 'conjoint' was me - bit behind the times in France.
However, if AE is your only income I may be able to help you out as it's not that bad.
Yes, they are still doing it. I've just been helping some French friends today, so nobody but nobody feel you are some kind of freak for not being able to do it. It is not fun. Just to get me in the mood, I just had a message to tell me to do my AE quarterly bit from URSSAF. Not now, I have two weeks so I'll get in the mood :-(
I am now fearful of messing the forms up - my French is almost non existent apart from "hello" but perhaps if I have to go down there brandishing my invoice book and declarations, I'll adopt a Bodicea face first.