Looking fro some advice
Hi everyone
We bought a French house in the lovely Chartreuse Mountains Savoie/Isere last year but I don’t seem to be receiving any information bout the local taxes I need to pay. The taxe fonciere and the taxe d’habitation. I assumed the Notary or the real estate agent would have registered us for this as they did all other things. But to date (bought in Feb 2015) I have seen no paperwork etc.
If someone would be so kind as to inform me how I register myself or check, I would be very grateful
No worry for 2015 local taxes as the owner/occupyier as of January 1st, 2015 has paid for them. There is a snitch anyway and you should have received your 2016 tax statements (property tax in October and housing tax in November). Contact your local tax office by mail, they usually answer more rapidly than if you try to call them or ask for an appointment.
Maybe the documents have all been sent to your previous adresse? However it is your responsibility to inform all the FR authorities of your intention to live in FR on a permanent basis as Notaires are prone to “oublie”. If it were me I would visit my dept of Taxes d’Impot, d’habitation et Foncieres PDQ.
Bonne chance et bon courage…
Whoever is the occupier on 1st January pays the taxe d’habitation but the impôts fonciers are usually pro-rata: if a house is sold say in June then you will pay half, but how and when is usually sorted out when you sign the compromis de vente, it is one of the questions the notaire should ask you and the seller because you deal with it between yourselves. Many years ago after I had bought my house (in April) and we’d agreed about the pro-rata at the notaire’s, the seller sent me the bills for both the Td’H and the IF at about this time of year, I sent him back a cheque for 8 months’ worth of IF and a photocopy of the relevant bit of law on Td’H. Go and see your local tax people.
Hi Andy. We had the same happen to us
We moved here (Dinan) in August 2015 and we have been waiting since October this year to find out what our taxes would be.
We eventually called into the tax office this week to see if we could find out (on an ‘act first before they fine us’ basis,lol)
Not only had the bills been addressed to our previous English address, they had also addressed them to Russia not UK!!! So heaven only knows where they ended up.
Anyway, all late fees etc (if there were to be any) waived and address, hopefully, changed! Paid in full to get it over with,lol.
Let’s see what happens next year
How to Pay Tax D’ Habitaion &/or Tax Foncier – on line
you can pay on line by following these steps:
On line - go to: http://www.impots.gouv.fr/part/part.html
Choose the Individuals Tab (Particuliers)
Hover your mouse over: - Your Taxes (Vois impost)
Then from the new Menus:- Choose either – Property Tax (Taxe d’habitation or Taxe foncier-bati)
Then under the Tab on the left click on Access your Space or Log-In (Accedeza votre espace)
Down the very bottom click on Pay on Line (payer en ligne)
Next page says Welcome to your Tax payment Site (Bienvenue sur le site du paiement de l’impôt)
Enter Tax number on your invoice (Numero fiscal - without spaces & the Letter) – then press Continue
Next page On Line Payment – bottom right click on pay on line (payer en ligne)
Next Page – Reference page – from your Invoice enter the Reference Notice Number (Reference de l’avis)
Click on Confirmer
Next screen is CARACTERISTIQUES DE L’AVIS D’IMPOSITION (CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NOTICE OF TAXATION)
Click confirmer
That should take you to the online payment screen where you need to fill in your IBAN number, remember to fill out the authorisation for your bank and post it on.
Hope this makes the process a little more clearer
Cheers Peter
Our local tresorie says there is no Taxe d’habitation due, even though we bought our house (holiday home) in June 2015. We have received the water bill and the Fonciere as expected, but no avis arrived for the Habitation so I went to the local tresorie to ask and was told there was nothing due. I can’t work out why not! The tresorie suggested I telephone the prefecture in the nearest big town, but my ‘telephone French’ isn’t really up to interrogating civil servants.
My French neighbours laugh and say that it’s the Tresorie’s problem not ours but I’m worred we’ll get fined for late payment. Is this likely? We are UK resident (no income in France) and under retirement age.
Any ideas? Should I write to the prefecture and ask, or follow my neighbours advice and let sleeping bureaucrats snooze on?
It should come to the same address as that shown on the Taxe Fonciere… was that straightforward ??
There may well be delays in your first-time bills coming out.
I know our main Tresor Publique has had a backlog of paperwork.
Spoke with them last November on similar query to yours. They assured me that my neighbour need not panic… his 2016 Taxe D’Habitation bill would be arriving in a few months.
He has just received it and is dashing to the local offices to pay.
Thank you Stella, that is most helpful. Having received in UK and paid the Fonciere without major problem (other than the inability of the local Tresorie’s dyslexia where English post codes are concerned), the lack of a Habitation is mystifying. Perhaps I will find it being eaten by snails in our French post box on our next visit!
Oddly, that’s not necessarily the case. To this day my taxe foncière has my old UK address on it and my taxe d’habitation has my French address. I think it’s because for the first year it was a second home; then I moved, and the tax office picked this up from my tax returns for the habitation, but it didn’t get picked up for the foncière. And since I opted for paperless billing, it makes no odds and I’ve never bothered pointing it out.
However, I don’t see how this can have happened in the OP’s case, since he hasn’t changed from second home to principal residence.
However, when I contacted Nontron for my neighbour… they asked if the TF (which had been paid) had arrived at the correct address…as it was the only one they had. I confirmed it was correct and they said that the TD’H would (eventually) be sent to that same address. (hence my reply to Nicola)
Our Mairie had already advised me that…“If the powers that be send the TD’H to a different address to where they sent the TF… they are on a sticky wicket if they try to impose “late payment” charges.” and this went some way towards comforting my neighbour.
I’m sure Nicola’s missing bill will soon be sorted out…
Thank you both. I’ll be back in France soon to finish plastering the grenier so the bill will be in the post box, (or will arrive in England as soon as I get on the ferry). Or else I will bribe my French neighbour with the promise of a sumptuous lunch in our prefecture town if she will go with me to the office and sort them out. Might try the email approach in the meantime.
Nicola - much as I’d like to agree with your French neighbour there is a general rule with tax authorities which is that it does not matter if the mistake is theirs, you will still have to foot the bill when they realise, and once they do realise they tend to be inpatient for their money. I imagine the French tax office is no different
If you only have a verbal indication that no Taxe d’Habitation is payable I would get it in writing along with the reason that they think you are exempt, then check the regulations yourself.
In our case we also bought in early 2015 and the Notaire handled the payments the first year. The avis for the 2016 Foncière came through (to our UK address I was pleasantly surprised) on time but nothing arrived for the TD’H. When I enquired the local Trésor claimed to know nothing about us! They, however, passed it up to the regional office in Vannes who simply said it hadn’t been done yet - it eventually turned up last week. I suspect that we somehow slipped through but how they could get us for the Foncière but not the Habitation I don’t know!
