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PROPERTY

Calendar: 2024 French property tax deadlines

Property tax bills are being sent out, so here's a look at the deadlines to pay by, and the penalties you risk if you miss the cut-off date.

Published: 23 September 2024 12:09 CEST
Calendar: 2024 French property tax deadlines
The deadline is approaching for property tax bills. Photo: AFP

The autumn in France means property tax bills, with variable deadlines for paying.

Property owners in France get their bills for taxe foncière (the property owners’ tax) in September, while second-home owners will get a second bill for taxe d’habitation in November.

Taxe foncière bills

August 28th – people who pay their bills all in one go and have an online tax account have been able to see their bills in the Espace Particulier (personal account) of the impots.gouv.fr site from the end of August.

September 20th – bills appeared in the impots.gouv.fr account of people who pay by monthly direct debit on September 20th.

September 20th – those who get their bills on paper and pay their bills all in one go should receive their bill through the mail by September 20th.

October 9th – finally, those who prefer a paper bill and who pay monthly should get their bill through the mail by October 9th.

If you haven’t received a bill and are expecting one, you should visit or call your local tax office.

For people who have recently purchased a home, property taxes are calculated based on who owned the property on January 1st of the tax year. So if you bought a house or apartment in France after January 1st 2024, you will not receive your next tax bill until next year.

Tax foncière payment deadlines

The deadline varies depending on how you pay;

October 20th – if you want to either pay online (through the website or the Impots.gouv app) or set up a direct debit, the deadline to do this is October 20th. The money will then be taken out of your account five days later.

October 15th – if the amount you owe is less than €300, you also have the option of paying by cash at your local tax office or by cheque. If you want to pay by cheque it must be accompanied by a TIPSEPA, a form provided by your bank which serves as a reference for your payment.

Taxe d’habitation

The second property tax bills are for taxe d’habitation, but most property-owners will not be receiving these. Taxe d’habitation used to be paid by the person who occupied the property (either the tenant or an owner-occupier) but since 2019 has been gradually phased out.

These days, only second-home owners pay it. People who own a vacant property may be liable for the ’empty homes tax’ – this is paid instead of taxe d’habitation and only applies in a few specific cases (it does not apply to second homes, even if you have not visited recently) – more info here.

Bills

As with taxe foncière, the exact timing of the bill depends on how you pay

November 4th – bills appears in the online impots.gouv.fr space of people who pay the tax all in one go

November 18th – bills appears in the online space of people who pay by monthly direct debit

November 18th – for people who prefer to get their bills on paper, bills will be sent out by mail to people who pay all in one go between November 6th and 18th

November 28th – paper bills for people who pay monthly will be sent out between November 21st and 28th.

Deadline

The deadline to have either paid or set up a direct debit is December 15th.

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For members

PROPERTY

Explained: What is ‘Brussels IV’ and how could it affect your French property?

The outcome of the legal battle between the French national law and the EU law known as 'Brussels IV' could have a big impact on property-owners in France.

Published: 23 September 2024 14:20 CEST
Explained: What is 'Brussels IV' and how could it affect your French property?

Legal wrangles between the EU and the governments of member states are common and they usually don’t set pulses racing with excitement (unless you truly love Brussels legal jargon, in which case – good for you).

The outcome, however, can have a big impact on daily life – and this is certainly the case with what has become known as the ‘Brussels IV’ wrangle.

What is it?

This is about inheritance laws. France has, as you may know, a particularly strict set of inheritance laws that in effect make it impossible for parents to disinherit their children.

What are the rules on inheriting property in France?

For foreigners who own property in France – whether that is foreign nationals who live here or second-home owners – an expedient way around this has been to declare that they want their estate dealt with under the laws of their home country.

This is relatively simple and involves adding a codicil into your will to this effect and providing proof that you have a genuine connection to the country where you want your will administered (holding the passport of that country is sufficient).

We should note, however, that an exemption from inheritance laws is not the same as an exemption from inheritance tax.

French inheritance tax is applied is on a sliding scale depending on how closely you are related to the heir, with the top rate of tax – 60 percent – applying to people you are not related to such as friends, unmarried/pacsé partners or step-children (who have not been formally adopted).

How France’s inheritance tax system works

It’s therefore strongly advised to get professional legal advice in order to check before you make your will that you haven’t inadvertently landed your heirs with a huge tax bill through sidestepping French inheritance laws.

So what does this have to do with Brussels?

The provision that allows residents or property owners in one country to decide that they want their estate dealt with according to the laws of another country is made possible thanks to the EU Succession Regulation, known more colloquially as Brussels IV.

Choosing the law of the individual’s nationality (rather than country of residence) to apply is binding on the EU member state where the asset is situated. The ability to make a choice of law has applied since August 17th 2015 and applies to non-EU nationals as well as nationals of EU member states. It also applies to French people who are resident in another country.

And does France agree?

While foreigners tend to regard the French inheritance laws as an irksome restriction on their right to leave property to whoever they want, that is not the way that the French see it.

They view their inheritance laws as protective – essentially they are intended to protect children from being left destitute after being excluded from a will. 

Under French law the ‘reserved portion’ of the estate is the percentage that must be left to any children that you have (the exact percentage varies according to the number of children) and France considers this reserved portion to be a key right under its legal system.

On August 24th 2021, therefore, France passed the Droit de prélèvement compensatoire (right to compensatory levy) law. The law came into effect in November 2021.

This introduced a third paragraph into Article 913 of the Civil Code, which provides that “where the deceased or at least one of his children is, at the time of death, a national of a Member State of the European Union or habitually resident there and where the foreign law applicable to the succession does not allow any mechanism for reserving rights that protects children, each child or his or her heirs or successors may make a compensatory deduction from the existing property situated in France on the date of death, so as to be restored to the rights under French law, within the limits of those rights”.

In other words, you can still disinherit your children if you want, but under French law the child is entitled to make a claim to their portion of any property or assets in France. This could lead to notaires contacting disinherited children to inform them that they have the right to make a claim on the estate.

Because the French and the EU laws clearly contradict each other, several people have mounted legal challenges, including one to the European Court of Justice. These are ongoing.

So what’s the situation now?

It’s complicated. As things stand, both laws have been passed and are therefore legally binding. The final ruling will likely come via the outcome of legal challenges, but this could take years.

Anyone thinking of trying to apply Brussels IV provisions to their will in order to disinherit their children is therefore strongly advised to get professional advice from someone who is licensed to practice in both France and their country of residence.

It’s worth reiterating again that even if you find a way to sidestep French inheritance laws, this does not mean that your heirs are not liable for French inheritance tax.

Some people try to sidestep the French rules by putting their property into an SCI – essentially declaring it as a businesses – or buying en tontine, but both of these can create complications of their own.

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