Reminder: taxe foncière payment deadlines approach in France

Property owners in France who have not already paid their taxe foncière bill have until October 17 or 22 to do so, depending on their payment method.

Read more: Tax, no drinking, clocks: Dates in October to note in France

Bills have been available to view on impots.gouv.fr since August 29 for people paying yearly and from September 19 for those paying monthly.

People who request paper bills should have received theirs during September.

When are the deadlines?

The deadline for taxe foncière payments is:

• October 17 for those paying by cash, cheque, titre interbancaire de paiement (interbank payment order or TIP Sepa) or bank transfer

• October 22 if you pay directly through impots.gouv.fr or on the mobile app. The money will be taken from your account on October 27.

If you have previously signed up for a direct debit payment, it will also be taken on October 27.

How do I pay?

If you have more than €300 to pay, you can do so directly online or on the impots.gouv mobile app, by scanning the QR code on your bill.

You can log into your account by entering your numéro fiscal (tax number) and the numéro d’avis bill reference number.

People paying online should then choose the ‘Payer en ligne’ (Pay online) option in their account.

If you paid online last year, your bank details should have been recorded, saving you from having to enter them again.

It is also possible to opt for a direct debit payment, which will be scheduled for October 27.

However, it is now too late to sign up for direct debit payment for your 2022 bills, as this must be done by the last day of the month preceding the payment deadline, which was September 30 in this case.

If you sign up for it now, the direct debit will only begin to work for your 2023 bill.

If the bill is less than €300, you can pay directly online, by direct debit, by cheque, by TIP Sepa or by cash or card in an approved tabac.

How much do people have to pay?

Some 32 million households paid an average of €853 in taxe foncière last year, France’s Direction générale des finances publiques (DGFiP) has stated.

This average becomes €932 when only houses are counted, and €760 when only apartments are counted.

This year, bills will be more costly, as the state has increased the valeur locative cadastrale – the theoretical rental value used to calculate taxe foncière bills – by 3.4% for all properties, in line with inflation.

This is compared to a 0.4% rise last year.

Communes then apply their own taxe foncière percentage rates to one half of the valeur locative of the properties within them, with many increasing this year.

Read more: Some French towns raise taxe foncière by up to 19%, others stay level

Will I be penalised if I am late paying?

If you fail to pay your taxe foncière bill in the 45 days after the money is supposed to be collected, you will be charged 10% of the amount due as a penalty.

Can I still oppose errors in my bill?

If you think that your bill has been calculated incorrectly, you can appeal it until December 31 of the year following the payment.

To do this, go to impots.gouv.fr, then ‘Nous contacter/Ma messagerie sécurisée’ (Contact us/My secure messenger) and then choose the ‘Je signale une erreur sur le calcul de mon impôt’ (Reporting an error in the calculation of my tax).

You will receive an email confirming that your report has been lodged, and will be able to view the tax authorities’ response in your online messenger.

You should also lodge an appeal with your local authority.

You should still pay your bill in full; if you have overpaid you will be reimbursed the difference at a later date.

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