Thousands of property owners in France sent ‘empty home tax’ bills in error
The bills, payable this December, can run to thousands of euros
Thousands of people have reported being sent an incorrect empty property tax notice
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Thousands of property owners in France have been wrongly sent ‘empty home tax’ bills, some for hundreds of euros, in what authorities are blaming on a “computer error”.
In areas that charge it, the TLV (taxe sur les logements vacants) applies to:
Unfurnished properties that are not rented out or lived in
Properties that have been vacant for at least one year on January 1 of the tax year (eg. on January 1, 2024, for bills payable in December 2024).
Normally, the payment notice is sent out in October, and payment must be made by December 15.
However, one property manager in Essonne, Frédéric Garnier, told Ouest France that around 30 owners had reported incorrect tax notices to him, “even though their property had been occupied by a tenant, sometimes for two years”.
“On average, the tax is equivalent to a month's rent,” he said. “For a studio that rents for €500, this can rise to €450. Or €1,800 for a larger flat.”
Several thousand incorrect tax bills have been reported across France, said Nicolas Calvel of the union Solidaires finances publiques.
The public finance department has admitted to “a few errors on notices sent out wrongly”, due to “the extension of the scope of taxes”.
Two taxes
Towns in France are increasingly levying a tax on empty and unfurnished homes, with authorities in any town considered to be under 'housing pressure' now applying it.
The TLV (taxe sur les logements vacants) applies to 3,697 towns in 2024, compared with just over 1,100 in 2023.
This is because of new legislation, published in 2023 but effective from 2024 that changed the eligibility criteria such that owners of property in any towns experiencing property market tension will have to pay the TLV.
The full list of towns concerned is available online.
A tax called the taxe d’habitation sur les logements vacants (THLV) may be levied in areas not considered to be zones tendues, if the local council votes to charge it.
This means that empty properties, even if they are in non-high-pressure areas, do not necessarily escape taxation.
You can read more details about both taxes in The Connexion’s article below.
Read also: More French towns are imposing ‘empty home tax’ in 2024
‘Errors persist’
Tax authorities have also blamed the errors on incorrectly filed tax returns. Since 2023, property owners have been required to declare the identity of the occupants of the property or properties they own every year (unless there has been no change since the previous declaration).
“Errors in declarations persist,” authorities said.
Yet, Mr Garnier said this explanation was unlikely. “We check each return filed by the homeowners we work with every year,” he said, adding that any errors are due to problems with the tax system. Hélène Cantin, from Solidaires finances publiques in Marne, added: “The application system is not satisfactory.”
Notice cancellations?
The deadline for payment of these bills would normally be December 15.
Anyone who believes they have been sent a notice incorrectly should contact the tax authorities, who say they will then “cancel the notices concerned directly”.
Yet, union rep Mr Calvel has said he is sceptical that already-swamped tax advisors will have time to deal with this influx of extra cancellations, and said the errors should never have happened in the first place.
