Seven million households due tax refund

Millions of taxpayers will be obtaining refunds of taxe d'habitation property tax this week.

Refunds for those concerned should be arriving in people’s bank accounts from tomorrow, with the average amount estimated to be €220.

The refunds are due because from this year 80% of households (not including those with the hightest incomes) are entitled to exemption from this tax as part of a government policy of progressively removing the tax for main homes.

However in many cases those set up to pay the tax in regular instalments in advance (mensualisation) have continued to pay these this year unless they deliberately registered a change in their accounts online at the end of last year.

This is the money that is being refunded this week to some 6.8million taxpayers, for a total amount of around €1.5billion.

The refund will show on your bank statement with a reference that includes the terms MENSUALISE and REMB EXCD IMPOT – for remboursement d’exédent d’impôt (reimbursement of tax overpayment).

Exemption from taxe d’habitation this year is based on your revenu fiscal de référence (net taxable income) shown on your last avis d’imposition tax statement, with the ceiling being variable according to family size.

It needs to have been less than €27,706 for a single person without a dependent child or €50,281 for a couple with one child.

Apart from in the case of exemptions, taxe d'habitation is usually payable by whoever was living in a property as their home on January 1 of a given year (or those who had the property available for their use).

Those who still have taxe d’habitation to pay this year due to their income levels should have received their avis d’imposition online this week in their personal space at impots.gouv.fr unless they pay by mensualisation, in which case they will be issued on October 19.

The tax remains payable for second homes regardless of income, and everyone who uses a television still has to pay the €138 television licence fee (contribution à l'audiovisuel public) which is traditionally billed for along with this tax.

Unless you ticked on your last income tax form to say you have no television, you will still receive an avis for this. If relevant the avis will also mention on it the amount of taxe d’habitation that you would have paid without the government’s reform of the tax for main homes.

The payment deadline with be November 16, with an extension to November 21 if paying online.

For those still paying taxe d’habitation due to income levels, there will be a progressive reduction from next year, starting at 30% in 2021, rising to 65% in 2022 and with exemption from 2023.