French second-home tax bills have begun arriving: what you need to know

Notices for this year’s taxe d’habitation (second home tax) are beginning to arrive in France, either through the post or online through personal spaces on the French tax website. 

Bills will arrive online or be sent in the post between November 2 - 26 depending on how households opt to receive and pay the tax. 

Calculations for the tax are based on the theoretical annual rental value (valeur locative cadastrale, VLC) of the property. 

This increases annually based on inflation in the previous year, in this case from 2025. For this year’s bill, this corresponds to an increase of 0.8% (the same for the taxe foncière).  

Local authorities vote to set a tax rate which is applied to the VLC, setting the final amount of the tax. This means bills can vary considerably from one commune to the next. 

Authorities in thousands of communes in areas considered to suffer from housing shortages are permitted to vote to apply an additional taxe d’ habitation surtax on second homes, with nearly 700 now applying the maximum surtax of 60%.

In some limited cases, however, bills may fall from one year to the next depending on the rates set by local authorities.

Unlike the taxe foncière property tax, exemptions for taxe d’habitation are very limited. 

Indeed, there is only one full exemption for typical owners, which is for people who had to leave their property to move into a retirement home or other facility (thus making their former main residence a ‘secondary property’).

Some exemptions on the surtax exist, but these do not apply to the base rate of the tax.

Owners of certain furnished short-term rental properties can also benefit from exemptions, although this is dependent on local authorities voting to exempt them.

A full explainer on how the tax is calculated and how exemptions work is available in our overview here.

What does the tax notice show? 

The notice (avis) is similar to other documents sent out by tax authorities.

It will contain information about the property owner and address at the top of the document.

On the left-hand side, it will show further information including the occupant’s tax number (numéro fiscal), the reference number for the document, and information about the relevant tax authority services. 

The centre of the first page will show how much the household still needs to pay for the tax, as well as the deadline for payment.

The second page will show information on how the tax was calculated, including the value of the VLC (base d’imposition) and the rate or rates set by local authorities (taux d’imposition), including the commune and in some cases an intercommunal body.

Where applicable, it will also show the rates of additional surtax if your property is in a zone tendue (area of housing shortage) and these have been applied by local authorities. 

It will also, where relevant, show any additional levies such as a GEMAPI tax (for measures combatting flooding). 

Deadlines to pay the tax fall on December 15 (payment through cash, bank transfer, cheque, all limited to sums of €300 or less) or December 20 (online payment through the tax website or app). 

You can set up a direct debit to pay the tax by November 30 at the latest. For those paying monthly, the tax is taken out between January - October, with final deductions in November and December for outstanding balances based on increases to the tax. 

It is too late to set up monthly payments for this year's version of the tax, but you can set up monthly payments for future iterations through your login on the French tax website.

Compare previous notices

It may be helpful to compare your new notice to previous versions, to see how much the amount due has changed compared to previous years. 

If you believe there has been an error in calculating the bill, for example because it has risen steeply and this is not fully explained by a rise in the tax rates, you should contact your local tax office using information on the first page of the document, or online through the secure messaging space.

Note, however, that even in the event of a dispute you need to pay the tax (and if you are correct, receive a refund at a later date). 

Non-payment will see an additional 10% surcharge added, and could result in further sanctions. Read our article here for advice if you cannot pay your bill. 

You should keep the avis for as long as possible, both as proof of how much you were asked to pay and in case you wish to contest future charges.