What changes in France in December

As always, the start of a new month brings a number of changes to life in France. December 2018 sees nothing major come into effect, but there is some good news for for nearly 5million householders; it's the last chance to check your tax returns for the year - and new rules come into effect that could affect people living in condominiums.

Gas

For the first time in six months, the regulated price of gas is set to fall on December 1, relieving a modicum of pressure on the wallets of some 4.6million households. As always, however, the fall varies according to levels of use. Those who use gas just for cooking will see a 0.8% drop in tariffs; the price will fall 1.5% for those who use gas for cooking and hot water; while households with gas heating will see the largest drop, of 2.4%.

Taxes

Online income tax returns filed in the Spring can be amended until December 18 in case of corrections to revenue and expenses.

Taxpayers can modify income levels, any tax reductions and credits or the audiovisual licence by logging on to impots.gouv.fr and clicking on the Corriger / Ma déclaration en ligne 2018 link.

Anyone who made a paper declaration who wishes to make changes to their declarations have to write to tax authorities.

Register of co-owned properties

Properties or groups of properties that have fewer than 50 units, such as smaller condominiums that are owned jointly by a number of people must be centrally registered (registre-coproprietes.gouv.fr) along with larger co-owned properties by the end of December.

This change will affect few people directly, as condominium properties of this type are generally the responsibility of professional businesses.

Penalties for delays to registration are set at €20 per unit per week.