French taxe foncière exemption for eco-renovations: how does it work?

People who carry out significant eco-friendly renovation works on their home can sometimes obtain a partial or full exemption on their taxe foncière bills for three years.

This offer is in place in 453 local authority areas, with reductions ranging from 50% to 100%.

What do I need to do to benefit?

Residents who are in areas where this exemption is available must:

• Be the owners of a property completed before January 1, 1989

• Have spent more than €10,000 after tax (without labour costs) on renovations aimed at making the property more energy efficient

• These expenses must have come in the year before the first year of exemption

• If the renovations were paid for in the three years before the taxe foncière, they must have cost more than €15,000

• Eligible projects include those that used to qualify for Crédit d’impôt pour la transition énergétique (CITE) before this tax credit was withdrawn. Such renovations include installing double-glazed windows, fitting new eco-friendly heating systems, insulating walls etc.

How do I know if my commune offers an exemption?

The local authorities offering a taxe foncière reduction in 2023 must have voted in favour of such a decision before October 1, 2022.

Examples of participating communes include Massy (Essonne), Roubaix (Nord) and Signy-le-Petit (Ardennes).

To know whether or not your local authority offers a tax reduction, you can contact your mairie or your local tax office. You will find the contact details for the latter on your latest tax bill or on impots.gouv.fr, under the heading ‘Contacter RDV’ (Contact, appointments).

How do I apply?

If you live in a commune where you can benefit from a taxe foncière reduction, you should write to the tax office your property falls under.

You should include details of the property including its address, the date on which its construction was completed and information regarding the nature of the work done to it – such as bills or Reconnu garant de l’environnement certificates.

You can also send your request from your online tax space, by clicking on ‘Message sécurisée’ (Secure messaging), ‘Écrire’ (Write) and then ‘Je pose une autre question / J’ai une autre demande’ (I am asking another question / I am making a different request).

It is sometimes possible to benefit from the tax exemption more than once if you carry out different renovations at a later date, but only at 10 year intervals.

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