After swimming pools, the tax authorities track undeclared verandas and garden sheds
The tax authorities continue their hunt for fraudsters, thanks to artificial intelligence. Undeclared swimming pools were the first targets. The administration intends to identify between 80,000 and 100,000 this year, in addition to the 20,000 unearthed in 2022. In total, 50 to 60 million euros should go into the coffers of the State, as part of the collection of property tax. Because the taxman assumes that the swimming pool increases the value of the house and therefore the property tax. Summer equipment is not the only one in Bercy’s sights. House extensions too. “The idea is to make our new tool profitable until the end and to continue to levy the tax which is our DNA.“, explains the General Directorate of Public Finance.
What are we talking about? Closed habitable constructions, several tens of m² on the ground, attached for the most part to a house, which “modify the structure of the dwellings“, specifies the DGFIP, and which require a prior declaration of work or a building permit, depending on their area. This is the case, for example, of verandas but also of garden sheds, subject to development tax and or to property tax which have been soaring for several years. “These are not shelters under 5 m² but rather 10/15 m² which could be used as an additional bedroom“, adds the tax administration, contacted by Le Figaro. On the other hand, the pergola is not concerned because a priori open. “A priori” because, depending on how it is built, it can be likened to a kind of veranda and in this case, it is subject to property tax. A taxpayer from Orleans, in conflict with the tax authorities, recently learned of this the hard way.
What schedule? As for swimming pools, the DGFIP has planned, initially to experiment with the tracking of undeclared house extensions in several departments and then to generalize it to the whole of France. It will begin to look into the matter from the beginning of next year. “We are first of all committed to making progress in tracking down undeclared swimming pools. The results will be published by the end of the year“says the tax administration. How many undeclared extensions? “Probably between 1% and ten % maximum“, according to the DGFIP.
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