EuroTrash

EuroTrash is confused again.

Taxe d'habitation. I thought it was applied as per your circumstances on 1st Jan of the year in question. So, the bills that are being issued now, are based on your situation on 1 Jan 2020.

I left France in February 2019 and have to all intents and purposes been resident in the UK since then.
The tax office know that, because I told them on my tax form in 2019 and I confirmed it on my tax form in 2020. And I have had correspondence with them during the year.
Last year I was charged taxe d'habitation on the basis of being tax resident in France, which was what I expected because as of 1.1.2019 I was indeed tax resident in France.
However I have just found my taxe d'hab bills online - I get 2, one for my house and one for a garage which I rent which technically is classed as a secondary residence (like I would go stay in my garage for my holidays, but I suppose how else can they classify a property that you occupy but which is not your main residence).
They are both for 0€. Why? I expected to be classed as non-resident this year, so shouldn't I be charged full whack for both?
Not that I'm complaining... but it doesn't seem right
Is it just because they like me/feel sorry for me?

cyrian

Which tax office? Do you think that the different tax offices talk to one another?
I thought that the only criteria was a principle residence or a second home.
If your home is registered as a main residence then you would be exempt and for a second home you would be charged.
We initially went to the local tax office to clarify the Taxe d' and Taxe F. Apparently it was a different tax office for those taxes. Silly me.
I also noticed that our direct debit payments are taken by an office in Alsace - several hundreds of Km away.
Perhaps they are not joined-up and you will get a lovely surprise in a few years - namely a large bill.
I can't check ours because we are in the UK for God knows how long.

EuroTrash

Yes I thought that was the only criteria, too.
AFAIK taxe d'habitation for residents is calculated from your tax return, because how else do they know whether or how much to bill you.
It's recorded quite clearly on my last declaration that I moved during 2019. The form has a UK address (that I no longer live at LOL) recorded as my permanent address.
Maybe they just look at the RFR and don't read anything else on the form. But that would be a bit daft because there must be hundreds of people whose address changed during the tax year.
I am in two minds whether to query it. On balance I think I probably should. I've got the money set aside in any case, and without being sure it's not owed I won't dare spend it because as you say if it is owed I will get the bill sooner or later. And maybe I have made a mistake and misled them somewhere along the line, although I can't think how.
I am also in the UK but that doesn't stop you checking your bills online

cyrian

Unless your logon details are in France and you haven't used them for years and years anyway.

EuroTrash

Aaargh.
Hopefully you are set up to pay by instalments, so you won't get a late payment surcharge.

cyrian

Yes all our bills in UK and France are direct debit for exactly that reason.

dmu

I would - you never know whether they might catch up with you later.
My situation is different - presumably due to my considerable reduction in income, my Td'H has been 0,00€ for the last two years, but there's always a niggling doubt in my mind that they've made a mistake. However, I'm not going to query, as I must have gone below the phasing-out threshold. Carpe diem in my case....

EuroTrash

The plot thickens because this morning I found a CFE bill for my for business activities in the first month of 2019.
So now I'm thinking, if I was sufficiently resident for business tax purposes, it's kind logical that I should have been sufficiently resident for property tax purposes too.
If that's the case I'm happy with it - 200€ CFE instead of 800€ TdH seems a good swap.
I think I'll assume that they know what they're doing because it's beyond me.

dmu

In that case, I take back my advice!
Just to clarify for newbies, property tax in the sense of Taxe d'Habitation (occupancy) - Taxe Foncière (ownership) has to be paid wherever you happen to actually live. Until it's phased out, you (in the sense of French "on", but I hate "one", it's too pretentious) normally pay Taxe d'Hab on the place where you live, and Taxe Fonc on all properties that you own.

dmu

Sorry, too late to edit. I should have said property tax in the sense of Taxe d'Habitation (occupancy), AS OPPOSED TO Taxe Foncière (ownership)...