the essential
Due to a national computer problem affecting the taxation of vacant housing, thousands of letters were sent in error. The public finance department recognizes an “administration error” and promises to correct the situation.
When opening their letters, thousands of French people had a bad surprise. In recent days, many households have received incorrect tax notices, subjecting them to tax on vacant homes, even though they occupy or rent the property concerned. This malfunction, linked to a computer problem, affects two types of taxes: the tax on vacant housing (TLV), applicable in 3,700 municipalities in 2024, and the housing tax on vacant premises (THLV), implemented in 6,417 municipalities.
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Agents of the Personal Tax Services (SIP) in Haute-Garonne, already overloaded, are seeing an explosion in requests linked to this crisis. Thus, the figures speak for themselves: 2,170 messages received at the Cité administrative de Toulouse, 1,300 in Toulouse Mirail, or even 812 in Colomiers. Physical receptions are overflowing and contact centers are struggling to meet demand. The CGT Public Finances regrets the lack of communication from regional management, both towards users and towards agents.
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“Cancellation of this notice will be carried out automatically”
“In a context of the elimination of 730 jobs announced for January 2025, these errors aggravate the overload of agents, already chronically understaffed. We warned in February 2023 of the risks of a rushed implementation of the new tools”, recalls the union, denouncing a lack of investment in IT and human infrastructure.
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The public finance department recognizes that letters were sent wrongly. “This is an administrative error and the cancellation of this notice will be carried out automatically, without any action on your part. You will receive in the coming weeks, by post, the letter canceling your initial notice. Your tax department may contact you if additional information is necessary to update your file,” specifies the Tax Department.
Hugues Perrin, the regional director of public finances for Occitanie and Haute-Garonne, aware of this additional workload for civil servants, adds that measures have been put in place to simplify as much as possible the processing to be carried out by agents .
