Local taxes have soared in recent years due to the revaluation of cadastral rental values of real estate and increases in tax rates decided by local authorities. This increase is difficult to dispute because it is the result of the strict application of the law. On the other hand, if the tax authorities have made errors in the valuation of your property or if they have revalued it without notifying you, you can contest your property tax to be paid in October or your housing tax on second homes to be paid in December. Act quickly because your claim must reach your property tax center no later than the end of 2025. After that, it will be too late!
Good to know You can submit your complaint online using the secure messaging service in your personal space on the tax website. You can also send it by post to the property tax center whose address appears at the top of your property tax or housing tax notice. Or go directly to the counter of the department concerned.
Contest the valuation of your assets
The basis for calculating your local taxes is the cadastral rental value of your real estate. Registered on your tax notices, this value is established by the tax authorities based on numerous criteria (type of property, surface area, number of rooms, comfort features, state of maintenance, environment, etc.). In addition, it is updated each year on the 1er January in the same proportion as the increase in consumer prices observed the previous year (+3.9% in 2024, +7.1% in 2023 and +3.4% in 2022).
The problem is that the information available to the tax authorities is often old and incomplete, or even inaccurate, which can lead to overvaluing your property and asking you to pay more local taxes than you should normally pay. It is therefore in your interest to regularly check the elements taken into account to determine their cadastral rental value. To do this, consult the summary description of your property in the “Manage my real estate” section of your personal tax space, and request their assessment sheet (form no. 6675 M) from your property tax center. This document will inform you about the category and standing of your property, and it will specify the different coefficients applied to calculate their weighted surface area, taking into account their comfort elements, their external appearance, their location, their environment, etc.
It is recommended to be assisted by an expert (lawyer, notary, tax specialist) to study this assessment sheet because the administrative language is rather nebulous and technical. If your advisor considers that the tax authorities have made a mistake about the standing, condition or environment of one of your properties, about its number of rooms or its weighted surface area, he will help you gather the necessary evidence to correct its rental value and obtain a local tax reduction: plans and photos of the property, property survey, measurement, expert reports, municipal council reports, etc.
Good to know If you have any doubts about the success of your claim, it is better to pay your 2024 local taxes within the legal deadlines. If the tax authorities accept your request, they will refund the overpaid tax plus late payment interest of 0.2% per month since payment. On the other hand, if they reject it and you have not paid on time, you will incur a 10% increase (even if you have attached a request for deferral of payment to your claim).
Challenge an unjustified increase in your local taxes
The administration can update the cadastral rental value of your property when it becomes aware of a change that has an impact on its calculation. For example, when you have equipment installed to improve their comfort for which you have requested a tax credit, or extension work for which you have filed a declaration of completion. The tax authorities must then inform you in advance so that you can present your observations, in accordance with the general principle of the rights of the defense. If they do not do so, the revaluation of the value of your property applied by authority is illegal and you can contest the resulting additional local taxes.
In practice, you should therefore take your 2023 local tax notices to compare them with those of 2024. If the tax authorities have not sent you any registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to inform you of an update of the rental value of your property this year, the amount shown on your 2024 notices must not be more than 3.9% higher than the amount shown on your 2023 notices. This is the automatic revaluation percentage that occurred on 1er January 2024. Otherwise (increase greater than 3.9%), you can request a refund of the tax increase corresponding to the increase in the value of your assets decided by the tax authorities, because it did not comply with its prior information obligation.
Good to know The tax authorities must be able to prove that they have complied with their obligation to provide prior information. If they send you a simple letter (or an e-mail) to inform you of an update to the cadastral rental value of your property, without acknowledgement of receipt, you can contest the resulting increase in local taxes as if they had not informed you (provided that you have not responded to their simple letter).
