A surcharge will impact the budget of many owners. Many do not know that they can escape it.
At the end of the year, the portfolio of property owners is suffering a series of hard blows. After the property tax, 19.2% of the 40 million French owners, or 7.7 million people, will have to pay another significant expense. This is the housing tax on second homes, collected by the municipalities. Not only has this local tax increased significantly over the past two years, but a surcharge will be added to the bill this year.
All owners who owned at least two properties on January 1, 2024 will have to pay housing tax. The calculation of this tax is based on the cadastral rental value of the property, which corresponds to the theoretical rent that could be requested for the accommodation in question. This base is reevaluated each year based on inflation. Thus, owners had to face an initial increase in housing tax of 7.1% in 2023, followed by a further increase of 3.9% in 2024.
However, in areas where the real estate market is tight, municipalities have additional leverage to increase this local tax. This is a sort of “housing surcharge”. In fact, municipalities are authorized to apply an increase of between 5% and 60% on their share of the housing tax. This provision considerably increases the final bill for owners of second homes located in these areas. However, it is possible to escape it.
This year around 3,700 municipalities are authorized to apply a housing surcharge. Concretely, these are municipalities where there is a marked imbalance between supply and demand for housing, leading to difficulties in accessing housing. For example, these may be municipalities located near coastlines or in mountainous areas. These towns or villages have, in fact, a high density of second homes which are not always rented.
However, certain taxpayers may benefit from an exemption from the housing surcharge. People forced to reside in a place other than their main home for professional reasons can avoid having to pay this additional tax. This exemption also applies to people who retain the exclusive use of their former main residence before being accommodated permanently in a care establishment. This is particularly the case for seniors who enter retirement homes.
The exemption can also be granted to owners who find it impossible to use their accommodation for main residential use for a reason beyond their control, for example in the event of large-scale work in precarious premises.
To obtain this exemption, taxpayers must request it from the Personal Tax Service (SIP) on which their second home depends. This process can be carried out online via the specific space on the impots.gouv.fr website.
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