February 28, 2023

New reporting obligation for owners

New reporting obligation for owners of residential real estate and business premises subject to property tax

From January 1, 2023, a new reporting obligation will apply to owners of residential properties and business premises subject to property tax.

This new obligation follows the abolition of the taxe d'habitation for principal residences, applicable from 2023.

In order to determine precisely which owners are still liable for the taxe d'habitation (second home, rental property or business property) or the taxe sur les logements vacants, the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFIP) is asking all owners of a principal residence, a second home or a rental property to file a declaration of occupancy by June 30, 2023 at the latest.

All owners, whether individuals or legal entities, of a primary or secondary residence, a rental property or a vacant property, must, for each of their premises, indicate in what capacity they occupy them and, if they do not occupy them themselves,
declare the identity of the occupants and the period of occupancy, as of January 1, 2023.

The aim is to identify the occupancy status of each property listed above on January 1, 2023, insofar as the taxable event for property tax corresponds to the situation on January 1 of the year in question.

Who is affected by this obligation?

This obligation applies to all owners of residential real estate and business premises subject to property tax, i.e. :

Individuals,
Legal entities (commercial and non-trading companies),
Undivided owners,
Usufructuaries.

What is the scope of this declaration?

Owners must declare the following information to the tax authorities:

If they reserve the use of the property: the nature of the occupation of the premises (principal residence or secondary residence) and the identity of the occupant(s);
If the property is vacant: the start date of the vacancy period;
If the property is occupied free of charge: the identity of the occupant(s);
If the property is rented to a third party: the type of rental (bare, furnished, seasonal, etc.) and, in particular, the identity of the occupant(s), the date of entry and the amount of rent excluding charges.

How do I make the declaration?

The declaration must be filed online, via the impots.gouv.fr interface.

A declaration of occupancy is required for each property owned, except in cases where the total number of properties owned exceeds 200.

To facilitate this new declaration process, occupancy data known to the tax authorities will be pre-posted. Thereafter, only a change of situation (on January 1) will require the filing of a new declaration.

For individuals, this declaration will be filed via their impots.gouv.fr personal space, in the "Real estate" tab.
For legal entities, this declaration will be filed via their impots.gouv.fr professional space. You will need to register for the "Manage my real estate" service beforehand, so that you can access your real estate and submit the appropriate declarations. This means that legal entities will need to apply for membership of the "Gérer mes biens immobiliers" service in advance, in order to be able to submit occupancy declarations on time.

According to the DGFIP, 34 million property owners are affected by this new reporting obligation, for a total of 73 million residential premises in France.