Swimming pool: a real plus for the value of your property, provided you master the tax rules

Firstly, two steps not to forget for a future swimming pool. Before the start of the work, you must submit the preliminary declaration of work (or building permit for indoor swimming pools over 1.80 m high) which triggers the right to build. Then, within 90 days after completion, you must give the tax declarationform 6704 IL, for taxes, which seals the integration into the tax base and gives right to the two-year exemption. “ One does not exempt from the other, warns the lawyer. An owner who declares to the town hall but forgets the tax document loses the exemption and is exposed to sanctions ».

Swimming pool: what impact on property tax?

You are afraid of an increase in the amount of your property tax ? “ Allow for an increase of between 200 and 800 euros for a standard 8m × 4m swimming pool depending on the municipality, declares the tax specialist. As the housing tax on main residences has been abolished since 2023, a swimming pool only has an impact on this tax for second homes. Moreover, it increases the rental value serving as a basis, the municipality can therefore apply an increase of 5 to 60% of its share in tense areas. “. The good news? Property tax is exempt for the two calendar years following the end of construction. This concerns new constructions, reconstructions and construction additions. A swimming pool added to an existing property? It works.

Calendar-wise, the exemption operates per calendar year. “ For an end of construction in year N, it works for N+1 and N+2, summarizes Franck Lobé. There is therefore no difference between an end of work on January 2 or December 30 of the same year. On the other hand, the real lever is December 31. If you can postpone the end of the project from December 30, 2025 to January 2, 2026, the year of completion switches by one year and the exemption covers 2027-2028 instead of 2026-2027, with a first taxation postponed by one year ».

Good to know: For owners who are considering a short-term resale of their main residence, it is possible to increase the value of the property by selling before the end of the exemption without having to bear the increase in property tax. “ Certain real estate studies from MeilleursAgents or SeLoger estimate the gain between 5 and 15% depending on the region and the equipment, he estimates. The added value on main residence being totally exemptthe operation is fiscally optimal “.

Above-ground or in-ground swimming pool: the right tax choice

Are you hesitating between an above-ground pool and an in-ground pool? It’s up to you to establish your needs according to your budget and the terrain but above all make it a tax election. According to the Council of State, a swimming pool constitutes taxable built property as long as it is fixed to the ground, has required earthworks and is not intended to be moved. Conversely, an above-ground swimming pool – installed without anchoring, without earthworks, easily removable – does not affect the cadastral rental value and is exempt from property tax and housing tax. “ But there is also the tubular swimming pool, not taxable, above ground on a concrete slab for which the area is still gray, the semi-buried wooden swimming pool, probably taxable and the buried masonry swimming pool, taxable, explains Franck Lobé. Without forgetting natural or ecological swimming pools, taxable regardless of the filtration technique as long as the pool is buried or has required significant earthworks”.

New swimming pool: no non-declaration

Have you imagined building your swimming pool without authorization? “ The risk of falling through the cracks is now almost zero, assures the lawyer. Since 2022, the DGFiP has been using the “Foncier Innovant” project, an artificial intelligence system analyzing aerial images from the IGN (Editor’s note: National Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information) “. More than 140,000 swimming pools have been identified. To the wise…