Property tax: do you find it too high? Here’s how to lower it but don’t delay!

Your 2024 property tax notice is stuck in your throat. Please note that you can ask the tax authorities to cap the amount, under certain conditions.

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2,400 euros. This is the amount that appears on your 2024 property tax notice. 2,400 euros is the equivalent of one month’s salary for many French people… But there is a tax measure called “capping”which allows you to limit the amount of property tax, so that it does not exceed 50% of your annual income. Subject to meeting several conditions! First, the property concerned by the property tax capping request must be your main residence on January 1, 2024. You cannot claim the property tax cap for your second home or for the studio that you rent to a student, for example.

Then, you must not have been subject to real estate wealth tax the previous year, that is to say 2023 in this case. Finally, your total income for 2023 must not exceed certain ceilingsdepending on the composition of your household and where you live (see the table below, which concerns mainland France). For example, if you are a married couple or in a civil partnership with a dependent child, which gives you the right to 2.5 tax shares, and you live in mainland France, your income for 2023 must not exceed 46,905 euros ( see table below). To determine the total amount of your income, you must add or deduct certain elements from your reference tax income, such as your payments into a retirement savings planyour capital losses on the sale of securities, your specific allowances or even the interest received on different types of savings.

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– The overall income ceilings not to be exceeded in mainland France to qualify for a property tax cap.

A property tax cap to be claimed before December 31

Even if you meet these income limits, the property tax cap is not automatic. It’s up to you to claim with the tax administration. How ? By sending a request to your public finance center, via form 14770 or 2041-DPFT-SD, which “allows you to calculate this property tax reduction”assures the tax authorities. The notice associated with the form tells you what supporting documents you must provide. You can also send your request via your particular space on the impots.gouv.fr website, in the “secure messaging” section.

And don’t delay! You can submit your capping request upon receipt of your property tax assessment notice and, at the latest, before December 31 of the current year. A claim that “does not exempt you from paying your tax”specifies the tax administration. But this payment will be refunded to you if your claim is accepted and the tax authorities will also pay you so-called moratorium interest.