“We can avoid property tax through unemployment and no one knows it”

2024-10-14 05:24:00

There is a system for canceling or reducing your property tax bill when you find yourself unemployed.

It just lands in mailboxes and mailboxes and it hurts. Also bad for the wallet. The Directorate General of Public Finances (DGFiP) has sent 32 million French people the traditional notification of property tax, the tax that all owners must pay every year on their assets. A painful bill for the wallet since it has increased further, at least by almost 4% in 2024, when in many municipalities it is not much more.

And whoever says taxes says compulsory payment. Or almost. This is a little-known system but it is possible to ask the tax authorities for total or partial cancellation of your debt due to a particular situation, in particular unemployment.

In fact, there is an exemption or reduction in real estate tax for owners who find themselves unemployed from one day to the next. To do this, you must request a free tax appeal, explaining your situation. The Treasury – which has two months to respond to the request – intends to be conciliatory in the event of “unforeseeable loss of income”, clearly citing unemployment as the reason.

However, being unemployed is not enough to be exempt from property tax. The loss of a job must be sudden and really put the taxpayer in difficulty. To assess the urgency of the situation and the financial complications resulting from the absence of work, the tax authorities examine the finances of the person requesting the cancellation or reduction of the property tax.

Your income, your assets, your limited expenses or even your regularity in paying previous taxes are examined. However, no income or asset ceiling is established to validate or reject the request because “the assessment of situations always depends on an individual approach”, explains the Tax, Customs and Currency Dispute Committee (CCFDC).

Even if the IRS agrees to examine the request, the taxpayer is forced to pay the property tax or face penalties. Only after the study of the file and the final decision of the administration will it be possible to proceed with the reimbursement. In 2022 (latest updated data), in total (all reasons combined), 19,408 people received property tax rebates.