What you can challenge on a French taxe d’habitation bill - and how to do it

Notices for France’s second-home property tax taxe d’habitation began to be sent out last week, with payments due before the end of 2025. 

This year, thousands of communes in areas deemed to be facing a housing shortage (zones tendues) have opted for the first time to implement additional surcharges on top of the base tax.

Read more: Second-home owners in France can check if commune allowed to raise tax

Homes that are vacant - unfurnished and unused - in the same areas face a different, national, tax, called taxe sur les logements vacants. 

Read more: More owners will pay French empty home tax in December 2024

If you are facing a larger taxe d’habitation bill than usual this year, unfortunately there is little you can do, as the exemptions and exonerations are limited in scope. 

Read more: French second home: in what cases can you be exempt from taxe d’habitation?

Legitimate reasons for a rise in the bill include your local council (in some cases also a group of councils) having opted to increase the percentage rate it applies to calculate the bill, or, where applicable, a decision to apply an additional surcharge, which can be at rates from 5% to 60%.

Otherwise, the ‘base’ to which the council rates are applied is the theoretical annual rental value of the property, called valeur locative cadastrale.

The latter rises a small amount each year based on inflation, but otherwise does not usually rise significantly unless you have built new extensions or amenities. 

However, it is possible to challenge the bill, if you believe you have been charged too much. 

Last year, French tax authorities incorrectly collected over €700 million of taxe d’habitation payments, meaning it is not unheard of to have been overcharged on the tax. 

Errors are likely to be lower this year (with last year’s spike caused by the removal of the applicability of the tax on main homes and the recent introduction of the Biens Immobiliers property form), however they are still possible.

Contesting a bill

To contest a bill, you can either lodge a complaint in-person at your local tax office, or online via your personal space on the French tax website.

Login to your space, then go to your secure message site. 

Click ‘Ecrire’, followed by ‘Je signale une erreur sur le calcul de mon impôt’, then click on the corresponding information to signal you are talking about your taxe d’habitation bill.

You can then explain why you believe you have been overcharged and can ask the authorities to look at your bill again.

To help with your claim, you can show the difference between this year’s bill and previous notices, if there is a significant jump. You can find past notices in the Documents section of your personal space.

If you prefer to make the request in person, the address of your local tax office can be found on your personal space on the French tax site. 

You have until December of the following year to contest a payment (so for notices arriving now, you can contest it up to December 2025).

However, lodging a claim does not make you exempt from paying the tax – you still need to make the payment, and if your tax is reassessed, you are refunded at a later date.

Payments for this year’s taxe d’habitation must be made by December 16 if using a traditional method or December 21 if paying online. 

If you pay by instalments and your bill has risen compared to the amount provided for in your first 10 instalments this year, the additional amounts will be taken out of your account on November 15 and on December 16.

It is too late to request splitting the payment of this year’s bill into monthly instalments, but this can still be requested for future taxes (before December 15).

If you are struggling to pay the tax due to financial issues, you can request a deferment or an alternative payment structure. 

Read how to do this below. 

Read more: What to do if you cannot pay a tax bill in France