Reporting Your Secondary Residence in France

If you own a property in France and are freaking out about how to get a “numéro fiscal” and create a French tax account in order to declare your secondary residence (your “déclaration d’occupation“) and meet the June 30th deadline, stop. Freaking out isn’t going to fix your problem, but we can.

First of all, you just need to set up an account online. Start with your tax number. It’s a 13-digit number unique to you that is on every tax document you’ve ever received. If for any reason, you don’t have it, or can’t find it, then you will need to request one.

Go to impots.gouv.fr (in English), click “Votre espace particulier” in the upper right hand corner. It will then take you to a page that asks you to connect or create your personal account: “Connexion ou création de votre espace” and asks you for that 13 digit number. If you have the number, then insert it. If not, click on “Vous n’avez pas encore de numéro fiscal?” (Don’t have a tax number yet?) on the right of the page, which then takes you to this directive: “Pour obtenir la création de votre numéro fiscal, veuillez vous adresser à votre centre des Finances publiques.”

This is where it gets more complicated because the site doesn’t stay in English at this stage. Now, you’re on your own. However, when you click on “English” at the top right, you’ll get a message for “NON-RESIDENT INDIVIDUALS”: “For any queries, you should give priority to the ‘International’ page, or contact us either by phone (+ 33 1 72 95 20 42) or through the secure contact link (‘Messagerie sécurisée’) of your personal account (‘Espace particulier’) on impots.gouv.fr. If you still need explanations after initial answers, you can ask for an appointment (either by phone or in our office): by phone: +33 1 72 95 20 42; by using the ‘Contact’ button on impots.gouv.fr.

Warning: “Queries regarding local taxes (Housing Tax, Property tax, TV and radio license fee) cannot be answered by the Non-Resident Tax Directorate and must be addressed to the local tax office of your property.”

They don’t make it easy, do they?

If you want to try it on your own, follow the instructions published in a recent article in The Local or hire us to get this done for you! Our internal accountant, Matthieu Duclos, is prepared to do your declaration for you at the reasonable rate with one hour estimated. If you live outside of France, he can invoice it without the TVA (Value Added Tax).

If you want the easy way out, email us and we’ll put you in touch with Matthieu.

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