The French tax authorities flushed out 120,000 undeclared swimming pools. © Getty Images
After a 2022 edition which made it possible to identify around 22,000 “clandestine” swimming pools in a selection of departments, the French tax authorities have redoubled their efforts for a year 2023 which promises to be prolific. The Public Finance Department announces that 120,000 basins have been flushed out by the Innovative Land program, developed with Capgemini and Google, and based on artificial intelligence.
The system makes it possible to extract public aerial images from the IGN (National Institute for Geographic and Forest Information), which can be consulted by everyone on the website www.geoportail.gouv.fr. The algorithms then locate the contours of the buildings built, as well as the swimming pools, and compare the data with the declarations of the owners made to the town planning and tax administration departments. An agent is then responsible for verifying each anomaly detected.
The Parisian specifies that the persons concerned have received (or will soon receive) an email or a letter from the General Directorate of Public Finance to explain or regularize their situation. The law indicates that each pool of more than 10 m², which cannot be moved without being demolished, must be declared within 90 days of its construction.
If it has caused a lot of talk, the price of software development (25 million euros) could be quickly amortized by “additional tax revenue of around 40 to 50 million euros”, according to Bercy. This system should in the future tackle other types of undeclared constructions, such as house extensions and/or verandas.