The automatic declaration is sure to be a relief for the 11 million eligible households: they check what is pre-filled… and have nothing else to do. But isn’t this automation likely to make them forget to claim a reduction or a tax credit?
With automatic declaration, to verify is to declare: this is one of the new tax slogans, since 2020 and the launch of this effortless tax return. It benefits once again, in 2022, approximately 11million tax households, according to the General Directorate of Public Finance (DGFiP): again this year, they will automatically receive a tax notice without having to file a tax return, explains the DGFiP. A feat made possible by the pre-filling of a very large amount of information: income, expenses, tax options renewed from year to year, etc.
Who can escape the tax return?
But the simplicity tool can have a perverse effect. At least that is the fear of Anne Guyot-Welke, general secretary of the Solidaires Finances Publiques union: We fear that in the long term taxpayers will no longer check their declaration… which could lead to errors. And automation can erode taxpayers’ awareness of tax, and it’s important to be aware of this to maintain consent for this redistribution. Solidaires Finances Publiques, the first trade union of this administration, demanded a contradictory assessment of the implementation of the automatic declaration.
Don’t forget to check!
The consequences of this possible perverse effect are only seen afterwards. At the time of receipt of the tax notice: this is where the households in question may realize that they have forgotten to claim a tax credit, or that they have omitted to declare additional income .
Two years after the first automatic declarations, the possible victims have had time to come forward. No trace, however, in the public statistics of the DGFiP, of an increase in errors or complaints since the implementation of the automatic declaration. Questioned on this subject by MoneyVox, the Director General of Public Finances Jrme Fournel minimizes this possible perverse effect: More and more fields of the declaration are pre-filled. The risk of sending an automatic declaration with missing elements is low. Especially since eligible households are usually content to validate the pre-filled declaration, insists the director of the tax administration.
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Jrme Fournel confirms that almost all households eligible for automatic declaration take advantage of this opportunity to escape corve. A tiny minority of eligible households take the step of filing a declaration anyway, even though they can do without it. However, Jrme Fournel rejects the idea of disempowerment created by automatic reporting. Reason why the DGFiP supports this warning: Attention. This reform of the declarative mode does not call into question the responsibility of the user face of the declarative act: it is always incumbent upon him to verify the elements contained in its declaration and to modify them if necessary.
A correction tool open every t
If you ever fall into the trap mentioned above, of a taxpayer taking advantage of the auto tax who forgets to claim a tax benefit, be aware that the online correction tool opens each year in August, in the crowd of sending tax notices.
Income tax: how to correct your return
How to modify your automatic declaration?
Nothing easier. If, while checking the summary document, you come across an error or omission, do not wait: Just click on the button declare online from your automatic dematerialized declaration in your private space on impots.gouv.fr, specifies the DGFiP, or to complete the paper declaration and return it.
Online declaration suspended on the weekend of April 9 and 10
Please note, following technical problems, the DGFiP announced on Friday April 8 at noon the temporary suspension of the online declaration, and this at least for the weekendfollowing errors in the pre-filling of declarations.
More info: Access to the online declaration of income for 2021 suspended this weekend!