You have a swimming pool, and you have never declared it to the tax authorities? Watch your email and mailbox. If the DGFiP has detected it, using its new innovative land tool based on aerial views… you risk receiving a warning.
If you receive an email or letter from the tax authorities telling you about your undeclared swimming pool… and this corresponds to reality, it is probably not a scam attempt! The Directorate General of Public Finances (DGFiP) announces the sending since the end of May of emails and letters more than 120,000 swimming pool owners having been detected across all metropolitan departments, to invite them regularize their situation.
This is the second phase, that of the generalization throughout the territory, of the innovative land project. This project based on artificial intelligence aims to automate the use of aerial shots in order to combat reporting anomalies. First target: swimming pools.
The more than 120,000 letters announced by the DGFiP in a news message correspond to the objective of 80,000 to 100,000 undeclared swimming pools announced a few weeks ago by Jrme Fournel, the Director General of Public Finances. He estimated then, in the columns of West France.
How to repair this lack of declaration?
This involves the brand new property declaration, which must be completed by all owners of accommodation (apartment or house) and ancillary buildings (garage, swimming pool, etc.) by June 30, 2023.
The deadline is even slightly different for you: you must within 30 days of receiving the email, which corresponds approximately to the end of June, declare the pool online via the “Real estate”, within their “individual” space accessible on the site scuris impots.gouv.fr.
In this space, in the list of your premises, the swimming pool detects door in theory, according to the DGFiP, a pellet expected land declaration: indicate the tax elements of their pool (date of completion, characteristics of the swimming pool, surface of the basin).
Video presentation of the procedure for declaring a pool forgotten.
20,000 swimming pools already detected: conclusive tests for the tax authorities in 2022
- In 2022, the experiment was carried out in 9 departments (Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Bouches-du-Rhne, Ardche, Rhne, Haute-Savoie, Morbihan, Maine-et-Loire, Vende);
- More than 94% of owners confirmed the taxable nature of their swimming pool, according to the balance sheet drawn up last year by the DGFiP;
- Either more than 20000 swimming pools confirmed and newly imposed under the property tax from 2022.
- 10 million euros in additional revenue for the municipalities concerned: 4.1 million euros for the 2022 property tax, and 5.7 million euros for regularization of previous years (certain property taxes can be multiplied by 4 depending on the date of construction or the date of purchase of the property).
Which swimming pools must be declared?
Swimming pools, whether buried or above ground, must be declared like any construction which increases the rental value of a property, from the moment they cannot be moved without demolishing them. They are taken into account in the housing tax and the property tax.
An above-ground swimming pool, if it is fixed with a cemented part, must thus be declared. Only the fact of being able to be completely disassembled in winter – for example – allows the absence of declaration.
What fines in case of non-declaration?
Depending on the degree of violation, you risk several types of fine. Already: the 150 euros for non-declaration of real estate, a new obligation for owners in 2023. Then possibly the basic fine for non-declaration of town planning: 1,200 euros, penalty which may increase depending on the case. And finally the regularization of property taxes not paid in recent years for the undeclared swimming pool, with a possible increase in the key.
Real estate taxes: the subtleties of this new tax obligation for owners