the subtleties of the IFI declaration

Persons liable for wealth tax must complete their declaration. Here is how to properly complete the delicate “2042-IFI”, dedicated to this tax.

Those liable for real estate wealth tax (IFI) must declare their assets under the same conditions as income, that is to say online before the deadline of June 8 for the last departments. They must attach a 2042-IFI to their tax return. In 2022, 164,000 households were liable for this tax, which brought in 1.8 billion euros for the tax authorities.

How to value your assets?

You are concerned if your net real estate assets have a value greater than 1,300,000 euros. To find out, you have to add up the value of all your real estate assets. It may be property held directly (houses, apartments, land, etc.) or via company shares (SCPI, SCI, etc.). In the case of property that does not belong to you completely (joint ownership), you retain the value of your share. You then deduct the liabilities, essentially the loans for which you remain liable for the acquisition of property subject to the IFI, as well as the works and certain taxes (IFI and property tax).

Exemption and reduction

Be aware that your goods for professional use are exempt. As for your main residence, it benefits from a reduction of 30%, provided you own it directly (if you have several residences, only one can benefit from it).

Assets are valued at household level, ie the single person or the married/pacific couple, as well as the minor children whose assets they manage. Special features of the IFI:

• notorious cohabitants are jointly and severally liable and must file a joint IFI declaration, attached to the declaration of income of one of the two cohabitants (tick box 9GL). The same applies to persons married in 2022 who have opted for separate taxation of income in the year of marriage (tick the box 9GM);
• adult children subject to income tax nevertheless form their own household IFI. You should not count their assets in your IFI declaration and they must file a personal IFI declaration if their own assets are greater than 1,300,000 euros (tick the box 9GN).

To reattach your children or not, which is the best option?

All these conditions are assessed on January 1 of the year. This is particularly true for the value of goods, which does not remain fixed at the purchase value, even if you do not plan to sell. What matters is the price at which you could have sold the property on January 1st. To determine this, you can base yourself on the prices at which goods similar to yours sell. A database exists on the tax website, accessible via your personal space. You can also ask professionals to estimate your property.

Note: you will receive a tax notice for your IFI in August, with the amount to be paid for September 15 (except in special cases).