Are there errors in the distribution of energy checks at the end of housing tax? A tax nightmare

For households, it is an incentive. For taxes, a nightmare. Completed in 2023, the abolition of the housing tax on main residences made it possible to boost the purchasing power of households by several billion euros, but also created cascading problems for the tax authorities. And the latest episode is the error on the energy probe. A million people who should touch it could be deprived of it, some consumer associations condemned on Monday (UFC-Que Choisir, CLCV, etc.).

Energy checks, tax revenues and housing are paid according to household composition, aimed at helping the humblest French people pay their energy bills. Asked by AFP about the inaction caused by the abolition of the housing tax, the DGFiP did not respond late Tuesday afternoon.

But who lives here?

“The gradual disappearance of the housing tax (…) is the reason for the deadlock in which the tax services find themselves in identifying the residents of the same house and calculating the number of consumption units,” the association alleged. “We can determine the income status without problems”, thanks to the annual tax declarations of the households, the general secretary of the FO-DGFiP union Olivier Brunelle underlined to AFP.

In contrast, after the definitive abolition of the housing tax on main residences on January 1, 2023, tax authorities have struggled to identify the number of occupants in a house, a crucial criterion for issuing energy audits.

Eligible households will have their energy audits done

Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire was quick to reassure France’s 5 on Monday evening that all households eligible for the energy audit will benefit from it in 2024. He admitted in passing that there were difficulties in identifying the beneficiaries of these cheques. Clearly linked to the abolition of the housing tax, which brings in more than 20 billion euros annually to local authorities.

As for the unions, “we are slowly discovering” the difficulties posed by the removal of the housing tax, Ann Guyot-Welk, general secretary of Solidaires Finance Public, lamented to AFP. In order to once again have an accurate view of the nature of the housing (main or secondary residence) and their occupants and thus avoid wrongly taxing the now exempted housing, the General Directorate of Public Finance (DGFiP) asked the owners to make a specific declaration on June 30. , not later than 2023. A deadline was postponed three times, due to the influx of successively late announcements and the saturation of DGFiP servers.

Among the owners who did not send this new declaration in time, Anne Guyot-Welk particularly cites social landlords, who, according to her, demonstrated more discipline after the slow start of the declaration campaign.