Upgrading your home is going to cost you more. The French who are lucky enough to have a garden know that it requires maintenance when you want to take full advantage of it and that this often requires a certain cost. Digging a swimming pool, building a garden shed, fitting out a bungalow… These various projects are subject to the development tax and, bad news, it will increase next year.
As explained on the website of the Ministry of the Economy, the development tax is “a local tax, collected by the municipality, the department and, in Ile-de-France only, by the region”. It is paid to the General Directorate of Public Finances, which then transfers its amount to the municipality and department concerned. The public service website specifies that, for your municipality, it is used to finance public facilities such as roads, schools or transport. At the level of the department, it is used to finance “actions to protect sensitive natural areas”.
You are liable for it if you wish to carry out construction, reconstruction or expansion operations that require planning permission, such as:
“The development tax is due for any creation of a closed and covered floor area with an area greater than 5m² and a ceiling height greater than or equal to 1.80 meters, including attics and cellars”, adds the Ministry of the Economy. Garden sheds, even if they can be dismantled, are affected by this tax. If terraces are excluded, swimming pools and solar panels may also be subject to it, but on a flat-rate basis.
Currently, the development tax amounts to 820 euros per m² outside Ile-de-France and 929 euros per m² in Ile-de-France. With regard to swimming pools, it is necessary to count 200 euros per m². In addition to this fixed value, other data are taken into account:
Bad news, as Capital explains, the deputies adopted on Wednesday, November 9 an amendment which will raise certain fixed values used in this calculation. Here are which ones.
The calculation of the development tax applies in the same way to each person concerned. The formula is as follows, according to the Public Service website:
With this amendment, new amounts come into force for lump sum values, explains Capital.
Whoever says increase in the fixed value automatically means an increase in the tax you will have to pay. Fortunately, reductions and exemptions are possible.
Do you want to build in your garden? Do not panic, deductions and exemptions exist and may apply to your case. Here are which ones, according to the Public Service website:
Other exemptions are optional, but they depend on each local authority, in particular with regard to social housing, construction with a zero-rate loan, a building classified as a historic monument or even a nursing home.
