A message from the Dordogne treasury

December 17, 2007

The Dordogne département has increasing numbers of British residents, some living here permanently, others with a second home. They are all welcome. We are delighted to have them and to share their culture, dynamism and sense of humour.
The integration of the British community in this traditionally hospitable département has largely gone smoothly, under the principles of European citizenship. The Trésorerie Générale de la Dordogne recommends that these British neighbours make an extra effort to complete their integration by conforming fiscally speaking. While the permanent residents normally pay their taxes regularly, the same cannot be said for a large number of holiday-home owners. Despite an awareness and information campaign in 2006, many ‘forget’ to pay their local taxes despite the reminder letters sent out to them. We invite them to fulfil their fiscal duty, as their neighbours have to do if they live here, whether they are French, European or from elsewhere. The local community needs their contribution if they wish to enjoy all the collective facilities (roads etc) to the standard they have come to expect. We thank them in advance for making this effort and warn them that nonpayment of taxes inevitably leads to bother. The law allows local authorities to enforce payment of taxes by means such as the repossession of furniture, or even the forced sale of property in the most serious cases where large sums are owed in taxes.
If you are in any doubt, we strongly recommend you contact your local Treasury (Trésorerie) without delay. The address can be found on any tax statement. For further information, or for an individual study of your fiscal situation, go along to the accountants (comptables) at your local Trésor Public.
The tax office can help you understand your tax obligations. For example:
Reader’s tax question: ‘I’m a retired civil servant aged 54. For nine years I’ve received a government pension in Britain and declared it in Britain. I live part of the year in my French house. The French tax authorities have asked me to file a French tax return with the form for declaring foreign earnings. Is this normal?”
The Dordogne tax office replies:
If your main residence is not in France and your entire income (British pension) is from outside France than you don’t have to file a tax return in France. If the authorities have asked you to, it is either as a precaution or it is a mistake: it may be that your house has been considered your main residence instead of secondary for the purposes of the taxe d’habitation and this could have led to the mistake.

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