Lay My Hat

Could some kind person have a check here
http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/prof ... F743.xhtml
It has recently been updated and my French is rubbish to try and understand what it says but have I understood a glimmer that if you are NOT proffesional and your gite is seasonal ( we are open only 4 months ) and its housed within your principle residence you are exempt from charging Tax de Sejour .
Are there any significant changes please?[/url]

i'm sorry but at first read of the link I don't see anything which resembles what you seem to have understood : which paragraph are you looking at?

I am clutching at straws.. The link I thought was dedicated to proffesional enterprise , hence I was hoping that it was for those where it was their main business . Rather than the likes of us that have a gite for 2 people and only open a few months in the summer, but we do declare it on the tax form and we have a meuble tourisme certificate .
Also I saw this and I think got hold of the wrong end of the stick
. Sauf, pour le meublé de tourisme, s'il s'agit de la résidence principale (logement occupé 8 mois minimum par an sauf obligation professionnelle, raison de santé ou cas de force majeure.
Are there any serious changes, please. Thank you.

There are no changes on the national scale.
If you rent your property and in your area the authorities have decided to levy a tax de séjour on all rented properties including part-time renters like you (and like so many French people who just let in July or August whilst they themselves go on hols) you will are due to collect it & pay it to them.
Any queries should be raised directly with your local tourist tax people. If you don't know who they are (it may be the Mairie, it may be your Communauté de Communes for ex) ask at your Mairie.

Ours have just changed, up by more than 50% and children no longer excluded. They have just announced it and the new rates come into force on 1st Jan 2016.

With no warning, it simply means I must personally pay the difference.

If you are renting out your primary residence for up to 4 months you do not pay taxe de sejour. A primary residence is defined as somewhere you live for at least 8 months of the year. Therefore the limit is set at 4 months of renting of your primary residence, if you rent more it is not considered your primary residence.

You declare you are renting at your mairie using this form: Cerfa 14004*02 - "DECLARATION EN MAIRIE DES MEUBLES DE TOURISME" available online. Hand it in to your mairie, they give you a receipt. Then you will get a tax demand for the taxe de sejour you owe. Where I am this is paid in advance for available dates in 2016.

kevsboredagain wrote:Ours have just changed, up by more than 50% and children no longer excluded. They have just announced it and the new rates come into force on 1st Jan 2016.

With no warning, it simply means I must personally pay the difference.

They did the same here a few years back though it was only an extra 5% for "taxe additionelle départmentale" we just sent the money for the old rate, they never got back. Been paying it every year since though.

[quote="paolo"]If you are renting out your primary residence for up to 4 months you do not pay taxe de sejour. A primary residence is defined as somewhere you live for at least 8 months of the year. Therefore the limit is set at 4 months of renting of your primary residence, if you rent more it is not considered your primary residence.

Sorry, I missed your reply first time round.
Could you clarify please , for our situation......
It is our prime residence, we own no other property anywhere.
The North side of our house has its own entrance so we simply have converted it into an apartment that we holiday let from the last 2 weeks in May to the first 2 weeks in Sept in total 4 months simply to top up the old pension and it's great to meet new people and to know they are leaving after a week or so😀. We have the meuble said de tourism certain, declare on our tax form and get the 70% allowance.
Therefore are we excerpt from paying tax de sejour because we rent for not more than 4 months

Sandra, you're not letting your résidence principale, you're letting an annex to it. Paolo is talking about a set up where you would move out completely for up to 4 months and let your home to holidaymakers during that period - as indeed some people on here do.

But even in that scenario I believe taxe de séjour is still payable - there's nothing about such exemption in the legislation. In any case it's not the owner who's liable to pay it but the visitor, wherever they stay. So you, as an owner, can't be exempt.

We have just received the form for the next installment of TS it now states if there is a non payment we will be bill occupancy X 365 X the reverent tax. Just a snip at 7300 euros for us!!!!!!

Thank you French Cricket for explaining, I understand completely now.

French Cricket wrote:But even in that scenario I believe taxe de séjour is still payable - there's nothing about such exemption in the legislation

Actually there is:

Article L324-1-1
Modifié par LOI n°2014-366 du 24 mars 2014 - art. 10
Toute personne qui offre à la location un meublé de tourisme, que celui-ci soit classé ou non au sens du présent code, doit en avoir préalablement fait la déclaration auprès du maire de la commune où est situé le meublé.

Cette déclaration préalable n'est pas obligatoire lorsque le local à usage d'habitation constitue la résidence principale du loueur, au sens de l'article 2 de la loi n° 89-462 du 6 juillet 1989

Your résidence principale is defined as somewhere you live for 8 months of the year, and therefore you cannot rent for more than 4 months and still consider it your résidence principale.

French Cricket wrote:In any case it's not the owner who's liable to pay it but the visitor, wherever they stay. So you, as an owner, can't be exempt.

It is the owner who is liable to pay it. You can collect it from your renters if you want to, but if you don't pay it they come after you, not your renters. If you meet the above requirement my understanding is that you are exempt.

This was from a quick google - it's actually a site relating to Paris but I've no reason to believe that it doesn't apply across the board:

Si le logement meublé loué constitue la résidence principale du bailleur, aucune autorisation n'est nécessaire à Paris pour l'exploiter en location meublée (quelques semaines pendant ses vacances le plus souvent).
Pour être en règle, le propriétaire devra toutefois déclarer les loyers perçus et verser la taxe de séjour ...

If I was renting out my main residence (i.e. where I live for at least 8 months), and I was asked to pay taxe de sejour I would point them to this from the Code de Tourisme:

" Art. L. 2333-29 du code général des collectivités territoriales.

La taxe de séjour est établie sur les personnes qui ne sont pas domiciliées dans la commune et n'y possèdent pas une résidence à raison de laquelle elles sont passibles de la taxe d'habitation. "

(my bolds)

That refers to your guests Paolo, not you. I have not charged it only a couple of times when my guests owned property in the commune that was being renovated.