The State continues its hunt for undeclared developments using artificial intelligence, as part of the plan to combat fraud. After having been able to recover 40 million euros by detecting 140,000 swimming pools, the Tax Office now wishes to proceed in the same way to identify undeclared verandas and garden sheds. Here’s what taxpayers risk if something goes wrong.
Anomalies checked
Concretely, the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) will once again use its “Innovative Land” system. Launched in October 2021 with the support of Capgemini and Google, it analyzes aerial images from maps of the National Institute of Geographic and Forestry Information (IGN) with recognition algorithms, which allows it to identify such or such arrangement. Tax officials then analyze the results and decide whether or not to send a letter to the owner.
As a reminder, any garden shed, veranda or extension of more than 5 m2 of surface area must be subject to a prior declaration of work to the town hall, indicates the website of the French administration. For garden sheds, larger than 20 m2, you must even obtain a building permit. Each extension must also be declared for taxes, since this most often gives rise to the payment of a development tax, then to an increase in property tax.
Fines and regularization
In the event of non-declaration, owners first risk a fine of 150 euros for non-declaration of “real estate”. To this can be added a fine varying between 1,200 euros and 6,000 euros per square meter of built surface for non-declaration of urban planning. There is also regularization of the taxes to be paid, with a possible increase. Finally, an undeclared development can also pose a problem when selling your house. The buyer may indeed require regularization prior to the sale.
Despite these risks, some taxpayers still wish to avoid the procedures, considered too complex. “We’re going crazy. I had to retrieve cadastral plans, take a photo of the garden shed from all sides even though it was not assembled, give the precise name of the color of the garden shed…” explains one teacher at RMC. The fact remains that with a 3.4% increase in the development tax for garden sheds, public finances should, in one way or another, benefit from the extension of the scope of use of this tool.