TLDR: You must file a claim with the public finance centre for the location where the property is situated. If you meet the income and main residence conditions, the relief may cover the portion of the property tax on built properties that exceeds 50% of the income taken into account under the law.
What is the principle of the cap?
The cap concerns the property tax assessment on built properties relating to your main residence. It may result in relief, that is, a reduction in the assessment, when the assessment exceeds 50% of the amount of income determined in accordance with Article 1391 B ter of the General Tax Code (CGI).
The assessment taken into account includes the main residence and its outbuildings, as well as the additional taxes provided for by the regulations. The household waste collection tax and the property tax on unbuilt properties are not taken into account for this cap.
What conditions must you meet?
Your income must not exceed the threshold provided for in II of Article 1417 of the CGI. The applicable amount depends in particular on the number of family quotient shares and the place of taxation. The available sources do not make it possible to indicate the updated threshold for the year of your application.
The main residence is the dwelling where you habitually and actually reside and where the centre of your professional and material interests is located. You may have only one main residence for the purposes of this rule.
The cap does not apply if you are liable for the real estate wealth tax (IFI) for the year preceding the year of taxation for property tax.
Which income and which shares must you take into account?
To assess your entitlement to the cap, you must take into account the reference taxable income for the year preceding the year of taxation for property tax, after applying the adjustments provided for in Article 1391 B ter of the CGI.
The number of family quotient shares corresponds to the shares taken into account for your income tax. When the property tax is assessed in the name of several liable persons belonging to separate tax households, the income and shares are determined according to the rules specific to this situation.
How do you file your claim?
You must send your claim to the public finance centre for the location where the property concerned is situated. It must comply with the formal requirements provided for by Article R*197-1 et seq. of the Book of Tax Procedures.
You must submit it within the time limit provided for in Article R*196-2 of the same book. The available sources do not specify the precise duration of this time limit: you must therefore refer to this provision to determine the applicable deadline for your situation.
How is the relief calculated?
The theoretical relief corresponds to the portion of the property tax assessment on built properties, increased by the additional taxes, that exceeds 50% of the income taken into account.
This amount is then reduced by the amount of the net taxable base multiplied by the difference between the overall property tax rate on built properties applicable for the year of taxation and the overall rate recorded in 2011. This mechanism concerns taxes assessed from 2012 onwards.
The reduction provided for in this way is not applied when it is less than 15 euros.