News Digest: This Week’s Elections & Do You Need to Fill in the French Property Declaration d’Occupation?

It feels like just moments ago that President Macron announced a snap election of France’s parliament, the Assemblée Nationale and the first vote is already upon us. The first of two rounds of voting will take place this Sunday, June 30th, with the second and final round taking place a week later on July 7th.

In the lead-up to this crucial first vote, the long-established pre-election TV debate will likely play a large role. Taking place tonight (Tuesday, June 25th) at 9pm and broadcast live on TF1, the debate will pit current prime minister Gabriel Attal (Macron’s Renaissance party) against Jordan Bardella of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) and Manuel Bompard, representing the new left-wing coalition Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP).

While it’s hard to predict the results of the upcoming election, recent polling suggests a hung parliament, with RN taking 33% of the vote, with the Nouveau Front Populaire at 29% and Macron’s Renaissance party at 22%. To see how this pans out in the first round, we’ll just have to wait until Sunday.

In 2023, France introduced a new mandatory tax declaration form, the declaration d’occupation, which must be completed by all property owners (including non-residents). The good news is that this is a one-off declaration rather than an annual requirement, so if you completed one last year and your situation hasn’t changed, there are no further requirements this year.

However, if you bought a house in France in the past year, or if the occupancy status of your property has changed – for example, you retired to France to live in your second home, thus making it your primary residence or you moved out of your French property and are now using it as a holiday home – you must declare this to the French tax authorities.

The deadline for the 2024 declaration d’occupation is this Sunday, June 30th, at midnight for those filing online. If you are filling in a paper form, it must arrive by July 1st at the latest, so you should post it by registered mail or hand it into your local tax office by the end of the week. A €150 applies to households that fail to complete the form.

Read our step-by-step guide to France’s tax declaration d’occupation.

If you need an escape from politics and tax responsibilities, then now’s the time to hit the shops as France’s annual summer sales kick off this week. The soldes d’été – one of just two times per year that shops are allowed to slash prices and large discounts on everything from clothes to electronics – start tomorrow, Wednesday, June 26th. The sales will be held throughout the country and will run until Tuesday, July 23rd.

If you have plans to buy, build, or renovate a French property, make sure to sign up for our next FrenchEntrée webinar, where we’ll be breaking down the real cost of buying a French property. I’ll be joined by a panel of experts to look at the costs of buying property, from notaire’s fees to currency exchange and property management.

Sign up for our free webinar now:

How Much Does it Really Cost to Buy a Property in France?

Thursday 27th June, 17:00 London / 18:00 France / 12:00 New York