Coronavirus crisis, automatic declaration ... This beginning of the year was marked by many changes, some of which were not planned. Jérôme Fournel, the director general of public finance, explains the new features of the 2019 income tax return.
THE CORONAVIRUS TIME DECLARATION
The reporting schedule has been changed. But will the times be sufficient in the context of the pandemic?
JÉRÔME FOURNEL. We have taken the utmost precautions so that the French have time to make their declaration, whether on the Internet or on paper. Everyone will receive their documents well in advance of the June 12 date.
What are the consequences of the pandemic on the 2020 income tax return?
Revenues in 2019 were not affected by the coronavirus crisis, simply because it was not yet there. On the other hand, the epidemic allows us to measure all the advantages of withholding tax. The tax drops immediately for taxpayers who are experiencing a drop in income right now. It's mechanical: when the base of your financial income shrinks, the administration charges you less. In addition, those who wish have the ability to adjust their rate or, for the self-employed, to postpone installment deadlines. As of May 5, 66,900 deferred payments have been recorded, while there were only 6,440 in 2019.
How is it going to be for taxpayers who used to go to the treasury for help?
Only taxpayers who have complex questions will be received, by appointment, at the tax centers. As for those who used to travel, they must be reassured: anything is possible from a distance. In fact, we are seeing an increase in remote declarations of around 40% compared to the same period last year. At the same time, we receive approximately 90,000 calls / day in our call centers for information. This is three to four times more than last year, when the declarative campaign was not obvious with the introduction of the withholding tax. By telephone or secure messaging, we are able to answer 99% of the questions asked.
“It pays me” newsletter
The newsletter that improves your purchasing powerI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
Have you deployed additional means to deal with the calls?
Yes, our contact centers have grown from 500 to 1,000 people, with a call acceptance rate around 75%. And our agents in the Personal Tax Centers also answer the phone and process the returns. In total, more than 5,000 people are mobilized on the campaign.
THE AUTOMATIC DECLARATION
With automatic declaration, 12 million households will not have to validate their declaration. Isn't the risk of errors or fraud greater?
No. Because automatic declaration targets the simplest situations, by their nature those which generate less fraud. These are not taxpayers with a myriad of capital gains, multiple property revenues or tax credits in every way. In addition, we have implemented tools to facilitate the user's journey during the declaration.
Which ?
Taxpayers who report online will see small pop-ups if there are inconsistent elements. We have also identified the most common errors during the declaration. Those who declare in paper version will receive a document with all these elements.
Will there still be an increase in checks?
No. We will probably do statistical consistency checks, but there will be no massive checks on automatic declarations.
SECURITY
Last summer, the tax site was hacked. What safeguards have you put in place to protect taxpayer data?
We have reinforced security to avoid intrusions: users who wish to change their password will receive, if they have given us their mobile number, a code on their smartphone. In addition, we have taken additional regulatory measures to avoid saturation effects. And we have strengthened our teams.
THE NEWS
Income from tourist rental platforms, for example, had to be pre-entered on the income tax return for the first time. Is that the case ?
No. Because if most platforms have played the game, especially the larger ones, by meeting this new obligation, not all of them have done so. I do not wish to say which ones, to make a "name and shame" especially since, for those who sent us the data, they were sometimes not usable in the state.
Taxpayers will therefore have to indicate their income?
Yes. We have stored the information that we received from the platforms to make verifications. But we will still indicate on the statements of taxpayers who received platform income, according to our knowledge, to specify them. Next year, this information will be pre-filled.