Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the treasuries remained closed to the public during the current 2019 income tax reporting campaign (only a few rare meetings have been granted). Even if the administration has deployed significant resources to answer users' questions by telephone and e-mail.
Who to turn to? La Poste offered a paid home help service last year for online declaration, but it is no longer available (the company judged that automatic declaration solved the problems). For its part, the order of chartered accountants is mobilized, for the 10th year, in order to help taxpayers for free to fill out their declaration: dedicated site, toll-free number, live on YouTube…
But the closure of the tax centers drains a new audience to start-ups like Tacotax or Corrigetonimpot.fr. "Since the start of this reporting period, we have registered 1.5 million more unique visitors to our site," says Aldric Émié, co-founder of Tacotax, an online consulting company to declare its revenues. In May and June, we even count on an additional 2 million each month ”.
"Many people ignore their rights"
To deal with the wave, the start-up call center has grown from 4 to 20 people in a few weeks. "We have been enjoying exponential growth for 3 years," continues the young boss. In 2018, we were only 50,000 visitors per year! "In the wake of Tacotax and others, tax lawyers and wealth management advisers are taking advantage of the current situation," but less than online companies, because their DNA is not digital, "notes an industry expert.
However, these sites proclaimed "personal income tax coach" are they really useful, while the government puts forward the pre-filled declaration, and even automatic for several million taxpayers in 2020? “Yes, because very many people ignore their rights, insists Aldric Émié. Taxpayers click: next, next, next , but they forget to declare nannies, work to save energy, or to go to actual costs ...
Unions concerned
On the side of the unions of the Ministry of Finance, there is real concern that this exceptional year, synonymous with no reception desk, will become the norm. "And that the boulevard from which online consultancy companies benefit remains open", plague a senior official.
"The contact points are fewer and fewer, so users turn to other actors, worries Vincent Drezet, secretary general of Solidaires Finances publics, the first tax union. The overhaul of the regional network of the Directorate General of Public Finances (DGFiP) - suspended due to the epidemic - could accelerate this phenomenon. I fear that we are moving towards a German model, with lots of private advisers to fill out a hypercomplex declaration. "
The efforts of the DGFiP to simplify the declaration of income do not remove the fears of the trade unionist, "because the tax law, it remains very complex". For the moment, Vincent Drezet sees especially in the automatic declaration "the risk of subsequent litigation".
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All information on www.allo-impot.fr. June 3, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., toll-free number 0.8000.65432: experts answer your questions.
