The tax authorities experimented last fall with an artificial intelligence program in nine French departments. This device, which tracks undeclared swimming pools from aerial views, has spotted more than 20,000 swimming pools. Nearly 10 million euros will thus be recovered in property tax by the end of the year.
This software analyzes aerial photos from the services of IGN, the National Institute for Geographic and Forest Information, to track down undeclared swimming pools to verify taxpayer declarations. The Directorate General of Public Finances which has successfully tested the device in nine French departments, announces its generalization to the whole territory.
This extension will result in additional revenue for local authorities, says Marina Fages, head of this project, who is called Innovative Land. ” We have refined the detection processes to better recognize what a potentially taxable swimming pool is compared to any other object such as a blue tarp. This experimental path in these nine departments has enabled us to have the conditions met to move towards a generalization, throughout France, of this mechanism in the last quarter of 2022, she explains. We are really in a process of fairness and tax justice. The assignees are really the local authorities and in the first place the communes. Because local direct taxes are distribution taxes. What is not paid for by some, is paid for by others. »
And after the undeclared swimming pools, the tax services are gradually planning to use this device to identify external garages, verandas, fixed pergolas as well as all building extensions that are not registered in the cadastre.