Local taxes: who has to pay the property tax in case of indivision?

When a building is undivided, the property tax is established on behalf of the joint shareholders.

In the presence of two or three joint shareholders, the tax assessment notice is drawn up with the names of each of them.

If there are more of them, the notice shall be drawn up in the name of the joint proprietor who has the largest share, followed by one of the following:

• And others
• And co-owners.

The tax authorities do not establish no custom taxation for each individual.

Each joint-holder must pay his share of the property tax, according to his share in the joint-ownership.

The joint shareholders are not solidarity faced with this debt. It is not possible to require one of them to pay the full tax.

The property tax is established on behalf of the deceased former owner collectively represented by his estate.

The property tax due for the year of death is a debt of the estate that must be paid by the heir(s).

If there are several heirs, the property is automatically placed in undivided form from the day of death.

Each heir must pay his share of the property tax, according to its share in the undivided. If an heir pays the entire property tax, he can request a refund from the other heirs.

As long as settlement of the estate the property tax must be paid each year even if the tax notice is still in the name of the deceased person.

The notary who deals with the settlement of the estate may pay the entire property tax, with the agreement of each of the heirs, and if the heirs authorize him to deduct from the available money of the estate.

The tax notice for the property tax will be sent to the new owner, once the following formalities have been completed:

• Publication of change of ownership with the land advertising service
• Registration by cadastre services.

In practice, it is the notary who takes care of these formalities at the time of signing the agreementattestation of real estate ownership.

When the property belongs to one usufructuary and to one or more bare-owners, we are talking about dismemberment of the property. The property tax is then established on behalf of the usufructuary.

After a donation or after a death, it is possible that the ownership of a property is divided between theusufructuary and one or more bare-owners.

This is the case, for example, if the deceased was married and left a surviving spouse with whom he or she had children. If there are no other children from another union, the surviving spouse may elect to receive usufruct of the property. His children then become each one bare-owners in part. The distribution of ownership of the property is recorded in theattestation of real estate ownership signed by the notary.

The usufructuary has the use of the property and receives the income if it is rented. It's normal the usufructuary who pays property tax.

However, the usufructuary and the bare-owners can find a different agreement between themselves.