How will the French tax office know if I am renting out my property?

Over the past few years the amount of information which is being passed between the UK and French tax offices has increased dramatically, leading to both tax offices becoming increasingly aware of holiday homes in France.

We have also found examples of unwitting tenants letting it be known they are not enjoying the property free of charge, or of people in the local towns or villages making the local tax offices aware of rental property.

This can and does lead to retrospective "Taxation d'Office" and recovery procedures whereby a tax assessment is issued automatically based on what the local tax office deems as being the typical profit that could be expected to be obtained from seasonal holiday lettings, (ignoring normally allowable expenditure such as mortgage interest), plus late interest charges and penalties, irrespective of the true income and expenses undergone.