The French tax office will work with Google to identify undeclared pools

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Property tax evaders trying to hide pools are being targeted by aerial photos and artificial intelligence.

In a $ 12 million deal with Google and IT firm Capgemini, the French tax office will use the technology to search for undeclared swimming pools, tennis courts, conservatories and expansions.

These extras must be declared as they modify the calculation of the taxe foncire paid by the owners and the housing tax, still paid by taxpayers at a higher rate and on second homes.

In a 2017 trial in Marmande, Lot-et-Garonne, tax officials found that one third of the 800 counted pools in the city had not been declared.

In 2019, another trial from professional services firm Accenture in three departments showed 3,000 undeclared swimming pools in the Alpes-Maritimes alone.

The new Foncier Innovant system uses Google’s cloud computing infrastructure and artificial intelligence technology to identify relevant structures such as the contours of swimming pools and buildings in aerial images of the state geographic agency IGN.

Then they check if they are subject to the right local tax.

If problems are reported, owners will be asked to put their tax matters in order, potentially paying significant additional local tax. Previously, surveyors had to check each property to confirm if the rules were being broken.

Capgemini is involved in a coordinating role, while Google will provide after sales service, should any problems arise.

This is a significant turning point for Google, which was condemned by the French taxman two years ago to pay a fine of 500 million for tax fraud.

Tax officials say Google will have no access to tax records and that, over time, all 87 million cadastral lots (property areas on tax office maps) registered in France will be checked under the new system.

It is deployed in the Alpes-Maritimes, Ardche, Bouchesdu-Rhne and Maine-et-Loire before any planned nationwide rollout.

The $ 12 million bill will cover both Google’s and Capgemini’s fees, and unions have been assured that Capgemini will act as a buffer between Google and the tax authorities.

The DGFiP, responsible for taxation in France, says that Google was chosen in a transparent tender procedure.

Accenture’s three-year test in 2019 cost 800,000 but was not carried out as the company refused to deliver the software it had developed for the project.

Precautions have been taken so that this does not happen again, according to the DGFiP, which said: Our teams will acquire ownership of the technology and we will acquire the intellectual property rights and full control over the developed algorithms.

He added that the project will improve the reliability of the information on which local direct taxation is based, facilitate the work of officials, help fight fraud more effectively, and better respond to people’s expectations of fairness and tax justice through proper assessment. of properties, and automate the updating of cadastral plans.

France is thought to have more swimming pools than any other European country.

The trade body of the sector said the symbolic figure of three million pools was surpassed earlier this year, after nearly 200,000 had been built in 2020.

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