Annual tax on offices in PACA region

The levy may concern an individual, a company or a private or public body in any of the following at 1^er January :

• Owner (in full ownership, co-ownership or division) of a taxable premises or area
• Holder of a right in rem in a taxable premises : usufruct, for example, temporary public domain occupancy (TPO).

If it is a commercial or professional lease, the lessor can charge the tenant for it. It has to be in the lease agreement. Without a specific clause, the tax is not recoverable by the lessor, who remains liable for it.

The tax is applicable annually in the PACA region, in the following 3 departments :

• Bouches-du-Rhône (13)
• Var (83)
• Alpes-Maritimes (06)

Taxable premises

The annual fee shall apply to the following types of premises:

• Office space : these are the offices themselves and their immediate and essential dependencies intended for the exercise of an activity. This also includes professional premises intended for the exercise of professional activities (premises used for medical practices, architects, lawyers, veterinarians, consultants, etc., as well as waiting rooms for clients and clearances) or used by private organizations whether or not they are for profit.
• Commercial premises : premises intended for the exercise of a retail or wholesale trade activity and the provision of services of a commercial or craft nature and their associated reserves (covered or not), and adjacent locations permanently assigned to the sale. This includes shops, boutiques, commercial distribution areas, market halls, covered procurement markets, maintenance and repair shops, etc.
• Storage rooms : premises or covered areas intended for the storage of products, goods or goods and which are not topographically integrated into a production establishment. This includes all storage premises (warehouses, logistics platforms, furniture storage, etc.) except those directly dependent on an industrial or production establishment or agricultural holding. Exhibition and conference facilities shall be treated as storage facilities.
• Parking surfaces : this refers to premises or areas covered or not covered intended for parking vehicles and which are not topographically integrated with a production establishment.

The premises or surfaces may be whole buildings or only part of buildings.

In the case of premises undivided inmates, the calculation for the exemption shall take into account the entire area of the premises. In practice, even if an individual owns an area below the exemption limits corresponding to his share, he is liable to pay the tax.

The tax is payable for a whole year, even if the property is transferred or changed in the course of the year, and even if the premises are vacant or vacant.

Tax-exempt premises

The following premises are exempt of the office tax:

• Professional offices and premises with an area of less than 100 m²
• Commercial premises of less than 2,500 m²
• Storage rooms belonging to agricultural cooperative businesses or their associations
• Storage rooms with an area of less than 5 000 m²
• Parking areas of less than 500 m²
• Commercial car parks of less than 500 m²
• Office space, commercial premises, storage premises and parking areas attached to these categories of premises and commercial car parks, situated in a urban free zone-entrepreneurial territory (ZFU)
• Premises used by foundations and associations recognized as being of public interest
• Premises specially adapted for administrative archiving and research activities
• Premises of a sanitary nature (clinic, pharmacy, care establishment), of a social nature (social action center, funeral home, company nursery), of an educational nature (school or university establishment) or of a cultural nature (theater, cinema, show or circus establishment, animal park, artist's workshop, museum, library)
• Administrative premises of public and private educational establishments under contract with the State
• Premises and areas of park and ride stations designed exclusively to facilitate passenger access to the various public transport networks
• Premises hosting computer servers
• Pitches adjacent to a commercial premises and equipped for the exercise of sports activities
• Premises in downtown revitalization areas
• Premises in rural business revitalization areas
• Premises in priority districts of city policy

The amount of the fee shall be fixed in euros/m². Rates vary depending on the type of room.