In the Gers, artificial intelligence has made it possible to detect 1,000 unsuccessful swimming pools, generating € 180,000 in taxes. The algorithm now refines its controls. Isolated buildings are now also in the tax viewfinder.
The Directorate General for Public Finances (DGFIP) spotted 150,000 swimming pools not declared by their owners in 2024, which allowed public finances to recover 40 million euros in property taxes for the year 2023. A stable figure compared to 2022, but which could increase in the coming years.
In the Gers, these are 1,000 swimming pools detected since 2023, for a gain of 180,000 euros in property taxes.
An identification facilitated by artificial intelligence
In recent years, the agents of the tax administration have been based strongly on the services of the IGN, in particular its aerial photos, as well as by an artificial intelligence tool, to identify the plots on which a swimming pool is located.
“This way of working is particularly effective, this for a tax purpose to detect swimming pools that are not declared properly and catch up with land taxes and housing taxes on second homes. These are resources for local authorities,” insists the departmental public finance director of Gers, Catherine Perinetti.
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By comparing with taxpayers’ declarations, agents can thus realize whether an “omission”, voluntary or not, has been carried out.
But the tax service does not intend to stop there. Progressing technology, the detection of “anomalies” becomes more precise. The first phase of detection was based on the exploitation of 2019 speech therapy using an artificial intelligence algorithm.
Today, the Gers is in the 2nd national prefiguration 2024 wave, based on the speech -language pathophotos of 2022. The “swimming pool” algorithm has been improved. It is now capable of identifying the differences of dimensions between the measured pool and that declared (example: swimming pool measured by the AI at 32 m² while the tax declaration is 25 m²).
In the Gers, 342 swimming pools were the subject of a declaration request in May.
This 2nd prefiguration wave also contains a detection treatment for isolated buildings. For the moment, the exam has focused on certain detections less than 200 m². 153 buildings were examined by the surveyors and 50 % were selected. The users concerned were informed of the obligation to declare in mid-June.
Because, for tax services, there is a presumption of good faith on these declarative errors. “Most of the time, the taxpayer does not know that he had to declare his swimming pool. People are surprised that they are written, but there is no hostility,” explains Adrien Cornet, head of the Departmental Tax Service.
