The tax authorities are currently experimenting with an “innovative land tenure” program which relies on Google services to automatically detect cadastral errors. The goal ? Identify undeclared swimming pools and extensions.
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Google, the new champion in the fight against tax fraud? This is the information that the Chained Duck. The General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) called on the Web, as well as to the company Capgemini, for its “Innovative Land” program which aims to detect all the elements not declared on the register. If a swimming pool is visible on Google Maps, it will eventually be spotted by the tax authorities …
The software in question uses artificial intelligence to compare satellite images to the land register and spot any differences between the two. This includes swimming pools, as well as extensions and any other undeclared building modification. For each irregularity, the parcel will be reported to surveyors who will then be able to zoom in on the images, which have a resolution 20 centimeters, in order to confirm or not the presence of an undeclared swimming pool or extension.
A system still in the experimental phase
This is not the first operation of this kind, since Google Maps had enabled the city of Marmande in 2017 to discover that a third of swimming pools of the commune was not declared. Another experiment carried out in 2019 had discovered 3,000 swimming pools not declared in the Alpes-Maritimes.
The system is currently in the experimental phase in a few departments, including Bouches-du-Rhône and Vendée, before a probable launch at national level. Those who have failed to declare their pool risk seeing their local taxes climb by 500 euros per year. With nearly 3 million swimming pools currently listed in France, the “Innovative Land” program could pay off big.
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