The furniture and appliance allowance

The allowance permits a deduction for expenditure on new furniture and large appliances intended to furnish a property that is the subject of building recovery works. The deduction is not free standing and presupposes building works.

The rate is 50 per cent and, unlike the other deductions, it does not vary with the use of the property. The benefit is therefore the same on a main home and on other properties.

The deduction is spread over ten equal annual instalments. Each instalment can be used only in the year to which it relates.

This is the condition that most frequently forfeits the benefit, and it must be checked before the purchase rather than after. It is the timing link with the building works.

The purchase must be linked to building recovery works started in the year preceding the purchase or in the same year. The start date of the works must be documented.

The rule produces a binding sequence: the works must have started before the goods are bought. For expenditure incurred in a given tax year, the works must have started on or after 1 January of the preceding year.

Two immediate operational consequences follow. They concern the timing of the purchase and proof of the start date.

The start date of the works must be capable of proof. The building consent, the notice of commencement or the substitute declaration performs that function, and their absence makes the condition impossible to demonstrate.

The chronological order cannot be reversed. A client who buys furniture before the site opens loses the benefit on that purchase, and the position cannot be cured afterwards.

For a professional running the works, this is information to give the client at the start of the appointment rather than at handover, because it is in the early stage that a purchase risks being brought forward. A purchase made too early cannot be recovered in any way.

The spending cap is 5,000 euros, applied to the property unit concerned and including delivery and assembly costs. Delivery and assembly therefore consume part of the cap.

Two qualifications govern its application. They concern the reference to the unit and independence from the other caps.

The cap is independent of the cap on the building works. It is not added to the renovation deduction limit and does not consume it: they are two distinct allowances existing side by side.

The cap attaches to the property unit, which means works on several units give rise to several caps, on the conditions applying to each. The count should be documented with the land registry plan.

Element	Regime
Rate	50 per cent, independent of the use of the unit
Cap	5,000 euros per property unit, delivery and assembly included
Relationship with the building cap	Independent, neither consumes it nor is consumed by it
Timing condition	Building works started in the preceding year or the same year
Payment means accepted	Bank transfer, credit and debit cards
Spread	Ten equal annual instalments

The benefit covers new furniture intended to furnish the property that is the subject of the works, and new large appliances. Large appliances must meet the energy classes required.

For appliances the benefit is subject to minimum energy class requirements, differentiated by type of appliance under the rules. The check must be made on the appliance's actual class rather than on its general description as an efficient appliance.

Goods that do not serve to furnish the property, and those outside the categories identified, are excluded. The exclusion also covers goods placed in other units.

One recurring point concerns where the goods go. The furniture must be intended for the property that is the subject of the building works, and not for another unit belonging to the same owner. The link is between the purchase and the renovated property, not between the purchase and the claimant.

Payment must be made by traceable means, using the instruments the rules permit for this deduction. The means permitted are wider than for building works.

One difference from building works deserves flagging: for the furniture allowance, traceable means other than bank transfer are accepted, including credit and debit cards, while cash payments and cheques remain excluded. The check should be made before the first purchase.

The records to retain comprise payment receipts, purchase invoices stating the nature, quality and quantity of the goods, and the documentation evidencing the underlying building works with their start date. Stating the nature of the goods on the invoice is a requirement and not a detail.

One recurring situation deserves isolating because the timing rule applies to it counter intuitively. It concerns a purchase made while the works are still under way.

On works running across several tax years, the link is assessed not against completion but against the start of the works. A site opened in one year and completed two years later therefore allows eligible purchases in the year it opened and in the following one, under the applicable timing rule.

A useful planning consequence for the client follows: buying furniture need not wait for completion, and bringing it forward to the middle of the works is often the more efficient choice for tax purposes. The purchase must still be documented against the start date of the works.

The capacity of the cap against the number of property units concerned should nevertheless be checked, because on works altering the configuration of the units the count must be made on the position the rules take as the reference. The check precedes the purchase rather than following it.

Buying the furniture before the works start is the first, and forfeits the benefit definitively. The benefit cannot be recovered in any form.

Assuming the furniture cap consumes the renovation cap is the second, and leads to giving up a benefit that is available. The two caps are independent and combine.

Overlooking the energy class check on appliances is the third, and produces ineligible purchases on goods the client believed were covered. The class should be checked on the product data sheet before purchase.

Placing the furniture in a unit other than the one being worked on is the fourth, and breaks the link on which the deduction rests. The link with the unit is a condition of access.

Paying in cash is the fifth, and applies here as for the other deductions. No alternative form of proof is accepted.