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Last week while B was on vacation, we had a visitor that I thought didn't really exist (except in French urban legends).

Someone from the Fisc (IRS) came to check that we don't have a TV.

To explain: we hardly ever watch TV, and when we do it's mostly CNN or NoLife, so we always declare on our taxes that we don't have a TV in order to avoid the public tv tax (€116 a year).

You're supposed to pay it whether you watch TV or not, just if you have a TV in your house (it could even be unplugged and you still are supposed to pay), but we follow the French Système D and don't declare.

So last week someone came by to double check. B went down to the entrance with the mail boxes and the guy basically said he was too busy/lazy to actually go to the apartment and check himself, so he just trusts what people say and has them sign the form.

I'd heard about these kind of checks when chatting with French people, but I'd always kind of doubted. Now I know they're real!