Tax Liability on Rental Income in France: Residents & Non-Residents

Yes. Rental income arising on a French property is always taxable in France, regardless of where the money is paid to you or where you live. However, there are some differences, depending on whether you are resident or non-resident, and the kind of business regime your rental property falls under. As with all income in France, your rental income will be subject to both French income tax and social charges, so it’s important to take both of these figures into account.

Tax on rental income for residents in France

Tax rates and allowances on rental property in France depend upon the type of business regime your rental property falls under.

Business regimes for renting property in France

Taxable rental income is calculated under two regimes in France: revenus fonciers, applicable to income from land and unfurnished lettings; and Bénéfices Industriels et Commerciaux (BIC), applicable to income from furnished lettings, which is treated for calculation purposes as commercial income (although it is specifically investment income unless you qualify as a professional landlord).

Furnished lettings: Micro-BIC

The rules for the Micro-BIC regime on furnished lettings have changed significantly since 2024 and now depend on the type of furnished letting. According to service-public.gouv.fr and entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr, the thresholds and abatements for income arising in 2026 are as follows:

Standard furnished lettings (long-term residential tenancies): if your gross annual rental receipts do not exceed €83,600, the Micro-BIC regime applies automatically. A flat 50% abatement is applied in place of actual expenses, so only 50% of your gross income is taxable. No expenses need be demonstrated, no accounts are required, and no separate business tax forms need to be prepared.

Classified meublés de tourisme and chambres d’hôtes: if your gross annual receipts do not exceed €83,600, the Micro-BIC regime applies with a 50% abatement. Note that this abatement was reduced from 71% (which applied to 2024 income); the 50% rate applies to income arising from 2025 onwards.

Unclassified meublés de tourisme: the threshold has been reduced sharply. If your gross annual receipts do not exceed €15,000, the Micro-BIC regime applies with a 30% abatement only, meaning 70% of your gross income is taxable. This is a major change from the previous regime and is designed to discourage unclassified short-term holiday lets.

A gîte rural only qualifies for the Micro-BIC regime if it is classified as a meublé de tourisme.

The main drawback of the Micro-BIC regime is that it always produces a fixed taxable profit: it can never show a lower net profit or a loss.

Unfurnished lettings: Micro-Foncier

A similar simplified regime called the Micro-Foncier can be applied for income from unfurnished property or land, provided the gross rental income does not exceed €15,000 per annum. In this case, the abatement is 30%, and no separate declaration of expenses is needed.

Régime Réel: the income-and-expenditure method

If your turnover exceeds the above thresholds, or if you opt into it voluntarily, the Régime Réel Simplifié (RRS) applies. Under this method, actual expenditure related to the letting of the property is deductible, including: management expenses; insurance; taxe foncière; mortgage interest; depreciation (for furnished lettings); repairs, maintenance and improvement works (generally where the property has been modernised or made more comfortable, but where the structure has not been fundamentally changed). Improvement costs related to rebuilding or expanding your property are deductible for capital gains purposes only.

Where you fall within the Micro thresholds, the Micro regime is the default. However, should you make a loss or your expenses exceed the flat Micro deduction, you may opt into the Régime Réel. For furnished lettings, the option for the Régime Réel is renewed automatically each year unless you choose to revoke it. For unfurnished lettings (revenus fonciers), the option for the Régime Réel is irrevocable for a minimum period of three years. In some cases, the additional accountancy costs of operating the Régime Réel may outweigh the tax saving. However, it can be beneficial where there is a high level of expenses (e.g. significant mortgage interest) that could give rise to a loss to be carried forward against future profits.

Professional furnished landlord (Loueur en Meublé Professionnel / LMP)

If your gross rental receipts exceed €23,000 per annum and this income exceeds your other professional income, you may qualify as a loueur en meublé professionnel (LMP). LMP status can be advantageous with respect to French capital gains tax, wealth tax, and the ability to offset losses against your general income.

Properties held through companies

If the property is held in an SCI (a private French property-holding company) or a non-French company, the Micro regimes cannot be applied. If an SCI lets a furnished property, the income becomes subject to corporation tax (impôt sur les sociétés), not income tax, as does any capital gain on disposal. There are additional penalty taxes if the property is owned via a company in a blacklisted country.

Prélèvements sociaux on rental income for residents

French prélèvements sociaux on rental income are calculated based on three contributions:

• CSG (Contribution sociale généralisée): 9.2% on revenus fonciers from unfurnished lettings (note: for certain investment and placement income, the CSG rate increased to 10.6% from 1 January 2026; check the current rates on service-public.gouv.fr for your specific situation)
• CRDS (Contribution pour le remboursement de la dette sociale): 0.5%
• Prélèvement de solidarité: 7.5%

The combined total is 17.2% for unfurnished rental income (revenus fonciers). The rate applicable to other types of rental or investment income may differ following the 2026 CSG increase. A portion of the CSG (6.8%) is deductible from your taxable income the following year, provided you have opted for the progressive tax scale rather than the prélèvement forfaitaire unique (flat tax).

If you become resident in France but still own and rent out a UK, US, or other overseas property, you will be liable to declare your rental income in France. However, most countries that have a double tax treaty in place with France, including the UK and the United States, stipulate that rental income is taxable in the country where the property is located.

You will therefore be required to file a tax return both in the country where your property is located and in France. However, you will receive a tax credit to offset against your French taxes. If the French tax rate is higher than the other country’s tax rate, you will be liable to pay the difference.

Additional tax liabilities for foreign property owners in France

There are also a few additional tax liabilities that you should be aware of. If you opt to sell your overseas property, you may be liable to pay capital gains tax in France as well as in the country in which you own the property. As most countries have a double tax treaty in place with France, you won’t be required to pay capital gains tax twice; however, you will typically pay the higher of the two rates. Read our guide to Capital Gains Tax in France.

For those with global property assets totalling over €1.3 million, you will also become liable for French Wealth Tax or Impôt sur la Fortune Immobilière (IFI). Read our guide to French Wealth Tax.

Finally, it’s important to consider the inheritance tax laws of both countries. This can be a complex area of international law, so it’s highly recommended to seek advice on your situation before moving to France.

If you are not resident in France but rent out your French property, your rental income will be taxed at source in France. You will be subject to income tax and prélèvements sociaux on your rental income.

Income tax for non-resident landlords

Non-resident landlords have two options. The simplest is to pay a flat rate of income tax on your net rental income (after deducting eligible costs or opting for the standard Micro allowance). The minimum tax rate applying to non-residents is 20% on net income up to €29,579 (for the 2026 declaration on 2025 income). Any net rental income above this threshold is taxed at 30%.

The second option is to apply the French progressive tax scale to your worldwide income in order to establish your effective tax rate on the French rental income. The tax liability is calculated on your global income as if you were a French tax resident, but only the proportion attributable to your French-source income is actually charged. If this produces a rate lower than 20%, you may request that it be applied instead.

Note that you will likely still need to declare your French rental income on your tax return in your country of residence. In most instances, you will receive a tax credit equal to the taxes already paid in France. If the tax liabilities in your country of residence are higher than those in France, you may still be liable to pay the difference.

Social charges on rental income for non-residents

Your rental income in France will also be subject to prélèvements sociaux. The rates are the same as for residents (see above).

However, for non-residents affiliated with an EU, EEA, or UK social security system, there is an exemption from the CSG and CRDS. This means that eligible EU, EEA, or UK residents pay only the 7.5% prélèvement de solidarité on their rental income and capital gains. For UK residents, this exemption applies post-Brexit under certain conditions. See our guide to Social Charges on Investments and Capital Gains Post-Brexit.

Taxes on French rental income for UK Residents

The following specifically relates to owners of French rental property who are resident in the UK.

If you remain UK resident, the French rental income will also be liable to UK income tax, wherever the money is deposited or paid to you, even if the money is never brought into the UK. Any French tax paid is deductible against the UK tax liability, in accordance with the UK/France Double Tax Treaty. Where the French tax is higher, no further tax will be due in the UK, and no refund will be made for the difference. However, if the UK tax liability on the income exceeds the French tax paid, the difference between the two will be due in the UK.

Each country will apply its own rules in calculating the taxable income, and each country has a different tax year (the UK tax year runs from 6th April to the following 5th April, and the French tax year is a calendar year).

In the UK, the taxable income is calculated by deducting actual expenses wholly and exclusively incurred for the purposes of the letting, including: agent fees and commissions, repairs, insurance, and interest on any loan used to acquire the property (if you extend a UK mortgage over your main home, only the element related to the purchase of the French property will be permitted). Note that the old “wear and tear” allowance for furnished properties was replaced in April 2016 by a system where only the actual cost of replacing furnishings is deductible.

If you are UK resident, it is therefore essential to keep full records, because whilst there are simplified deduction schemes in France, there are none in the UK. You need to make a note of the dates as well, because you will need to convert euro amounts into sterling for UK tax purposes at the exchange rates applicable on the individual dates in question.