You own a flat in Paris, Lyon or Nice, you let it furnished, and the rent lands in your French bank account each month. Since Brexit, that simple arrangement sits at the crossing of three French legal regimes that many British owners discover only when a tax notice or a letter from the town hall arrives: the income tax classification of furnished lettings, the special minimum tax rate applied to non-residents, and the prior authorisation schemes that large cities impose on short-term tourist lets. Each regime has its own statute, its own thresholds and its own penalties, and a mistake in one does not cancel out compliance in the others. This guide explains, for a British reader, how France taxes furnished rental income received by a British owner, how to choose between the micro-BIC flat-rate scheme and the actual-profits regime, which French tax position to defend on the rents, and what city-level authorisations you must obtain before letting to tourists. French legal terms are explained at first use. The law is stated as in force on 7 September 2026, with the exact statutory references you or your adviser can check on L\u00e9gifrance.<\/p>\n
In France, furnished accommodation starts from a different starting point: the person who lets furnished residential premises directly or indirectly falls within the category of b\u00e9n\u00e9fices industriels et commerciaux<\/em> (BIC), the French income tax category for industrial and commercial profits. Article 35 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts<\/em> (CGI), the French general tax code, provides that \u201cPersonnes qui donnent en location directe ou indirecte des locaux d\u2019habitation meubl\u00e9s\u201d<\/a> realise profits that have the character of industrial and commercial profits for income tax purposes. The practical consequence is immediate: you do not declare furnished rents alongside unfurnished rents from built property such as houses, which Article 14 of the CGI places in the revenus fonciers<\/em><\/a> (land income) category where they are not already included in industrial, commercial or other professional profits. You declare them as BIC, so the category determines which part of the French return the rents belong in.<\/p>\n The second question is where you are taxed at all. France taxes income connected with French soil regardless of where the owner lives. Article 164 B of the CGI lists the income treated as being of French source, and its first item covers \u201cLes revenus d\u2019immeubles sis en France ou de droits relatifs \u00e0 ces immeubles\u201d<\/a>, meaning income from buildings situated in France or rights relating to them. Your Paris studio or Dordogne cottage therefore generates French-source income in every case, whether you live in London, Edinburgh or full-time in France. What changes with your residence is the machinery: the rate, the return, and the office to which you file.<\/p>\n French tax residence (domicile fiscal<\/em>) is defined by Article 4 B of the CGI, which treats as having their tax domicile in France \u201cLes personnes qui ont en France leur foyer ou le lieu de leur s\u00e9jour principal\u201d<\/a>, that is, persons whose household or principal place of stay is in France, alongside persons who carry on a professional activity in France unless it is merely ancillary. If you moved to France permanently, kept your home there, and spend most of the year there, you normally meet the French tax-residence test, and the furnished rents fall within your French taxable income in the BIC category. If you live in Britain and simply own and let a French property, you are a non-resident for French tax purposes and France taxes only your French-source income, but it applies the special non-resident machinery described in Part II below. Residence is tested person by person against the Article 4 B criteria quoted above.<\/p>\n The courts apply the furnished-letting thresholds exactly as written, and gross turnover must not be confused with taxable revenue. In a judgment of 20 December 2023, the Commercial Chamber of the Cour de cassation<\/em> (Court of Cassation), appeal no. 22-17.612, the owners of residential buildings let furnished challenged their reassessment to wealth tax: the administration had brought the buildings back into the taxable base, and the owners argued that the 50 per cent preponderance test for professional-asset exoneration should be measured on the gross receipts of the furnished-letting activity. The Court rejected the argument, holding that \u201cil convient de retenir, non les recettes brutes tir\u00e9es de l\u2019activit\u00e9 de location meubl\u00e9e professionnelle, mais le b\u00e9n\u00e9fice industriel et commercial net annuel d\u00e9gag\u00e9 par cette activit\u00e9\u201d<\/a>, meaning what counts is not the gross receipts of the professional furnished-letting activity but the net annual industrial and commercial profit it generates. Since the activity had produced no taxable profit in two of the years and a large deficit in the third, the 50 per cent threshold was rightly found not met. The case concerned wealth tax rather than income tax, but its lesson travels: furnished letting is measured with business-profit concepts, and percentages are applied literally. Declare the rents, declare them as BIC, and keep the evidence for whichever regime you choose.<\/p>\n Once the rents are correctly identified as BIC, a British owner faces a choice between two assessment methods: the micro-BIC<\/em> scheme, a simplified flat-rate method, and the r\u00e9gime r\u00e9el<\/em>, the actual-profits method under which deductible charges are subtracted from gross rents. The micro-BIC scheme applies automatically where turnover stays below statutory ceilings, and the owner may opt for the actual-profits method where charges are heavy, for example after renovation works or where loan interest is significant.<\/p>\n The version of Article 50-0 of the CGI in force on 7 September 2026 sets three turnover ceilings for the previous or penultimate calendar year: 203,100 euros for businesses whose main trade is selling goods or supplying lodging, excluding the direct or indirect letting of furnished residential premises; 15,000 euros for businesses whose main activity is letting tourist furnished accommodation (meubl\u00e9s de tourisme<\/em>)<\/a> within the meaning of Article L. 324-1-1 of the Tourism Code, other than those in the protected categories of Article 1414 bis of the CGI; and 83,600 euros for other businesses, which covers ordinary non-tourist furnished lets. The taxable result under micro-BIC equals gross turnover minus a flat-rate allowance (abattement<\/em>): 71 per cent for the first category, 50 per cent for the second category of other businesses, and 30 per cent for tourist furnished accommodation, with allowances never below 305 euros<\/a>. In plain terms, a British owner letting an unclassified Paris studio to tourists for 14,000 euros a year stays within micro-BIC but is taxed on 70 per cent of the rents, whereas the same studio let year-round to a tenant who lives there falls under the 83,600 euro ceiling with a 50 per cent allowance, so only half the rents enter taxable income.<\/p>\n The distinction between classified and unclassified tourist accommodation matters well beyond the allowance. Premises officially classified as meubl\u00e9s de tourisme<\/em> and guest rooms (chambres d\u2019h\u00f4tes<\/em>) can, where the local council has so resolved, be exonerated from the taxe d\u2019habitation sur les r\u00e9sidences secondaires<\/em>, the annual local tax on second homes. Article 1414 bis of the CGI allows communes and intercommunal bodies to exonerate \u201cLes locaux class\u00e9s meubl\u00e9s de tourisme\u201d<\/a> and guest rooms, but the owner must send the local tax office, \u201cavant le 1er mars de chaque ann\u00e9e\u201d<\/a>, a declaration with all evidence of the use of the premises. A British second-home owner who misses the 1 March deadline loses the exoneration for that year even where the property is properly classified, which is a frequent and expensive oversight for owners who spend the winter in the United Kingdom and open the post late.<\/p>\n Choosing the actual-profits method is an election, and it binds the owner to proper bookkeeping, and the owner gives up the flat-rate allowance to be assessed under the actual-profits method instead. Whether the election lowers the bill depends on the owner\u2019s actual figures, worked out with an accountant before works are commissioned rather than after the return is due. Conversely, an owner with a paid-off property, modest outgoings and rents below the ceilings will usually pay less tax and spend less on accountancy under micro-BIC. Because the 15,000 euro ceiling for unclassified tourist lets is so low, many British owners who let the same property both ways, for example long winter lets to a resident tenant plus summer weeks to tourists, must check the combined-turnover rule in Article 50-0 rather than assuming each activity is tested alone. Keep a year-by-year ledger of rents received, by letting type, and revisit the election before works are commissioned rather than after the return is due.<\/p>\n A British owner who lives in the United Kingdom and lets a French property is taxed in France on the French-source rents, and the computation follows a special rule. Article 197 A of the CGI provides that where a person without a French tax domicile receives French-source income, \u201cLes r\u00e8gles du 1 et du 2 du I de l\u2019article 197 sont applicables pour le calcul de l\u2019imp\u00f4t sur le revenu d\u00fb par les personnes qui, n\u2019ayant pas leur domicile fiscal en France : a. Per\u00e7oivent des revenus de source fran\u00e7aise ; l\u2019imp\u00f4t ne peut, en ce cas, \u00eatre inf\u00e9rieur \u00e0 un montant calcul\u00e9 en appliquant un taux de 20 % \u00e0 la fraction du revenu net imposable inf\u00e9rieure ou \u00e9gale \u00e0 la limite sup\u00e9rieure de la deuxi\u00e8me tranche du bar\u00e8me de l\u2019imp\u00f4t sur le revenu et un taux de 30 % \u00e0 la fraction sup\u00e9rieure \u00e0 cette limite ; ces taux de 20 % et 30 % sont ramen\u00e9s respectivement \u00e0 14,4 % et 20 % pour les revenus ayant leur source dans les d\u00e9partements d\u2019outre-mer ; toutefois, lorsque le contribuable justifie que le taux de l\u2019imp\u00f4t fran\u00e7ais sur l\u2019ensemble de ses revenus de source fran\u00e7aise ou \u00e9trang\u00e8re serait inf\u00e9rieur \u00e0 ces minima, ce taux est applicable \u00e0 ses revenus de source fran\u00e7aise. Dans ce cas, les contribuables qui ont leur domicile fiscal dans un Etat membre de l\u2019Union europ\u00e9enne ou dans un Etat avec lequel la France a sign\u00e9 une convention d\u2019assistance administrative de lutte contre la fraude et l\u2019\u00e9vasion fiscales ou une convention d\u2019assistance mutuelle en mati\u00e8re de recouvrement d\u2019imp\u00f4t peuvent, dans l\u2019attente de pouvoir produire les pi\u00e8ces justificatives, annexer \u00e0 leur d\u00e9claration de revenu une d\u00e9claration sur l\u2019honneur de l\u2019exactitude des informations fournies ; […]\u201d<\/a> (the article continues only with a special rule on maintenance payments, cut and marked […] above, which does not concern rental income). In plain terms: the tax cannot be less than 20 per cent on the part of net taxable income up to the top of the second band of the French income tax scale and 30 per cent above that, with reduced 14.4 and 20 per cent rates for the overseas departments. This minimum rate is the trap most British non-resident landlords overlook: even modest rents can bear an effective rate well above what a French resident with the same income would pay under the progressive scale.<\/p>\n The escape route sits in the same passage quoted above: a taxpayer who shows that the French tax rate on all French and foreign income would sit below the minimums is taxed at that lower average rate, the taux moyen<\/em>, on the French-source income instead. A retired British owner with a modest pension plus a small French rent is the typical beneficiary, but the claim requires disclosing worldwide income with supporting evidence, and only the domiciliaries described in the quoted text may lodge a sworn statement of accuracy pending the documents; a British owner living in the United Kingdom should confirm with the French non-residents\u2019 tax office that this facility is open before relying on it. Owners who simply accept the assessment without making the average-rate claim regularly overpay, year after year.<\/p>\n Paying the correct French tax computed under the rules below is the whole of the French task. Paying the correct French tax is only the French half of the file. This guide states only the French position established above; any question going beyond it belongs to separate advice. Keep the French assessment notices (avis d\u2019imposition<\/em>) indefinitely: they record the exact French tax computed on the rents. The position of companies or soci\u00e9t\u00e9s civiles immobili\u00e8res<\/em> holding the property raises separate questions that need individual advice, but the French sequence never changes: declare in France first and pay the correct French amount using the average-rate claim where the conditions are met. Keep the French assessment notices (avis d\u2019imposition<\/em>) indefinitely: they are the proof the British return relies upon. Social levies on top of income tax, affiliation questions where the owner also works, and the position of companies or soci\u00e9t\u00e9s civiles immobili\u00e8res<\/em> holding the property each raise separate issues that need individual advice, but the core sequence never changes: declare in France first, pay the correct French amount using the average-rate claim where available.<\/p>\n Tax compliance does not authorise the letting itself. A British owner who offers a furnished property to passing guests is operating a meubl\u00e9 de tourisme<\/em>, tourist furnished accommodation, which Article L. 324-1-1 of the Tourism Code defines as \u201cdes villas, appartements ou studios meubl\u00e9s, \u00e0 l\u2019usage exclusif du locataire, offerts \u00e0 la location \u00e0 une client\u00e8le de passage qui n\u2019y \u00e9lit pas domicile et qui y effectue un s\u00e9jour caract\u00e9ris\u00e9 par une location \u00e0 la journ\u00e9e, \u00e0 la semaine ou au mois\u201d<\/a>, meaning furnished villas, flats or studios for the exclusive use of the guest, offered for letting to a passing clientele who do not take up residence there and whose stay takes the form of letting by the day, week or month. Anyone offering such accommodation must make the prior declaration in person through the national online facility: \u201cToute personne qui offre \u00e0 la location un meubl\u00e9 de tourisme proc\u00e8de pr\u00e9alablement en personne \u00e0 une d\u00e9claration soumise \u00e0 enregistrement aupr\u00e8s d\u2019un t\u00e9l\u00e9service national op\u00e9r\u00e9 par l\u2019organisme public unique mentionn\u00e9 au premier alin\u00e9a du II de l\u2019article L. 324-2-1.\u201d<\/a> On receipt of the complete declaration, the facility issues an electronic acknowledgement carrying \u201cun num\u00e9ro de d\u00e9claration\u201d<\/a>. That number must appear in every offer: Article L. 324-2 of the Tourism Code provides that \u201cToute offre ou contrat de location saisonni\u00e8re doit rev\u00eatir la forme \u00e9crite et contenir l\u2019indication du prix demand\u00e9 ainsi qu\u2019un \u00e9tat descriptif des lieux. Toute offre de location d\u2019un meubl\u00e9 de tourisme mentionn\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019article L. 324-1-1 contient le num\u00e9ro de d\u00e9claration mentionn\u00e9 au III du m\u00eame article L. 324-1-1 et indique, dans des conditions d\u00e9finies par d\u00e9cret, si l\u2019offre \u00e9mane d\u2019un particulier ou d\u2019un professionnel au sens de l\u2019article 155 du code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts.\u201d<\/a> A listing written from the United Kingdom that omits the number therefore breaches the statute on its face. Where the unit is declared as the owner\u2019s own main home (r\u00e9sidence principale<\/em>), letting is capped by statute: no more than one hundred and twenty days in the same calendar year, \u201csauf obligation professionnelle, raison de sant\u00e9 ou cas de force majeure\u201d<\/a>, and the commune may by reasoned decision lower that ceiling to ninety days and demand the annual day count from the owner.<\/p>\n In the largest cities, a second and heavier authorisation applies: the change-of-use (changement d\u2019usage<\/em>) regime. In the communes listed under the statute, the local deliberative body may subject the conversion of residential premises into short-term tourist accommodation to prior authorisation. Article L. 631-7 of the Construction and Housing Code provides that \u201cle changement d\u2019usage des locaux \u00e0 usage d\u2019habitation peut \u00eatre soumis, sur d\u00e9cision de l\u2019organe d\u00e9lib\u00e9rant, \u00e0 autorisation pr\u00e9alable\u201d<\/a>, and it defines the reach of the regime broadly: \u201cPour l\u2019application de la pr\u00e9sente section, un local est r\u00e9put\u00e9 \u00e0 usage d\u2019habitation s\u2019il \u00e9tait affect\u00e9 \u00e0 cet usage soit \u00e0 une date comprise entre le 1er janvier 1970 et le 31 d\u00e9cembre 1976 inclus, soit \u00e0 n\u2019importe quel moment au cours des trente derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es pr\u00e9c\u00e9dant la demande d\u2019autorisation pr\u00e9alable au changement d\u2019usage ou la contestation de l\u2019usage dans le cadre des proc\u00e9dures pr\u00e9vues au pr\u00e9sent livre, et sauf autorisation ult\u00e9rieure mentionn\u00e9e au quatri\u00e8me alin\u00e9a du pr\u00e9sent article.\u201d<\/a> Paris applies this regime with particular strictness. Article L. 631-7-1 of the Construction and Housing Code states that the prior authorisation is granted by the mayor of the commune, after the opinion of the arrondissement mayor in Paris, Marseille and Lyon, and \u201cpeut \u00eatre subordonn\u00e9e \u00e0 une compensation\u201d<\/a> in the form of the simultaneous conversion of other premises back to housing. The same article warns buyers that the authorisation \u201cest accord\u00e9e \u00e0 titre personnel\u201d and lapses when the beneficiary\u2019s activity ends definitively<\/a>, attaching to the premises rather than the person only where compensation was imposed. A British buyer who acquires a Paris studio \u201cwith a tourist clientele in place\u201d must therefore verify not only that an authorisation exists, but whether it was granted personally to the seller, in which case the new owner cannot rely on it, or against compensation, in which case it runs with the flat.<\/p>\n The seriousness of this regime is visible in the litigation it produced. In two twin orders of 15 November 2018, on appeals nos. 17-26.156<\/a> and 17-26.158<\/a>, the Third Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation stayed both proceedings and referred the same six questions on the Paris authorisation scheme to the Court of Justice of the European Union: whether Directive 2006\/123 on services covers \u201cla location \u00e0 titre on\u00e9reux, m\u00eame \u00e0 titre non professionnel, de mani\u00e8re r\u00e9p\u00e9t\u00e9e et pour de courtes dur\u00e9es, d\u2019un local meubl\u00e9 \u00e0 usage d\u2019habitation ne constituant pas la r\u00e9sidence principale du loueur, \u00e0 une client\u00e8le de passage n\u2019y \u00e9lisant pas domicile, notamment au regard des notions de prestataires et de services ?\u201d<\/a>; whether Article L. 631-7 is an authorisation scheme within Articles 9 to 13 of the directive or a mere requirement under Articles 14 and 15; whether \u201cl\u2019objectif tenant \u00e0 la lutte contre la p\u00e9nurie de logements destin\u00e9s \u00e0 la location constitue une raison imp\u00e9rieuse d\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat g\u00e9n\u00e9ral permettant de justifier une mesure nationale soumettant \u00e0 autorisation, dans certaines zones g\u00e9ographiques, la location d\u2019un local meubl\u00e9 destin\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019habitation de mani\u00e8re r\u00e9p\u00e9t\u00e9e pour de courtes dur\u00e9es \u00e0 une client\u00e8le de passage qui n\u2019y \u00e9lit pas domicile ?\u201d<\/a>; whether such a measure is proportionate; and two questions on whether Article 10(2) of the directive, which requires authorisation conditions to be clear and unambiguous, precludes the municipal authorisation criteria. The declaration, prior-authorisation and fine machinery described above is the law in force on 7 September 2026. Article L. 651-2 of the Construction and Housing Code punishes breach of the change-of-use rules with a civil fine of up to 100,000 euros per unlawfully converted unit (\u201c100 000 \u20ac par local irr\u00e9guli\u00e8rement transform\u00e9\u201d)<\/a>, ordered by the president of the local tribunal judiciaire<\/em> ruling under the accelerated procedure on the merits, on application by the commune, the housing authority, the planning-competent intercommunal body or the national housing agency, with the proceeds paid to the commune. The same article empowers the court to order restoration to residential use within a fixed time, followed by a daily penalty of up to 1,000 euros per day per square metre (\u201c1 000 \u20ac par jour et par m\u00e8tre carr\u00e9 utile\u201d)<\/a>. For a British owner, the practical checklist before the first guest arrives is therefore: file the tourist-furnishing declaration and display the number in every advertisement; verify with the town hall whether a change-of-use authorisation is required for the address, who it was granted to, and whether compensation attaches it to the premises; count the letting days against the 120-day ceiling, reduced to 90 where the commune so decided, where the unit is your declared main home; and only then optimise the tax regime. The Paris and \u00cele-de-France dimension is decisive here: in Paris the mayor decides after the opinion of the arrondissement mayor, enforcement actions go before the Paris tribunal judiciaire<\/em>, and listings are actively screened, so a British owner in the capital should treat the authorisation question as the first file to open, not the last.<\/p>\n A British owner who lets a French property furnished must hold three threads together: declare the rents as industrial and commercial profits and choose the micro-BIC or actual-profits method against the 15,000 and 83,600 euro ceilings with their 30 and 50 per cent allowances; if non-resident, face the 20 and 30 per cent minimum rate and neutralise it with the average-rate claim where the conditions are met; and before any tourist letting, file the declaration, display the number and secure the change-of-use authorisation where the city requires one. Each step is documented, each threshold is written in the statute, and each has been tested before the highest courts. Owners who work through them in order, with the assessment notices and authorisations kept on file, let lawfully and pay neither more tax nor more fines than the law demands.<\/p>\n A telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm helps you check your letting, your return or your authorisation before the next deadline. Call Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen on +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a>, or use the contact page<\/a>. The firm advises British owners in Paris and across \u00cele-de-France as well as throughout France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" British owner letting a French property furnished? How France taxes the rents as business profits, how to choose micro-BIC or the real regime, how the non-resident minimum rate and the average-rate claim work, and which city authorisations to secure before letting to tourists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80312,80314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2117630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"\nB. Micro-BIC or actual-profits regime: the thresholds and flat-rate allowances after the 2024 reform<\/h3>\n
II. Paying the Correct Amount and Letting Lawfully: the Non-Resident Minimum Rate, Treaty Relief and City Authorisations<\/h2>\n
A. The 20 and 30 per cent minimum rate for non-residents and the average-rate claim<\/h3>\n
B. Letting to tourists lawfully: the prior declaration, the registration number and the change-of-use authorisation<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Need a quick opinion on your case<\/h2>\n