You bought a stone cottage in the Dordogne, a flat in Nice or a farmhouse in Normandy when the pound was strong and the summers were long. Years later, the arithmetic has changed: rarely used rooms, rising French holding taxes, and a family decision to sell and bring the money home. If you live in the United Kingdom and sell a French second home, France taxes the gain first, at the signing table, before you ever see the proceeds. The headline rate is 19% income tax plus social charges, with an extra surtax on large gains, and the French notaire (the public officer who authenticates every property sale in France) withholds the tax on the day of the deed. Your sale price also decides whether you must pay for an accredited tax representative. Then Britain taxes the same gain a second time on your Self Assessment return, and only a foreign tax credit prevents double taxation. This guide explains each step in plain English: how the French gain is calculated and tapered over time, why a seller affiliated to the British social security system pays 7.5% in social charges instead of the full 17.2%, which exemptions remain open to a British resident and which closed with Brexit, how to declare the sale in London, and how to challenge a French tax bill you consider wrong, with the exact legal texts and court decisions to rely on.<\/p>\n
French tax law starts from a simple rule: gains on buildings located in France are French-source income, whoever sells them. The General Tax Code states that persons regarded as earning French-source income include those receiving income from buildings situated in France, and it lists among French-source income the gains defined for non-residents. The official wording of article 164 B of the General Tax Code<\/a> provides that French-source income includes income from buildings situated in France. For sellers who do not live in France, the charging provision is article 244 bis A of the General Tax Code<\/a>, which opens with the words: “Sous r\u00e9serve des conventions internationales, les plus-values, telles que d\u00e9finies aux e bis et e ter du I de l’article 164 B”. In other words, subject to tax treaties, the gains of non-residents on French property fall under a withholding levy collected in France. The France-United Kingdom double tax treaty of 19 June 2008 does not remove that French right: as the French tax administration explains in its published treaty commentary, France keeps the first right to tax gains attached to immovable property situated on its territory, and the United Kingdom then relieves the resulting double taxation by credit (see the administration’s treaty commentary on French-British immovable income<\/a>). So a British resident selling a Proven\u00e7al mas or a Paris pied-\u00e0-terre is taxed in France first, whatever HM Revenue and Customs does afterwards.<\/p>\n The rate of that French levy is the same for a British individual as for a French resident: 19%. The tax administration confirms that the 19% rate applies to gains realised by individuals, including non-resident individuals (see the official BOFiP page on the non-resident levy rate<\/a>). Company sellers face different rates aligned with corporation tax, but a British couple or individual selling a holiday home in their own names pays 19% on the taxable gain. Before that rate applies, however, the gain itself must be computed, and the computation is where most of the money is saved or lost. The taxable gain is the sale price minus the purchase price, with the purchase price increased by acquisition costs and certain works. The English-language service-public.fr guide to property gains confirms the two standard flat-rate uplifts: acquisition costs (registration duties and notaire fees) count for their actual proven amount or for a flat 7.5% of the purchase price, and building, reconstruction, enlargement or improvement works count for their actual proven amount or for a flat 15% of the purchase price where the property has been held for more than five years (see service-public.fr, capital gains on property sales<\/a>). Keep every invoice: where the property came to you by gift or inheritance, the starting price is the value used for gift or inheritance tax, and without paperwork the flat rates are your only shield.<\/p>\n Time then reduces the taxable base through holding-period relief, and the relief runs differently for the 19% tax and for social charges. The English service-public.fr table gives the exact annual percentages: no relief for the first five years, then 6% per year from the sixth to the twenty-first year and 4% for the twenty-second year against income tax, producing full income-tax exemption after twenty-two years of ownership; against social charges, 1.65% per year from the sixth to the twenty-first year, 1.6% for the twenty-second year, then 9% per year beyond the twenty-second year, producing full social-charge exemption after thirty years (see service-public.fr, holding-period relief table<\/a>). A British owner who bought in 2008 and sells in 2026 therefore faces no French income tax on the gain at all, though social charges may still bite depending on the thirty-year clock. Two surcharges can sit on top. First, the surtax on large property gains: article 1609 nonies G of the General Tax Code<\/a> creates a tax on gains realised under articles 150 U and 244 bis A by non-residents, stating: “Il est institu\u00e9 une taxe sur les plus-values r\u00e9alis\u00e9es dans les conditions pr\u00e9vues aux articles 150 U et 150 UB \u00e0 150 UD”. In practice the surtax runs from 2% to 6% on the taxable gain above 50,000 euros, it does not apply to building land, and form 2048-IMM-SD contains the computation table, which the notaire completes. Second, the social charges discussed in the next section apply on the same tapered base.<\/p>\n Social charges (pr\u00e9l\u00e8vements sociaux) are the part of the French bill that surprises British sellers most, because the headline social rate of 17.2% looks like a second income tax. The legal base is broad: article L. 136-6 of the Social Security Code<\/a> makes persons domiciled in France liable to a contribution on capital income assessed on the net amount used for income tax, expressly including capital gains subject to income tax, in the words: “Des plus-values, gains en capital et profits soumis \u00e0 l’imp\u00f4t sur le revenu”. For non-residents, the mirror charge is collected alongside the 244 bis A levy. A French resident pays the full 17.2%, made of the general social contribution (CSG), the contribution for the repayment of the social debt (CRDS) and the solidarity levy. A British resident seller affiliated to the British social security system does not. Since 1 January 2021, under the Brexit withdrawal and cooperation agreements, gains realised by taxpayers who are affiliated to British social security, who are nationals or lawful residents of France, the United Kingdom or another EU Member State, and who are not covered by a compulsory French social security scheme, are exempt from CSG and CRDS. Only the solidarity levy of 7.5% remains due, as provided by article 235 ter of the General Tax Code<\/a>. The tax administration states this position explicitly on its official doctrine page, adding that the 7.5% solidarity levy alone is due because it funds the State budget rather than social security (see the BOFiP remarks on British affiliates and the 7.5% solidarity levy<\/a>). The difference is enormous: on a taxable gain of 100,000 euros, the social bill is 7,500 euros for a British-affiliated seller instead of 17,200 euros.<\/p>\n The legal logic behind that exemption is the single-legislation principle: within coordinated social security systems, each person contributes in one State only. The Court of Cassation restated the principle in 2025, holding that the European coordination regulations enshrine the single-legislation rule under which a person covered by those regulations is subject to the legislation of a single Member State, so that a person affiliated to one social security scheme must not contribute to another. The exact words of the Second Civil Chamber on 25 September 2025, appeal no. 22-24.634, published in the Bulletin, are: “la personne \u00e0 laquelle les r\u00e8glements s’appliquent n’est soumise qu’\u00e0 la l\u00e9gislation d’un seul \u00c9tat membre” (see Cass. 2e civ., 25 Sept. 2025, no. 22-24.634<\/a>). The judgment cites the Court of Justice’s de Ruyter ruling of 26 February 2015 (C-623\/13), the case that first held French social charges on capital income to be social security contributions caught by the coordination rules. Since Brexit the United Kingdom is no longer a Member State, which is precisely why the French guidance created a specific British affiliate exemption rather than relying on the regulation directly. A twin decision of the same day, appeal no. 22-20.036, confirms that the courts examine affiliation, equality of treatment and free movement together (see Cass. 2e civ., 25 Sept. 2025, no. 22-20.036<\/a>).<\/p>\n In practice, three situations arise at the notaire’s desk. First, the seller covered by the British National Health Service with no French cover: the 7.5% rate applies, and the seller should hand the notaire proof of British affiliation, such as an S1 healthcare certificate where one exists, recent National Insurance records, or a letter from the competent British authority, plus proof of nationality or lawful residence. Second, the seller who moved to France part-time and joined a French scheme: CSG and CRDS apply in full, because the exemption requires the seller not to be covered by a compulsory French scheme. Third, the seller covered in a third country outside any coordination: the administration applies the standard non-resident treatment, and the file must be argued country by country. Tell your notaire early which box you fall into. The notaire computes the charge and pays it, but the evidence comes from you, and a missing S1 or affiliation letter at the signing meeting is the most common reason British sellers overpay and have to claim a refund later. While you hold the property rather than sell it, the yearly French taxes follow different rules, described in our guide to annual French property taxes on a British second home<\/a>, which also explains how the wealth tax interacts with a sale year.<\/p>\n The most valuable French exemption is the main-home relief, and a holiday home by definition cannot use it. Article 150 U of the General Tax Code<\/a> removes from tax the buildings “Qui constituent la r\u00e9sidence principale du c\u00e9dant au jour de la cession”, meaning the property that is the seller’s main home on the day of sale. The courts read that test as effective occupation, not paperwork. In a leading Paris appeal decision, the court discharged a seller whose Paris flat the administration treated as a secondary residence: electricity bills showing normal consumption, telephone and broadband installation letters, a parking rental and furnishing costs proved real occupation, and neither the retention of the old address on some documents nor taxation under the residence tax as a secondary home was enough to defeat the exemption, even where the main-home occupation had lasted only about eleven months. The court’s method is worth quoting: faced with conflicting clues, the tax judge must weigh the evidence and decide whether effective occupation as a main home is established, and short duration alone does not remove the relief (see CAA Paris, 29 May 2019, no. 18PA01317<\/a>). For a British reader the lesson cuts both ways. If you genuinely moved into the French house as your main home before selling, gather the same proof: utility consumption, broadband contracts, removal invoices, and a consistent address across bank and official documents. But if the house was always your holiday bolt-hole while your main home stayed in Surrey or Kent, do not claim this exemption. A failed main-home claim draws penalties and late interest on top of the tax, and the administration cross-checks residence-tax records.<\/p>\n The second exemption to understand is the former-main-home rule for people who left France, because Brexit changed its borders. Article 150 U allows, within limits, an exemption capped at 150,000 euros of net taxable gain for a seller who transferred their tax domicile out of France, provided the buyer is outside France in a European Union or European Economic Area State or in a State with full administrative and recovery assistance agreements with France. Since the end of the transition period, the United Kingdom is a third country outside the Union and the Economic Area, so a seller who left France for London can no longer use that capped exemption on the same terms as a seller who left for Berlin or Dublin. The detailed mechanics of that leaver’s position, including the ten-year sale window and the treaty tail that follows departure, are explained in our guide for British residents leaving France and facing deferred tax charges<\/a>, and the fact that a separate article is needed for leavers shows why this article addresses a different person: the British resident who never lived in France and sells a pure second home. Two further doors are closed to that person. The first-sale relief for someone who never owned their main home requires the seller to have been domiciled in France, and the disabled or elderly relief tied to modest income and wealth-tax thresholds applies to French-situated personal circumstances that a non-resident rarely meets. What remains open, and fully available to British sellers, is the passing of time: full income-tax exemption after twenty-two years of ownership and full social-charge exemption after thirty years, plus the standard cost uplifts and the works allowance described above. There is no British-specific discount beyond the 7.5% social-charge treatment, and anyone promising one is selling optimism, not law.<\/p>\n Paying the French levy does not end the story, because the United Kingdom taxes its residents on worldwide gains, including gains on overseas property. The official GOV.UK guidance confirms that a British resident selling property abroad may have to pay tax in the country where the gain arose and, if taxed twice, may claim relief (see GOV.UK, selling overseas property<\/a>). In practice you report the French sale on your Self Assessment return, compute the United Kingdom capital gains tax under British rules and rates, and claim Foreign Tax Credit Relief for the French tax paid on the same gain, using the HS263 helpsheet framework (see GOV.UK, relief for foreign tax paid, HS263<\/a>). Three mismatches routinely cause trouble. First, the taxable amounts differ: France taxes the tapered gain after its own reliefs while Britain computes the gain under its own base-cost and relief rules, so the credit is capped at the British tax attributable to the same gain and any excess French tax is not refunded by London. Second, the timing differs: the French notaire pays the levy at completion, while the British liability crystallises for the tax year of disposal, so exchange rates and year-end planning matter. Third, the sixty-day reporting rule that applies to direct disposals of British residential property does not govern a French sale in the same way; the French sale is reported through Self Assessment, and you should confirm the current HMRC deadlines for the year of sale rather than assuming either regime. Keep the notaire’s 2048-IMM computation, the completion statement showing the French tax withheld, and proof of payment: HMRC will ask for them, and without them the credit claim stalls.<\/p>\n On the French side, the mechanics of payment shape your remedies. The notaire calculates the gain, prepares form 2048-IMM, approaches the tax office, and pays the levy to the land registration service of the property’s location out of the sale proceeds; the English service-public.fr guide lists exactly these steps as formalities carried out by the notaire (see service-public.fr, declaration formalities<\/a>). Where the sale price exceeds 150,000 euros and you live outside the European Economic Area, which now includes every British resident seller, you must in principle appoint an accredited tax representative (repr\u00e9sentant fiscal accr\u00e9dit\u00e9) who stands liable for the levy alongside you; the tax office states the obligation plainly and lists who may act (see impots.gouv.fr, property or seller outside France<\/a>), and the official doctrine adds that the representative is liable for the levy and any additional social charges and that both taxpayer and representative may be pursued for the full amount (see the BOFiP page on the accredited representative<\/a>). Appoint that representative before the compromis if the price requires it; discovering the obligation at the signing meeting delays completion and can jeopardise the buyer’s mortgage offer.<\/p>\n If the resulting bill looks wrong, French law gives you a structured ladder of challenges, and each rung has a deadline. The starting point is the administrative claim: article L. 190 of the Tax Procedures Book<\/a> provides that claims seeking either correction of assessment or computation errors or the benefit of a legislative or regulatory right fall within contentious jurisdiction, in the words: “Les r\u00e9clamations relatives aux imp\u00f4ts, contributions, droits, taxes, redevances, soultes et p\u00e9nalit\u00e9s de toute nature, \u00e9tablis ou recouvr\u00e9s par les agents de l’administration, rel\u00e8vent de la juridiction contentieuse lorsqu’elles tendent \u00e0 obtenir soit la r\u00e9paration d’erreurs commises dans l’assiette ou le calcul des impositions, soit le b\u00e9n\u00e9fice d’un droit r\u00e9sultant d’une disposition l\u00e9gislative ou r\u00e9glementaire”. Typical grounds for a British seller include a taper miscounted by one year, acquisition costs or works wrongly rejected, the 7.5% British-affiliate treatment denied for want of proof, the surtax applied to building land that the statute excludes, or the former-main-home analysis misapplied. File the claim with evidence: the deed, the 2048-IMM, invoices, affiliation proof, and a year-by-year taper computation. Alongside or instead of the formal claim, any administrative decision may be challenged informally: article L. 411-2 of the Relations Code<\/a> states that any administrative decision may be the subject, within the time limit for court proceedings, of an informal or hierarchical appeal which interrupts that time limit, in the words: “Toute d\u00e9cision administrative peut faire l’objet, dans le d\u00e9lai imparti pour l’introduction d’un recours contentieux, d’un recours gracieux ou hi\u00e9rarchique qui interrompt le cours de ce d\u00e9lai”. Use that pause deliberately where negotiation might correct an error faster than litigation. If the administration rejects the claim expressly or by silence, the courts take over, and the clock is short: article R. 421-1 of the Administrative Justice Code<\/a> requires court action within two months of notification of the contested decision, stating: “La juridiction ne peut \u00eatre saisie que par voie de recours form\u00e9 contre une d\u00e9cision, et ce, dans les deux mois \u00e0 partir de la notification ou de la publication de la d\u00e9cision attaqu\u00e9e”. For property gains the competent court is the administrative court of the property’s location, which applies the case law on effective occupation and computation errors illustrated above. Never let the two-month window expire while waiting for an informal reply: the informal appeal interrupts the clock only where filed within the initial period, and a late court claim fails whatever its merits.<\/p>\n A British resident who sells a French holiday home faces a French levy collected at the signing table, a British return to file in London, and a credit mechanism to stop the same euros being taxed twice. France takes 19% on the tapered gain, adds a 2% to 6% surtax above 50,000 euros of taxable gain, and charges social levies at 7.5% rather than 17.2% where the seller proves affiliation to the British social security system and no cover under a compulsory French scheme. Time is the most reliable relief: twenty-two years of ownership clears the income tax and thirty years clears the social charges, while the main-home exemption belongs to genuine main homes proved by real occupation, not to holiday houses, and the capped leaver’s exemption no longer treats London departures like Union departures. Appoint the accredited representative before exchange where the price exceeds 150,000 euros, brief the notaire early on the 7.5% treatment with affiliation evidence in hand, keep every invoice that feeds the purchase price, and diary both the French claim deadlines and the British Self Assessment dates. Prepared this way, the sale becomes an administered transaction rather than a dispute; prepared late, the same sale becomes a cash-flow shock followed by a two-month race to the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UK resident selling a French second home? France takes 19% plus 7.5% social charges at signing, Britain taxes the gain again with a foreign tax credit. Exemptions, notaire steps and remedies explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16348,"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-2135557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"\nB. The social charges question: why a seller affiliated to the British system pays 7.5% instead of 17.2%<\/h3>\n
II. How to keep more of the gain, pay in London without paying twice, and fight an excessive bill<\/h2>\n
A. Which exemptions a British resident can still claim, and which closed with Brexit<\/h3>\n
B. Declaring the gain in Britain and challenging a French bill you consider wrong<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n