This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change and individual situations differ. Always confirm the current position with a qualified professional before acting.
Last Updated: October 2026
You’ve sold a property in France, or you’re about to, and you don’t live there. The question is simple: how much of the gain will the French tax office take?
Potentially a lot. France taxes a property gain in two layers, impôt sur le revenu (income tax) at 19% and prélèvements sociaux (social charges) at 17.2%, for a headline rate of 36.2%. If you’re covered by the social security system of an EEA country, Switzerland or, under conditions, the UK, the social charges fall to 7.5% and the headline rate to 26.5%. You have to prove that cover to get the lower rate, so it’s worth knowing about well before the sale.
The rate you actually pay depends on how long you’ve owned the property, which social security system covers you, how the property is held and which deductions you claim. Get those right and your effective rate can fall well below the headline figures, and after 30 years to nothing. This guide explains how French capital gains tax, the plus-value immobilière, works for non-residents selling in 2026.
It covers direct sales and sales through an SCI taxed under the income tax regime, the régime IR. An SCI that has opted for corporate tax, the régime IS, follows different rules, set out further down. If you’re still deciding whether to hold through an SCI at all, start with our comparison of SCI and direct ownership.
Source: DGFiP notice 2048-IMM-NOT-SD (05-2026) for sales from 21 February 2026.
How French capital gains tax works
The gain is the difference between the sale price and the purchase price, each adjusted as explained below. France taxes it at source. The notaire handling the sale calculates the tax, files the return (form 2048-IMM) within a month of the deed and pays the tax out of the sale proceeds. You don’t file a separate return for it.
When you need a fiscal representative
If you live outside the EEA, or in an EEA country that hasn’t signed the required tax assistance agreements with France, and the sale price is above €150,000, the return must name a représentant fiscal accrédité. This is a firm accredited by the tax office that answers for the tax alongside you (article 244 bis A of the CGI). Since Brexit, that includes sellers living in the UK. It also includes sellers living in Switzerland, which isn’t part of the EEA. Fees vary from one firm to another, so ask for quotes early. They’re deductible from the sale price when the gain is worked out.
The two layers: income tax and social charges
Income tax: 19%
Individuals pay 19% on the taxable gain wherever they live (article 200 B of the CGI, applied to non-residents through article 244 bis A). Large gains also pay a surtax, covered below.
Social charges: 17.2%, or 7.5% with EEA, Swiss or UK cover
The standard rate is 17.2%: CSG at 9.2%, CRDS at 0.5% and the prélèvement de solidarité (solidarity levy) at 7.5%. In 2026, France raised the CSG on some investment income to 10.6%, which took the total on that income to 18.6%. Property gains were left at the old rate, and the official notice for sales from 21 February 2026 confirms social charges of 17.2% on them.
If you’re covered by the compulsory social security system of another EEA country or Switzerland, and not by a French scheme, you don’t pay CSG or CRDS. You pay only the 7.5% levy, set by article 235 ter of the CGI. The same applies if you’re covered by UK social security, you’re a national or legal resident of France, the UK or another EU country, and you aren’t covered by a French scheme. What counts is which social security system covers you. Your tax residence alone doesn’t settle it.
| Social security cover at the time of sale | Income tax | Social charges | Total before taper relief |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEA country, Switzerland, or UK (conditions above) | 19% | 7.5% | 26.5% |
| Any other country, or a French scheme | 19% | 17.2% | 36.2% |
These are headline rates. The longer you’ve owned the property, the lower the effective rate, because both layers shrink with time.
Calculating your taxable gain
The taxable gain isn’t simply the sale price minus the purchase price. Several adjustments can bring it down.
The adjusted sale price
Start from the price stated in the acte authentique, the final deed of sale. Deduct the selling costs you can document: the estate agent’s commission if you paid it, the compulsory diagnostics immobiliers (property surveys) and the fiscal representative’s fees. There’s no flat-rate option on this side, so keep every invoice.
The adjusted purchase price
Start from the price you paid or, for an inheritance or a gift, the value declared for inheritance or gift tax. Then add:
- Acquisition costs. For a purchase, take either the registration duties, notaire fees and agency fees you actually paid, or a flat 7.5% of the price, whichever is higher. For an inheritance or a gift, only the actual costs count: the deed fees and the duties you paid.
- Works. Construction, extension or improvement work carried out by a business, backed by invoices and not already deducted from rental income. If you sell more than five years after buying, you can instead add a flat 15% of the purchase price, with no invoices needed (article 150 VB II 4° of the CGI). Use whichever is higher.
One deduction runs the other way. If you let the property furnished under the LMNP régime réel, the depreciation you deducted from your rental profits is subtracted from the purchase price on sales since 15 February 2025, which raises the gain. Student, senior and care residences are excluded. Our LMNP guide explains the rule.
The 15% flat rate for works is one of the most valuable deductions in the system. Always compare it with your actual costs before the notaire files the return. The formula is then straightforward: taxable gain equals the adjusted sale price minus the adjusted purchase price. Taper relief is applied to that gain, separately for income tax and for social charges.
Taper relief: how holding time cuts the tax
France reduces the taxable gain the longer you’ve owned the property, through the abattement pour durée de détention. The schedules differ for the two layers. Income tax disappears after 22 years of ownership and social charges after 30. Both schedules have applied since 1 September 2013 and are unchanged for sales in 2026 (article 150 VC of the CGI).
| Years of ownership | Income tax allowance (cumulative) | Social charges allowance (cumulative) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 | 0% | 0% |
| 6th to 21st year | 6% a year (6% to 96%) | 1.65% a year (1.65% to 26.4%) |
| 22nd year | 4% (100%, fully exempt) | 1.60% (28%) |
| 23rd to 30th year | Exempt | 9% a year (37% to 100%) |
| After 30 years | Exempt | Exempt |
In practice, up to five years there’s no relief at all. After 22 years you pay no income tax, and social charges on 72% of the gain. After 30 years you pay nothing.
The surtax on large gains
If the net taxable gain for income tax, after taper relief, is above €50,000, a surtax applies (article 1609 nonies G of the CGI). It’s charged on the whole taxable gain at 2% to 6%, with smoothing, the lissage, just above each threshold to avoid cliff edges. For a married couple selling jointly, the €50,000 threshold is assessed on each spouse’s share of the gain.
At the top of the scale, the surtax adds 6 points to the 19% income tax, so that layer reaches 25%.
| Net taxable gain after income tax taper | Surtax |
|---|---|
| €50,001 to €60,000 | 2%, with smoothing |
| €60,001 to €100,000 | 2% |
| €100,001 to €110,000 | 3%, with smoothing |
| €110,001 to €150,000 | 3% |
| €150,001 to €160,000 | 4%, with smoothing |
| €160,001 to €200,000 | 4% |
| €200,001 to €210,000 | 5%, with smoothing |
| €210,001 to €250,000 | 5% |
| €250,001 to €260,000 | 6%, with smoothing |
| Above €260,000 | 6% |
Exemptions open to non-residents
Non-residents can’t use the main-home exemption that French residents get on the day of sale. Four other exemptions are worth knowing, and the tax office’s guidance for non-resident sellers sets out the first two.
1. The €150,000 exemption for EU and EEA nationals
If you’re a national of an EU country, or of an EEA country with a tax assistance agreement with France, and you were tax resident in France for at least two years in a row at any time before the sale, the gain on a home in France is exempt up to €150,000 of net taxable gain (article 150 U II 2° of the CGI). The exemption covers one home per taxpayer, so it can’t be spread over several sales. It applies to both income tax and social charges. The cap applies per seller, and a married couple selling a home they own together can shelter up to €300,000.
The sale must take place by 31 December of the tenth year after you left France. There’s no time limit if you’ve had free use of the property, the libre disposition, since at least 1 January of the year before the sale, which means it hasn’t been let or lent to anyone. The exemption doesn’t apply to property held through an SCI.
British nationals should note that the text covers nationals of EU and EEA countries, and we’ve found nothing official extending it to British nationals since Brexit. A British seller who also holds an Irish or other EU passport can rely on that nationality.
2. The former main home
For sales since 1 January 2019, if the property was your main home in France when you moved abroad, the gain is fully exempt however long you owned it. Three conditions apply:
- you sell by 31 December of the year after the year you left
- the home hasn’t been let or lent to anyone, free or paid, between your departure and the sale
- you moved to an EU country, or to a country that has signed with France both an agreement against tax fraud and evasion and an agreement on mutual help in recovering tax, and that isn’t on France’s list of non-cooperative states
The two exemptions exclude each other. If you’ve used one, you can’t claim the other, so work out which saves more before the first sale. Ask your notaire to confirm that your new country passes the agreement test.
3. Long ownership
As the taper table shows, the income tax layer disappears after 22 years and you owe nothing at all after 30.
4. A sale price of €15,000 or less
A sale for €15,000 or less is exempt. Where the property is owned jointly in indivision, the threshold applies to each co-owner’s share of the price.
Social charges in practice: EEA, Swiss and UK cover
This point alone can change your bill by thousands of euros. On gains made since 1 January 2019, people covered by the compulsory social security system of another EEA country or Switzerland pay only the 7.5% levy on French property gains. Before then, France charged them the full rate. The UK kept the benefit after Brexit for people who meet the conditions set out above.
| Social security cover at the time of sale | Social charges rate | Saving against the standard rate |
|---|---|---|
| EEA country, Switzerland, or UK (conditions met) | 7.5% | 9.7 percentage points |
| Any other country, or a French scheme | 17.2% | None |
On €100,000 of gain liable to social charges, the difference is €9,700. Two examples show why your cover matters more than your passport. A French national living in Dubai with no EEA social security cover pays 17.2%. An American working in Germany and covered by German social security pays 7.5%.
To get the reduced rate, give the notaire a certificate of your social security cover from the institution that covers you before completion. Without it, the full 17.2% is withheld.
Selling through an SCI
An SCI under income tax
An SCI is transparent for tax by default, so the gain is taxed in the hands of each partner, the associé, in proportion to their shares. When the SCI sells the property, the rates and the taper relief are the same as for a direct sale, with the holding period counted from the date the SCI bought the property. The €150,000 exemption for non-residents isn’t available on property held through an SCI.
If you sell your shares instead, the property gains regime still applies when the SCI is a société à prépondérance immobilière, meaning property makes up more than half of its assets. An SCI whose assets are mainly homes meets that test, and the same 19% plus social charges apply (article 244 bis A of the CGI).
When you sell SCI shares, make sure the purchase price of your shares is corrected for profits the SCI made that were taxed in your hands as rental income but never paid out to you. Without that correction, the same income is taxed twice, once as rental income and again in the gain. Ask your notaire or adviser to apply it. We’ve found no official basis for applying the former-home exemption to a sale of SCI shares, so take advice before relying on it.
An SCI under corporate tax
If the SCI has opted for corporate tax, the gain is taxed inside the company at corporation tax rates: 25% as standard, with a reduced 15% rate on a first slice of profit for qualifying small companies. There’s no taper relief. Because the gain is measured against the depreciated book value, the depreciation claimed over the years increases the taxable gain.
When the company pays out the profit, dividends to a partner living abroad suffer French withholding tax, the retenue à la source, at 12.8% for individuals (article 187 of the CGI). A tax treaty can lower that rate but can’t raise it. This second layer is a strong argument for keeping a long-term SCI under the income tax regime, and our SCI comparison works through the trade-off.
The UK side
If you live in the UK, HMRC taxes the gain as well. Under the UK-France tax treaty, the French income tax and the 7.5% solidarity levy are credited against your UK capital gains tax on the same gain, up to the UK tax due, so broadly you pay whichever of the two is higher. HMRC’s list of admissible French taxes leaves out the CSG and the CRDS, so if you pay the full 17.2%, those 9.7 points are a real extra cost. Our British investor’s guide to French capital gains tax works through the UK calculation.
Six ways to reduce the bill
1. Time the sale around the 22-year mark
Holding for 22 years removes the income tax layer. If you’re in year 19 or 20, waiting may remove the rest of it, so run the numbers before you sign a sale mandate. Social charges take until year 30 to disappear.
2. Claim every deduction
Compare the flat 7.5% acquisition costs with the fees you actually paid and, after five years, the flat 15% for works with your invoices. Keep every invoice for the agent, the surveys and the fiscal representative.
3. Use the €150,000 exemption if you qualify
If you’re an EU or EEA national who lived in France for two years in a row, the exemption can shelter up to €150,000 of gain per seller, or €300,000 for a married couple selling a home they own together. It covers one home, and using it rules out the former-home exemption.
4. Sell your former home in time
If the property was your main home when you left France, sell by 31 December of the following year and don’t let or lend it in between. Miss the deadline and the full exemption is gone.
5. Check your social security cover
If you’re covered by EEA, Swiss or qualifying UK social security, social charges fall from 17.2% to 7.5%. Get the certificate to your notaire before completion.
6. Keep a long-term SCI under income tax
Under the income tax regime, taper relief takes the tax to nil after 30 years. Under corporate tax there’s no taper, depreciation increases the gain and dividends are taxed again on the way out.
Worked example: a step-by-step calculation
Here’s a realistic case using the 2026 rates. A British couple, both British nationals living in the UK and covered by UK social security, bought a flat in Nice in 2012 for €300,000. They sell it in 2026 for €450,000, after 14 full years of ownership. They did no major works, and they pay the estate agent’s commission of €18,000. Selling for more than €150,000 from the UK, they need a fiscal representative, whose fee is also deductible. We’ve left that fee out to keep the figures simple.
Step 1: the gross gain
The adjusted sale price is €450,000 less €18,000 of commission, or €432,000. The adjusted purchase price is €300,000 plus €22,500 of flat-rate acquisition costs (7.5%) and €45,000 of flat-rate works (15%, as they’ve owned it for more than five years), or €367,500. The gross gain is €432,000 less €367,500, which is €64,500.
Step 2: taper relief
Fourteen years of ownership gives nine years of relief, for years 6 to 14. For income tax, 9 × 6% gives an allowance of 54%, so the taxable gain is €64,500 × 46%, or €29,670. For social charges, 9 × 1.65% gives 14.85%, so the taxable gain is €64,500 × 85.15%, or €54,922.
Step 3: the tax
Income tax is €29,670 × 19%, or €5,637. Social charges at 7.5% are €54,922 × 7.5%, or €4,119. The gain taxable to income tax, €29,670, is below €50,000, so no surtax is due.
Step 4: the total
The total is €5,637 plus €4,119, or €9,756, an effective rate of 15.1% on the gross gain. At 14 years, the couple is still eight years short of the income tax exemption. Had they made the same gain after 22 years, the income tax would be nil and the social charges €3,483 (€46,440 × 7.5%).
Without UK social security cover, the social charges would be €54,922 × 17.2%, or €9,447, taking the total to €15,084 and the effective rate to 23.4%. Their UK cover saves them €5,328.
Our view
The French system rewards patience more than almost anything else a seller can control. From year 6 to year 21 every extra year knocks 6 points off the income tax base, and the gap between 17.2% and 7.5% on social charges is decided by a certificate that’s easy to forget until the last minute. We’d check those two things before talking to an agent about price. The exemptions for non-residents are generous but narrow, and the €150,000 one now leaves out British nationals who don’t hold an EU passport, which deserves a clear answer from the tax office.
Readers, have you sold a French property from abroad, and did the notaire apply the 7.5% rate without being asked? If you’re past year 15, are you holding on for the 22-year mark, or will the market decide for you? Did you need a fiscal representative, and what did the quote look like?
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay French capital gains tax if I’m also taxed at home?
Yes. France taxes the gain at source whatever your home country’s rules. Where your home country has a tax treaty with France, it generally prevents double taxation, often through a credit for the French tax. In the UK, the French income tax and the 7.5% solidarity levy are credited against UK capital gains tax, up to the UK tax due. The CSG and the CRDS aren’t.
Can I deduct mortgage interest from my capital gain?
No. Loan interest isn’t a deductible cost. The gain is based on the purchase and sale prices and the costs described above, however the purchase was financed.
What if I inherited the property?
The purchase price is the value declared for inheritance tax, plus the deed fees and inheritance duties you actually paid on the property. Taper relief runs from the date of death.
Is the tax withheld automatically at completion?
Yes. The notaire calculates the tax, files the return and pays the tax out of the sale proceeds. You receive the net amount.
Do I need a fiscal representative?
Yes, if you live outside the EEA, which includes the UK and Switzerland, and the sale price is above €150,000. The representative is an accredited firm that answers for the tax alongside you. Its fees are deductible from the sale price.
What about a furnished let (LMNP)?
The gain is still taxed under the private property regime unless you’re a professional landlord (LMP). On sales since 15 February 2025, depreciation deducted under the régime réel is subtracted from the purchase price, which raises the taxable gain. Student, senior and care residences are excluded. Our article on LMP status in the year of sale covers the professional case.
Can I offset a loss on one French property against a gain on another?
No. Each sale is taxed on its own, and a loss on one property can’t be set against a gain on another.
How does Brexit affect UK sellers?
Sellers covered by UK social security still pay only the 7.5% levy if they’re nationals or legal residents of France, the UK or another EU country and aren’t covered by a French scheme. UK residents selling for more than €150,000 now need a fiscal representative. The €150,000 exemption is for EU and EEA nationals, and we’ve found nothing official extending it to British nationals.
Does the flat tax (PFU) apply to non-residents selling French property?
No. The prélèvement forfaitaire unique applies to the investment income of French residents. Non-residents’ property gains are taxed at 19% plus social charges under article 244 bis A of the CGI. Dividends from an SCI under corporate tax bear withholding tax of 12.8% for individuals, which a treaty can reduce.
Related posts you should read
- French Capital Gains Tax for Non-Residents: A British Investor’s Guide, for the UK side of the calculation.
- SCI or direct ownership, for how the choice of structure changes the tax on a sale.
- How to Create a SCI in France, for setting up a French property company.
- The Golden Cage of the French SCI, for the constraints of SCI ownership, including selling shares.
- SCI Accounting: What Every Property Investor Needs to Know, for how the SCI’s records feed into the gain.
- The Ultimate Guide to the Compte Courant d’Associé, for shareholder loans and how they interact with a sale.
- French home prices in the second quarter of 2026, for the market backdrop before you sell.
- How to Airbnb in France, for holiday-let rules and their tax side.
