Tax & Regulation

The Loi de Finances 2026 has ended a long-standing French quirk: non-resident landlords previously qualified for LMP status because only French-source income was compared against rental receipts. From 1 January 2026, foreign income now counts — pushing many non-resident owners back to LMNP, with material CGT consequences.

The Cour de cassation has ruled that a student internship — even one embedded in a university curriculum — does not count as a 'professional obligation' for the purposes of the 120-day annual cap on tourism rentals of a French primary residence. We unpack what the 16 April 2026 ruling closes off, what it leaves intact, and how it interacts with the Loi Le Meur tightening.

A field guide to the IRS reporting stack — FBAR, Form 8938, Form 8865, Schedule E, Foreign Tax Credit — that US persons take on the moment they buy French property, with the SCI classification puzzle and the post-2019 CSG/CRDS creditability under LB&I-04-0819-007.

From 1 April 2025, French départements can raise their DMTO rate from 4.5% to 5% under article 116 of the Loi de finances 2025. By April 2026, ~83 of France's 100 départements have done so. For a typical British buyer of a resale flat in Paris or the Côte d'Azur, the practical effect is a notary-fee bill that's €2,500 to €5,000 higher than a year ago — and most British buyers can't claim the primo-accédant exemption that would let them avoid it.

France raised CSG on capital income by 1.4 points on 1 January 2026 — but bare rental and real-estate gains were specifically exempted, while LMNP got hit. And UK-resident landlords with the right A1 or S1 paperwork can pay just 7.5% on every euro of net rental income, an 11-point saving most British landlords have never been told about.

A 16 April 2026 Cour de Cassation ruling settles, for the first time, that an action to rectify a French notarial deed of property sale is a personal action with a 5-year prescription. What British buyers need to know.