LMNP Tax Calculator: Micro-BIC vs Régime Réel Break-Even (2026)

Date:

Share post:

This tool is a general estimate for owners of French furnished rental property, not tax advice. Confirm your position with an accountant before choosing or changing regime.


Last updated: June 2026 – built on the verified 2026 allowances (income declared in spring 2027).

Furnished letting in France gives you two tax regimes, and picking the wrong one quietly costs you money every single year. Micro-BIC takes a flat percentage off your rent and taxes the rest. Régime réel ignores the percentage and lets you deduct your actual costs plus depreciation. This calculator runs both on your own figures and tells you which leaves you with less taxable income, and the exact point where one overtakes the other.

Micro-BIC vs Régime Réel: the LMNP break-even calculator

Enter your figures and see which regime leaves you with less taxable income, and the point where one overtakes the other.

Not sure? Estimate it from your purchase price
Estimated yearly depreciation: €0 Building at 2.5%/yr on 85% of price (land excluded) plus furniture at 10%/yr. A rough planning figure; a real accountant depreciates component by component, so edit the box above if yours differs.
This is an estimate, not tax advice. It compares your taxable income under each regime on the verified 2026 allowances; it does not compute your final tax bill, which depends on your full household situation. Depreciation cannot create a tax loss, and unused amounts carry forward; a genuine deficit (costs above rent) carries forward against furnished-letting income for 10 years. Confirm your position with an accountant before choosing or changing regime. Source for the allowances and ceilings: service-public.fr (Revenus d’une location meublée, 2026).

How the calculator works

Micro-BIC is the no-paperwork regime: it ignores your real costs and simply taxes your rent after a flat allowance. Régime réel is the opposite deal: you forget the flat percentage and instead deduct what you actually spent, plus depreciation. The whole game is whether your real deductions beat that flat allowance. The allowances and ceilings below are the verified 2026 figures (for income declared in spring 2027), taken from the official service-public.fr page on furnished-rental income.

Type of furnished letMicro-BIC allowanceIncome ceiling (2026)
Long-term furnished home (classic LMNP)50%€83,600
Classified tourist let / chambre d’hote50%€83,600
Unclassified short-term tourist let (standard Airbnb)30%€15,000
Source: service-public.fr, Impot sur le revenu – Revenus d’une location meublee (2026 income). Above the ceiling, micro-BIC is unavailable and the regime reel applies automatically. Below €305 of receipts, no tax is due.

On the réel side, two rules are built in. Depreciation cannot create a tax loss – any portion you cannot use this year carries forward indefinitely to shelter future profit – and a genuine deficit (where your running costs alone exceed your rent) carries forward for ten years against your furnished-letting income. The break-even line the tool draws is simple: réel beats micro-BIC the moment your costs plus depreciation exceed the allowance percentage of your rent. The one figure that is a convention rather than a statutory rule is the depreciation estimate (building at 2.5% a year on 85% of the price, furniture at 10%), which is editable – real depreciation is calculated component by component by an accountant.

Which regime usually wins?

For most long-term furnished owners, régime réel quietly wins, and depreciation is the reason. Once you write down the building and the furniture, your total deductions very often sail past the 50% flat allowance, leaving a taxable income close to zero – which is exactly why the furnished-rental tax status known as LMNP is so prized. Micro-BIC tends to win only when your costs are genuinely low and you own the property outright with little to depreciate, or when you simply value not keeping books. If you let short-term, the maths shifts with the lower 30% allowance and the tiny €15,000 ceiling, and the broader question of how a furnished let is even taxed runs alongside the rules on how and when you can raise the rent. And if depreciation is doing the heavy lifting for you, it is worth understanding how the newer amortisation-based incentives that replaced the lapsed Pinel treat the same write-downs.

FAQ

What is the difference between micro-BIC and régime réel?

Micro-BIC taxes your rent after a flat allowance (50% for long-term furnished, 30% for unclassified short-term) and needs no accounts. Régime réel ignores the allowance and lets you deduct your actual costs plus depreciation instead. Réel usually wins once your real deductions beat the flat allowance.

What are the 2026 micro-BIC allowances and ceilings?

Long-term furnished and classified tourist lets: a 50% allowance up to €83,600 of receipts. Unclassified short-term tourist lets: a 30% allowance up to €15,000. Above the ceiling, micro-BIC is unavailable and régime réel applies automatically.

Why does depreciation matter so much?

Because it is usually what tips régime réel ahead. Writing down the building and furniture against your rent often pushes your total deductions past the 50% allowance, leaving little or no taxable income. A micro-BIC vs réel comparison that ignored depreciation would mislead, because depreciation is the réel regime’s main advantage.

Does the calculator give me my final tax bill?

No. It compares your taxable income under each regime, which is what decides which is cheaper. Your final bill depends on your marginal rate and social charges. The optional rate field turns the taxable-income gap into a rough euro saving, but a real figure needs your full situation and an accountant.

The English Investor
The English Investor
The English Investor is a lawyer qualified in New York, England & Wales and Paris (Georgetown Law, Sciences Po), with more than a decade in private practice and French property held through his own SCIs. Anonymous by professional obligation - which is why every claim on this site is backed by an official source you can check. More on the About page.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related articles

Buying or Selling a Tenanted Property in France? The Lease Survives the Sale

In France the lease follows the walls. Article 1743 hands the tenant to your buyer, deposit obligations included, and the congé pour vendre is the only clean way to sell empty. What buyers inherit, what sellers keep, and where the traps are.

Who Can Actually Sign Your French Lease? Indivision, Usufruct and SCI Traps That Get Tenants Evicted

After an inheritance or through a family SCI, many foreign landlords sign French leases without fully owning the property. Article 595, article 815-3 and the two-thirds rule decide whether that lease stands - or gets the tenant evicted.

The Senate Just Rewrote France’s Renovation Deal – and Left Your LMNP Alone

The French Senate adopted the Relance Logement bill on 8 July 2026 - swapping the works threshold for a two-class DPE test and halving the copropriete shield to 18 months, while the landlord amortissement statute lives in the budget law, not this bill. What changes, what does not, and what September can still undo.

France’s Most Controversial Lease: the Bail Code Civil, Your Second Home, and the 2026 Crackdown

The bail Code civil is the correct lease for a French second home - and the contract Paris's mayor calls industrial-scale fraud when it dodges rent control. Where the line runs after the 2026 rulings, the DGCCRF campaign and the bill in parliament.