I let a furnished home in France from abroad, which tax regime applies?

Commercial profits, taxed in France

Letting furnished means providing a home equipped to live in straight away, and the tax code treats it as a commercial activity. Receipts fall under industrial and commercial profits whatever the owner's residence, because the building is in France. Impots.gouv.fr tells the non-resident who asks, income from buildings located in France is taxable in France as property income or as industrial and commercial profits depending on whether the dwelling is let unfurnished or furnished.

The landlord is non-professional as long as the household's receipts stay below 23,000 € including tax per year, or below its other earned income. For a non-resident this second comparison long worked against them, the administration counting only French income, so that an expatriate whose only French-source income was furnished rent became professional against their will. The questions and answers of March 2026 announce the change, from the taxation of 2026 income the administration will compare French receipts to worldwide professional income, salaries and profits earned abroad included, to ensure equal treatment of residents and non-residents.

Micro-BIC or actual regime, the thresholds for 2025 income

The micro-BIC regime applies by default below the receipts threshold, with a flat deduction standing for all expenses. For 2025 income the threshold is 77,700 € before tax and the deduction 50 % for a classic letting or a classified tourist rental, and 15,000 € with 30 % for an unclassified tourist rental, short-term letting without a rating. The result goes on return 2042-C-PRO.

Above the threshold, or by election, the actual regime deducts real expenses, loan interest, works, property tax, management fees, and above all the depreciation of the building and furniture, which often brings the taxable profit down to nothing for years. It requires accounts and the filing of return 2031 through the professional area of impots.gouv.fr, which the administration makes compulsory under the actual regime, resident or not. A remote accountant handles it for most expatriates.

The non-resident's minimum rate and social levies

The profit, after the flat deduction or expenses, enters the non-resident's income tax with the minimum rate of article 197 A, 20 % up to the bracket threshold and 30 % above, unless a lower worldwide average rate is shown. Social levies are added, and the administration makes a point here that surprises, the non-resident who lets furnished owes the solidarity levy at 7.5 % even when insured under a social security scheme in Switzerland or in a European Union country that exempts them from CSG and CRDS. Others pay 17.2 %.

The landlord must register with the INPI one-stop business counter within 15 days of the start of the letting, to obtain a SIRET number, and a tourist rental is declared to the town hall, with a registration number in the municipalities that require one. A dwelling kept at the owner's disposal for part of the year remains liable to the residence tax on second homes.

Managing from afar, then selling

From a distance, an agent receives tenants, collects rent and reports, whether a property manager, a concierge service for short lets or a relative holding a mandate. The owner keeps control of the returns, which the personal and professional areas of impots.gouv.fr allow to be filed from any country. When the time comes to sell, the furnished home is sold vacant or let, the gain follows the non-resident rules described in this guide, and the BRIVEO mandate is signed electronically, the agent showing the property between two lets.