Tax while you own a French property as a non-resident: local taxes, income, wealth tax, annual filings
Owning a property in France without living there means paying the property tax every year, often the residence tax of a second home, the tax on the income it produces and, above 1.3 million euros, the wealth tax on property. This guide gives the 2026 rules, the dates and what Home Select organises with a tax adviser.
By Jean Mascla, founder of Home SelectUpdated · 8 min read
Which taxes exactly touch a non-resident owner?
Four families, not one more: the local holding taxes (property, and second-home residence), the tax on French property income (rental or furnished), the wealth tax on property above a threshold and, when the day comes, the capital gain on resale, which our accompanied remote sale page covers separately. The table below sets out the four, their base and their moment.
The four tax families of a non-resident owner
Family
Base
When
Property tax
The property’s assessed rental value
Notice, payment in autumn
Second-home residence tax
Same, in communes that voted it
Alongside the property tax
Property income (rental or furnished)
The year’s net taxable rents
Spring filing, withheld or not
Wealth tax on property (IFI)
Net taxable French real estate on 1 January
Spring filing, if the threshold is met
How does a foreign-based owner’s tax year unfold?
The tax year follows the French calendar, time zones included. On the first of January the estates are photographed: that is the date that counts for the property tax (the owner on 1 January owes the year) and for the IFI base. In spring come the returns for the closed year, with deadlines specific to non-resident forms. In autumn, the local tax notices arrive and get paid, often by direct debit on the due date.
1 January: reference date for the property tax and the IFI estate.
Spring: returns for the closed year (rental or furnished), and the IFI form if the threshold is met.
Summer: notices and levies, receipt of deductions or credits under the treaty.
Autumn: property tax notice (and second-home tax where applicable), payment or direct debit.
All year: keeping the records (receipts, charges, works), the base of everything.
From what point does a non-resident pay the IFI?
Two rules make all the difference with a resident. The base: for a non-resident, the IFI strikes only real estate located in France, net of deductible debts attached to it (a loan taken to buy the property, say). The threshold: the tax only arises beyond 1.3 million euros of net taxable real estate; once liable, the progressive scale applies from 800,000 euros.
IFI 2026: threshold and scale at a glance
Marker
2026 value
Liability threshold
EUR 1,300,000 of net taxable real estate
Progressive scale starts
EUR 800,000 (0 % below, then by brackets)
Non-resident base
Real estate located in France only, net of related debts
How much does holding cost in total, before any letting?
Holding an empty property has a floor: local taxes, insurance premiums (non-occupying), kept-up utilities, co-ownership charges, minimal upkeep. Not all of these are negotiable: taxes follow the voted assessed rental values, charges follow the building rules; insurance and upkeep are choices.
What are the filing and payment deadlines?
Returns are filed online from abroad on the tax administration’s portals, with deadlines specific to non-residents, often shifted a few days from residents’ by zone. Payments settle online from a French or foreign account; direct debit on the due date avoids forgetting, and monthly instalments exist for local taxes. One principle sums it up: every obligation has its date, proof of meeting the date is what counts, and our filing-calendar article keeps the list current.
What does your country of residence’s tax treaty change?
The treaty reshuffles three cards. Withholding on rental income: the non-resident may opt for advance payment or claim the waiver where the treaty allows, failing which the manager or payer withholds. Tax credits: most treaties remove double taxation by credit, each country taxing its share under its rules. Tax residence itself: when a household straddles two countries, the treaty decides by successive criteria. Our country guides cover these rules treaty by treaty, with each tax system’s vocabulary.
Cannes, Côte d’Azur
What should you check every year, piece by piece?
The non-resident owner’s annual tax checklist
To check
Why
Property and second-home tax notices
Amounts, any reliefs, payment dates
Return for the closed year’s property income
Rental or furnished, regime, supporting documents
Net real estate on 1 January
Whether the IFI return is triggered
Country of residence’s tax treaty
Withholding, waiver, credit: what actually applies
What are the risks of forgetting or getting it wrong?
The French Tax Code sets the price of forgetting: late interest at the legal monthly rate, surcharges by type of failure and, for non-residents, the added constraint of withholdings and representations. Two classic abuses cost more than the tax itself: letting "off the books" believing distance protects, and deducting works or charges without kept records. The answer is administrative before it is fiscal: dates in the diary, documents in one file, a contact who follows up.
What can be deducted or deferred, by the rules?
Without ever advising a structure, one can say what the law provides. For rental income, deductible charges, standard or actual (works, management, insurance, loan interest by regime) reduce the base, and the year’s rental deficit carries forward under the regime’s conditions. On resale, holding-period relief lightens the gain, and some acquisition and works costs raise the purchase price. What is deductible, when, in what form: that is the tax adviser’s trade, not a guide’s.
What tax mistakes should you avoid on holding?
The non-resident owner’s classic mistakes, and their answer
Mistake
Answer
Believing distance suspends the duties
A tracked filing calendar, deadlines in the diary
Confusing the tax treaty with intuition
Your country guide + confirmation by qualified advice
Deducting without keeping the records
One file, dated documents, kept receipts
Forgetting the IFI threshold when buying a second property
An IFI simulation BEFORE buying, on the combined estate
What Home Select organises on your taxes as an owner
Home Select gives no tax advice and files nothing in your place. What we do is ask the question before the offer to buy: your country of residence, the planned use of the property and its price decide the residence tax, the wealth tax and the rate of social levies, and those figures enter the budget we negotiate.
We introduce a tax lawyer used to cross-border files, who validates your situation before the signing and then takes charge of your filing obligations; every obligation has its date, and forgetting has a price set by the French tax code.
Frequently asked questions
Must a non-resident pay the second-home residence tax?
Communes that voted the second-home residence-tax surcharge apply it to the dwelling, whatever the owner’s residence: the tax follows the property, not the occupant’s address. The vote is local, the rate is local, and owners receive the notice like anyone else. Your country guide changes nothing here: this tax is purely French and local.
From what amount does the IFI concern a non-resident?
The wealth tax on property arises beyond 1.3 million euros of net taxable real estate on 1 January; for a non-resident, only assets located in France count, net of deductible debts attached to them. Once liable, the progressive scale applies from 800,000 euros.
Is the IFI computed on purchase price or market value?
On the actual market value on 1 January, that is the property’s market value, held for its most likely use; the purchase price is only a dated starting point. The taxpayer declares this value themselves, and the administration may dispute it. Deductible debts (acquisition loan, outstanding balance on 1 January) offset it for a non-resident on French assets only.
How do I pay French taxes from a foreign account?
The French tax administration accepts online payment from the personal space of the tax site, by card or direct debit (SEPA), and wire transfer for some taxes; a foreign account works provided it can execute those means. Direct debit on the due date is the safest against forgetting. Our page on opening a French bank account says, for its part, when a French account simplifies life: rents, charges, refunds.
Do renovation works reduce the IFI?
Indirectly: debts incurred to improve the property, due on 1 January, offset the base like other debts attached to acquisition or upkeep; works already paid for show up in the property’s declared value instead. The line is fine, and it is a question for tax advice, not a guide.
What is the difference between rental and furnished income for a non-resident?
Empty letting yields rental income, taxable in France with withholding save a treaty-based option or waiver, and charge deductions by regime.
What happens if a return is forgotten?
The French Tax Code sets the bill: late interest at the legal monthly rate, surcharges by the type of failure, from simple omission to deliberate default. For a non-resident, withholdings or a tax representative to mobilise sometimes add on. The answer is administrative before it is fiscal: deadlines in the diary, records kept, a contact who follows up. Once the omission has happened, spontaneous regularisation remains the best door.
Does a non-resident’s rental deficit carry forward as in France?
The French rental-deficit regime (deductible works creating a deficit imputable under its conditions) is held to apply to non-residents’ French rental income under case law, but its cross-effects with your country of residence’s treaty are a matter of analysis, not reading.
Is a tax representative needed just to hold, apart from the IFI?
Holding alone in principle calls for no mandatory representative: the duty mainly targets sales by a resident outside the European Economic Area. But representation simplifies a non-resident landlord’s filing life, and some special cases make it useful. Our tax representation page separates the mandatory from the useful, country by country.
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