What Are Revenus Fonciers?
Revenus fonciers are one of the categories of income subject to French income tax. Once determined under the applicable rules, they are combined with the taxpayer’s other income to form the global income subject to the progressive income tax scale. As patrimony income, they also attract social charges (prélèvements sociaux). Taxpayers with revenus fonciers are subject to the withholding-at-source system through monthly or quarterly advance payments (acomptes).
Specific rules apply to monuments historiques, loi Malraux buildings, and properties subject to ownership démembrement — examined in the dedicated articles on those topics.
Rents from buildings completed more than 15 years ago and owned by certain legal persons are subject, in addition to income or corporate tax, to the contribution sur les revenus locatifs (CRL). The CRL is due in particular by IS companies and by partnerships (sociétés de personnes) where at least one member is subject to IS under the ordinary rules.
Scope: What Falls Within Revenus Fonciers
- Rents from built property: houses, apartments, factories, shops, offices, rural buildings, etc.
- Rents from unbuilt property: land, ponds, quarries, etc.
- Accessory receipts: right of display; hunting/fishing rights; quarry exploitation; redevances tréfoncières; mobile antenna roof rentals
- Non-IS SCI members: proportionate share
- Fiscally transparent company members (any legal form)
- Indivision co-owners: each taxable on their proportionate share
- Property on business balance sheet → professional activity income
- Furnished lettings → BIC
- Commercial premises let with equipment → BIC
- Unfurnished sub-lettings → BNC
- Furnished sub-lettings → BIC
- Owner-occupied property → exempt (CGI Art. 15, II): no income; no deduction either
Built and Unbuilt Property: The Core
Revenus fonciers are, for the most part, income from the letting of built property (houses, apartments, factories, shops, offices, rural buildings, etc.) or unbuilt property (land, ponds, quarries, etc.) privately held by the taxpayer (CGI Art. 14). The nature of the tenant is irrelevant: commercial, residential, and professional tenants all generate revenus fonciers for the private-person landlord of unfurnished premises.
SCI Members, Transparent Companies, and Indivision
Taxable revenus fonciers may be realised directly or through a company set up to manage and let a property portfolio, typically a société civile immobilière (SCI). Members of non-IS property companies are taxable for their proportionate share. The same applies to members of fiscally transparent immovable property companies of any legal form, including capital companies. Where a property is held in indivision, each co-owner is personally taxable on their proportionate share.
What Is Excluded from the Category
Business-Asset Property
Rental income from property that figures on the balance sheet of an industrial, commercial, or artisanal enterprise, or of an agricultural operation, or that is used for a non-commercial profession, is not taxable as revenus fonciers. It is included in the profits of the professional activity.
Furnished Lettings and Commercial Premises with Equipment: BIC
Two further categories fall into BIC: income from furnished lettings (location meublée), including short-term and seasonal lets; and income from the letting of commercial or industrial premises with the furniture or equipment necessary for their operation.
Sub-Lettings: BIC or BNC
Profits from sub-letting of premises taken on a lease are taxable as BIC where the sub-letting is furnished, and as BNC where unfurnished. The rule is “à chaque bailleur, sa fiscalité” (Rép. Frassa: Sén. 9-3-2017 n° 23432): where the same dwelling is let bare by the owner to a tenant, and the tenant sub-lets it furnished, the owner declares the bare lease income as revenus fonciers and the tenant declares the furnished sub-letting as BIC.
The Owner-Occupied Property Exemption (CGI Art. 15, II)
Taxpayers who keep a property for their own use are not taxable on the notional benefit in kind corresponding to free use of that property. This applies to principal and secondary residences and their immediate dependencies (garages, gardens, etc.), and to free use by family members or third parties without a formal lease.
The exemption is bilateral: where it applies, the owner also cannot deduct any charges relating to the exempt property from their taxable income. The same rule applies to non-IS companies making property available to members free of charge, and to members of transparent companies reserving use of their dwelling.
The exemption does not cover accessory receipts collected alongside the exempt personal use. A property owner who keeps a property for personal use but lets the right of display on it must still declare those accessory receipts as revenus fonciers.
Territorial Scope
Persons fiscally domiciled in France are in principle taxable on all rental income — French and foreign — subject to international conventions that reserve taxation to the situs state. Persons not domiciled in France are subject to French income tax only on income from properties situated in France. Net income from foreign or overseas-collectivity properties of domiciled persons is determined under the French general rules.
What Constitutes Taxable Receipts (CGI Art. 29)
Under the real income regime, taxable receipts include all receipts of any nature actually received by the owner during the tax year. The regime operates on a cash basis: rents due but unpaid are not declared until received; advance rents are included in full in the year of receipt.
VAT-Subject Rents: Net of VAT (CGI Art. 33 quater)
Where a landlord lets unoccupied commercial premises subject to VAT (mandatorily or on option), the income remains revenus fonciers. But for determining the taxable revenus fonciers, both the receipts and the deductible charges are taken net of VAT. VAT credit reimbursements from the Treasury are also excluded from taxable receipts.
Two Regimes for Determining Taxable Income
The €15,000 threshold is assessed on the total gross revenus fonciers of the tax household. A taxpayer just below €15,000 may prefer the real regime if actual deductible charges (particularly loan interest or heavy works) significantly exceed 30% — but the option binds for three years. Once the three-year period expires, the taxpayer may revert to micro-foncier annually. If gross receipts cross €15,000 during the option period, the real income regime applies automatically and the taxpayer is released from the option.
Properties That Exclude a Taxpayer from the Micro-Foncier
The micro-foncier is unavailable to any taxpayer (or any member of their tax household) who owns any of the following, even alongside ordinary rental properties (CGI Art. 32):
- Monuments historiques given in lease;
- New residential property on which the Robien, Besson, or Périssol amortissement deduction is being claimed;
- Property on which a specific deduction under the Borloo neuf, Scellier intermédiaire, Robien ZRR, or Scellier ZRR regimes is being applied;
- Property let under an Anah convention qualifying for the former Cosse, Borloo ancien, or Besson ancien specific deduction regimes;
- Property on which the taxpayer benefits from the Loc’Avantages tax reduction (CGI Art. 199 tricies);
- Shares in non-transparent civil property companies (SCI, SCPI, etc.) that let bare premises, where the taxpayer does not also hold any directly-owned bare-letting property;
- Units in fonds de placement immobilier (FPI) where the taxpayer does not also hold any directly-owned bare-letting property;
- SCPI shares on which the Robien amortissement deduction is being claimed.
This list is exhaustive. The micro-foncier remains compatible with the Duflot-Pinel-Denormandie, Scellier (except intermédiaire or ZRR), and Malraux tax reductions.
Where a taxpayer who has been taxed under the micro-foncier regime sells the property, the 30% flat abattement is treated as having covered all actual charges — even if actual charges were lower. Any actual charges not absorbed by the abattement are nonetheless deemed deducted and cannot be added to the acquisition price when calculating the capital gain. A micro-foncier landlord who carries out renovation works cannot later add those costs to the acquisition price on the grounds that the micro-foncier did not actually absorb them. This is a significant long-term cost for renovation-intensive investors operating under the micro-foncier.
Our French law practice advises on revenus fonciers category classification, regime selection (micro-foncier vs régime réel), SCI structure implications, and the interaction between rental income taxation and capital gains on exit.
Book a ConsultationLegal Notice. This article is provided for general information and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal or tax advice. Companion articles cover deductible charges (CGI Art. 31), déficit foncier (CGI Art. 156, I-3°), and declaration obligations. Always consult a qualified French tax lawyer before any property letting or structuring decision.
Key Legal References
Scope of revenus fonciers: rents from built and unbuilt property privately held; accessory receipts (display right, hunting/fishing, quarry exploitation, redevances tréfoncières, mobile antenna rooftops); proportionate share for non-IS SCI members; fiscally transparent company members; indivision co-owners
Owner-occupied property exemption: no taxable income on free personal use of owned property (principal or secondary; dependencies); extends to free use by family/third parties without formal lease; bilateral: no charge deduction for exempt property; accessory receipts not covered
Taxable receipts under real income regime: cash basis; includes principal rents, landlord charges contractually borne by tenant, key money/droits d’entrée (unless depreciation compensation), tenant works reverting to landlord (valued at year lease ends), accessory receipts; not taxable: unused security deposits, rents due but unpaid, VAT credit reimbursements
Real income regime: taxable revenus fonciers equal gross receipts minus deductible charges actually paid; can produce déficit foncier
Statutory list of deductible charges for revenus fonciers; supplements basis for real income regime calculation
Micro-foncier: available where total household gross revenus fonciers do not exceed €15,000; taxable income equals gross receipts multiplied by 70% (30% flat deduction applied automatically); no real charges deductible; no déficit foncier; option for real regime binding 3 years; exhaustive list of exclusions (monuments historiques, Robien/Besson/Périssol, Borloo neuf, Scellier intermédiaire, Robien ZRR, Scellier ZRR, Cosse/Borloo ancien/Besson ancien, Loc’Avantages, SCI-only without directly-owned property, FPI units without directly-owned property, SCPI Robien)
VAT-subject rents: where landlord lets commercial premises subject to VAT, income remains revenus fonciers but receipts and deductible charges are both taken net of VAT
Tenant-borne landlord charges: where landlord charges are contractually passed to tenant and are also deductible by the landlord, the administration permits symmetric omission from both receipts and charges
Key money (droit d’entrée) taxable as revenus fonciers unless landlord demonstrates the sum compensates property depreciation rather than merely representing acquisition of propriété commerciale by the tenant
Key money: lease terms, duration, and other circumstances may support the depreciation exception to taxability as revenus fonciers
À chaque bailleur, sa fiscalité: a bare-lease owner declares revenus fonciers; a tenant who sub-lets furnished declares BIC; the categories apply independently to each party in the chain
CGI Art. 13 general deductibility principle cannot override CGI Art. 31 express exclusions such as reconstruction and enlargement works
