How to declare French rental income

Rental income from property is declared in one of two ways, depending on whether it comes from unfurnished (location vide) or furnished (location meublée) accommodation.

Unfurnished rental income is declared as revenus fonciers (literally “real estate” or “land” revenue) while furnished rentals are declared in the forms as BIC income (bénéfices industriels et commerciaux, meaning “industrial and commercial profits”), a category that also applies to some small business income such as from buying and selling.

French tax law also distinguishes between furnished rentals for tourism or seasonal purposes and those under ordinary renewable leases for properties rented out as people’s homes. In addition, there is a specific regime for chambres d’hôtes, known as parahôtellerie, meaning similar (but not identical) to a hotel.

For tax purposes, furnished rentals may be carried out on a ‘professional’ or ‘non-professional’ basis. They may also be declared under either the micro system (simplified regime) or the réel system (full accounting and actual expenses).

Note that as described in the previous section about these simplified micro tax regimes, to qualify with regard to a given year’s income, a certain income ceiling is applicable. However, you are permitted to exceed this for a year without losing the micro status, if income then falls below it again the following year.

In recent years there has been uncertainty and several changes concerning furnished rental rules. For further discussion of the changes see chapter 1, section on changes for furnished holiday rentals.

Changes in micro-BIC ceilings and allowances for furnished rentals are coming into play as of 2025 income declared in 2026, after being put off for one year. 

For people who carry out furnished rental activity on a professional basis, including most chambres d’hôtes, there are also some changes relating to the levels of social charges, taking effect as of income from 2026. See boss.gouv.fr, urssaf.fr and autoentrepreneur.urssaf.fr. 

Micro regimes for 2025 income

Note: As of 2025 income, the micro-BIC ceiling for unclassified holiday rentals has fallen to €15,000 (from €77,700). The rule allowing income to exceed the ceiling for a year without losing the regime still applies; however, previous the year's income levels are compared to the current ceiling. 

Furnished tourist rentals

Furnished tourist rentals are typically declared as micro-BIC income, but you may opt for the more complex réel system if you consider it more beneficial or if your income exceeds the micro-BIC ceiling. The réel system involves keeping records of actual expenses, retaining receipts, and completing an additional tax form (2031).

Most people carrying out some furnished tourist rental as a secondary activity will be considered to be doing it on a ‘non-professional’ basis, a regime known as loueur en meublé non-professionnel (LMNP).

Holiday or seasonal rentals involve letting a property to the same person for no more than 90 days at a time and the property must not be the tenant’s main residence. Such rentals may involve your main home, a second home, or a property used exclusively for holiday accommodation.

A self-contained property provided for holiday rentals is known as a meublé de tourisme. Offering one usually requires registration at the mairie using form 14004*02. This is generally not required if you rent out your entire main home for part of the year (although some communes do require it: see tinyurl.com/mairie-meuble). 

It is also not required if you rent out a room in your home (une chambre chez l’habitant), whether on a short-term or long-term basis, if this is not self-contained (see tinyurl.com/chez-lhab and the legal definition of a meublé: tinyurl.com/meub-def).

Some communes require you to obtain a registration number to be displayed in advertisements for a meublé de tourisme, even if it is your main home. In addition, there is a legal limit of 120 letting days per year for renting out your entire main residence. Certain cities impose further restrictions on operating a meublé, so it is advisable to check with the local mairie.

Meublés de tourisme that have been officially inspected and awarded a star rating qualify for a higher expense allowance of 50% and benefit from a higher ceiling for the micro-BIC simple declaration regime. For more information on classification, see tinyurl.com/class-meub.

Although BIC is also the category used for commercial trading, income from furnished rentals as a LMNP is subject only to standard social charges, as for investment income, and not to business cotisations (for pensions, healthcare, unemployment etc). The charges are levied on turnover minus micro allowances (or expenses if declaring in the réel system) and come to a total of 18.6%, including CSG, CRDS, PDS (or just the PDS at 7.5% in the case of S1 holders).

Even so, anyone starting to let furnished accommodation is required to register in order to obtain a business SIRET number via procedures.inpi.fr. This platform is also used for registering full businesses and obtaining registration with the registre du commerce et des sociétés (RCS).

If you earn at least €23,000 per year from furnished rentals and this income exceeds your other household employment/professional income, you are classified as a professional furnished accommodation landlord (loueur en meublé professionnel, LMP). This changes the boxes used to declare the income and requires payment of full business social contributions.

The DGFiP also states that non-professional furnished accommodation landlords are now required to pay business cotisations if they earn more than €23,000 per year from holiday rentals even if they do not meet the full criteria to be a ‘professional furnished accommodation landlord’ for tax purposes.

If you occasionally rent out part of your main home, for example through Airbnb, and earn less than €760 per year, the income is exempt from tax and does not need to be declared. If you rent on a longer-term basis to someone who uses the property as their main home and the rent falls within certain “reasonable” limits, the income may also be exempt.

In some cases, furnished rental income exceeding €5,000 per year may create liability for cotisation foncière des entreprises (CFE) business tax, even if you do not operate a registered business (see tinyurl.com/meub-cot-fonc).

For more information on furnished rentals, see: tinyurl.com/loc-meub-23.

Ordinary long-term furnished rentals

For 2025 income these benefit from the micro-BIC with the same ceiling and allowances as classified furnished holiday rentals. 

The same rules apply with regard to being considered a ‘professional furnished accommodation landlord’ as described in the section above. 

You only have to pay business social cotisations in this case if you meet the full rules to be a ‘professional’ landlord.

Chambres d’hôtes

As for a meublé de tourisme, this income is typically declared under the micro-BIC regime (or, for farmers, as agricultural income).

A chambre d’hôtes is defined as letting one or more rooms in your own home to tourists and providing services that include, at a minimum, bed linen, breakfast, and cleaning. This activity must be registered with the mairie using the online form at service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/R17897. The form may be sent automatically to your mairie if it is set up for this, or you can print and submit it in person or by post.

A chambre d’hôtes does not need to be officially classified to qualify for the 50% allowance, provided it meets the legal definition of the activity (and does not have income over the micro thresholds).

Official French sources state that any regular chambre d’hôtes activity requires registering a business via procedures.inpi.fr. Registration for business social contributions (cotisations sociales) is required only once income exceeds a certain threshold, currently €6,248 per year (see tinyurl.com/chambres-info).

Operating chambres d’hôtes may also be registered as a supplementary activity to another business.

Users of platforms such as Airbnb should note that if their activity meets the definition of regularly operating a chambre d’hôtes, they should consider setting up a formal business structure, for example as a micro-entrepreneur.

People with small chambre d’hôtes income may benefit from the €760 per year exemption for occasionally letting out part of the main home.

In some cases, cotisation foncière des entreprises (CFE) business tax may also be payable (see above).

Gîte income

A gîte refers to offering a self-contained furnished holiday rental, as opposed to, for example, chambres d’hôtes, where a room or rooms are offered in your own home, with services. It may or may not also be accredited for a certain label, such as with Gîtes de France.

Gîte income is a form of furnished holiday rental, thus in most cases falling under the micro-BIC system and benefiting from an allowance of 50% or 30% depending on whether or not it is star rated. Note that if you provide a lot of services to guests, you may be deemed to fall under the regime of parahôtellerie as opposed to furnished rental and have to register a business. This comes into play notably if you provide at least three of the following: regular cleaning during the guests’ stay, breakfast, changing bedding, and welcoming guests.

Renting land/unfurnished property

This is treated under a tax system called micro-foncier for income under €15,000, unless you opt for taxation under the réel system, which requires proof of expenses and filling in an extra form, 2044. The fixed abatement for expenses is 30% of the income.

Other considerations

The area of rental income can be complex, often requiring professional advice to be sure you are set up and/or declaring income in the best way for your situation. Where furnished rental income is often treated similarly to investment income, as opposed to running a business, charges sociales of 18.6% apply in this case unless you benefit from the reduction described for people not affiliated to French social security (see chapter 6 on Social charges, pensions + rentals).

Where income is considered to come from a business, cotisations sociales for businesses are due. This will notably be the case if you fall under the professional renter of furnished accommodation definition, or if you are running a chambres d’hôtes and earning above certain ceilings. Business cotisations (unless you are set up as a micro-entrepreneur) are subject to minimum contributions for some elements – notably for your pension – and are charged based on estimates with regularisation later once actual incomes for the year in question have been declared and assessed.

For the micro-BIC, income limits apply of €77,700 for ordinary furnished rental and for star-rated tourist rentals. Note that micro-entrepreneurs may opt for versement libératoire income tax if they wish and they fall under certain income thresholds (see chapter 5 andtinyurl.com/vers-lib).

There is a legal requirement for those doing furnished rental under the micro system to keep a book listing chronological income throughout the year. 

Where income goes above the micro threshold – this will not apply in most cases since the limits are high – full accounts are required to show income and expenses, leaving the net profit liable to taxation under the réel (real) tax regime. People eligible to rent under the micro systems can opt for the réel if they have a lot of expenses that they wish to offset. 

In the case of letting, the option must be made to the tax office by the tax declaration deadline of the first year when you want it to apply. It will apply for that year and the two subsequent years.

Foreign rental income

Depending on tax treaty rules, this usually requires the completion of a foreign tax return, generally to the tax office covering the location of the property. 

In the case of UK rental income, this needs to be assessed in the UK, possibly resulting in UK income tax being due. The income should also be declared in France (see the previous section in this chapter).

French tax offices often prefer to use the figure that is on the UK tax assessment for the relevant year (2024–2025 for 2025) even if no tax is due in the UK. 

Substantial rental income may require filling in form 2044 (this is for rental income under the réel system); otherwise, the micro-foncier simplified system is available. The micro-BIC (used for letting) is not available for foreign income, so you should declare under the réel boxes, according to tax lawyer Laurent Gravelle from Sophia Antipolis, near Nice.

You declare ‘real’ income minus expenses, but if you do not claim amortissement (depreciation on the property), tax offices accept non-completion of the complex 2031 form that is otherwise required for declaring professional BIC revenue.