Short residency in France is OK for CGT exemption

A tax office had said that an owner’s Paris property was a second home – and thus subject to impôt sur les plus-values – pointing out that it had been subject to taxe d’habitation as a second home in previous years.

The tax office accepted that the owner had been living in the property for 11 months.

The man claimed 18 months, providing evidence such as electricity bills, having a new broadband line put in, and renting a parking space. He also showed he had bought new furniture for the property.

After losing in a lower court, the home-owner won on appeal.

The court found he had provided sufficient proof of residency adding that “the sole fact of living in the house as a main home, even supposing it to have been limited to 11 months, for a brief period, is not enough to overturn the benefit of exemption on a main home”.