Do I have to file at home while living in France?
It depends on residence, not on address — except for US citizens and green-card holders, for whom the answer is yes regardless of where they live. We settle the residence question first, because every other answer follows from it.
Is there a treaty between my country and France?
Treaty networks change with each protocol and each multilateral-instrument position, so we confirm the treaty in force for your specific year with the issuing authority rather than relying on a published summary. Where there is none, unilateral relief and domestic law do the work instead.
I own property in France. Where is the rent taxed?
Rent from immovable property is almost always taxable where the property is situated, frequently by withholding on the gross amount, with your home country taxing the same income and giving credit. A net-basis election, where one exists, is usually the difference between tax on profit and tax on turnover.
Do I pay tax at home when I sell my French property?
Residence decides it, not where the property sits. If you are still resident in your home country when the sale completes, the gain generally belongs on your home return as well as being dealt with in France, and relief for the French tax comes through a credit rather than an exemption. If you had already ceased residence, the home return may still need the disposal reported for the part of the year you were resident. The order matters: we establish the residence position for the year of sale first, because it decides which computation is the primary one and which is claiming relief.
Why is my French gain different from the one on my home return?
Because the two systems measure the same sale in different ways. Each decides for itself what forms part of the cost, which expenses of acquisition and sale are allowed, and how a long period of ownership is treated. Your home computation is also made in your home currency, so movement in the exchange rate between purchase and sale becomes part of the gain even where the property has not moved in euro terms. The French figure therefore rarely transfers across. We rebuild the gain twice from the same notarial documents and keep a working paper showing how one reconciles to the other.
Tax was deducted when the sale completed — can I recover it?
Sometimes, and where you cannot recover it you can often use it. A deduction taken at completion is a payment on account measured against the sale, not a final assessment of what you owe, so the first step is establishing the actual liability and whether the deduction exceeded it. What is genuinely not recoverable may still be creditable at home, provided the charge is an income tax rather than a social levy and provided you hold documentary evidence of payment. Ask the notaire for the completion statement and the payment receipt before the file is closed; obtaining them afterwards takes a great deal longer.
We own the French flat jointly — whose return does it go on?
France works with the household for many purposes, so a jointly held property can be dealt with at that level, while your home system almost certainly taxes each of you separately on your own share. The two answers are not contradictory, but they do not line up, and the credit claim is where the mismatch shows: one spouse can end up holding foreign tax attached to income the home return puts on the other. We set out each spouse's share, the French treatment and the credit position in writing before the sale rather than after it.
Do I have to report a French property I have not sold?
Possibly, on two separate fronts. Ownership in France carries local charges that attach to the property itself and fall due whether or not it produces income, and those are independent of any income tax return. Separately, your home system may require foreign holdings above its own reporting level to be disclosed annually, with the disclosure due even in years when the property earns nothing and no tax arises. The disclosure obligation and the tax obligation are different questions, and it is common to find the first missed while the second was handled correctly all along.
Can I add the notaire and agency fees to my cost?
Your home rules decide that, not the French completion statement. Costs of acquisition and of disposal are generally recognised, but each system draws its own line between a cost of buying, a cost of holding and an improvement to the property, and ordinary repairs sit on the wrong side of that line in most of them. Keep the notarial deed, the fee statements, the agency invoice and the contractors' invoices for any work carried out, with dates. We work through them item by item and record which are in, which are out, and the reason for each.
Do I pay tax when I inherit property abroad?
The inheritance itself is often not income to you, but three other things can create tax: the estate may owe tax where the deceased or the property was situated, some countries tax the recipient directly, and the gain from the date you inherit to the date you sell is yours. Reporting obligations can also attach to holding the asset. See inheriting property abroad.
Can I avoid capital gains tax on a foreign property?
Not by virtue of it being foreign — there is no exemption for that, and the "keep it offshore" advice you may have read is how people acquire penalties rather than savings. What genuinely reduces the gain is ordinary and legitimate: principal residence relief where the property qualifies and the designation is made correctly, a properly built cost base including acquisition costs and capital improvements, the timing of the disposition, the treaty rules for real property, and credit for the foreign tax paid. See principal residence and foreign property.
