11. French Capital Gains Tax

1. 11.1. Scope of the Tax
2. 11.2. Exemptions on Sale of Property
3. 11.3. Allowable Costs on Sale of Property
4. 11.4. Shares and Personal Possessions
5. 11.5. Taxation of Building Land
6. 11.6. Fiscal Representative for Non-Residents

11.6. Fiscal Representative for Non-Residents

French laws require that non-resident sellers are obliged to appoint a représentant fiscal on the sale of property in France.

The role of the fiscal representative is simply to verify that the correct amount of tax is being paid on the transaction.

Given that this also happens to be the role of the notaire there does seem to be a degree of duplication in this task!

The cost of the process is up to 1% of the selling price of the property.

There is dispensation where the sale value of the property is less than €150K, or where there is an exemption from capital gains tax.

Where the couple are married or in a civil partnership then they are treated as single fiscal household for the purposes of the €150K threshold.

Where they are not married or in a civil partnership, and the property is held ‘en indivision’ then the threshold is appreciated by the proportionate ownership of each ‘indivisaire’.

Private companies are always required to use a fiscal agent.

These representatives are accredited private companies and as they are relatively unknown to non-residents, they are frequently appointed by the notaire at the time the sale takes place.