Hello
I am a UK resident & I have a property in France which is being used for rental purposes, whilst it is being sold (a very slow process). As a property rental property it runs at a loss. Last year it was let for c4 weeks. costs were high as roof renovation work was required. Does a French tax return need to be completed to record these losses?
No - but one does need to be completed to record the net income you receivedâŠTaxed at a basic rate of 30% net income as from 2018 income.
Someone had advised me that there was a way that you could offset your costs as well, rather than just counting the income (and not the costs) and treating as if it was a profit. Can anyone advise on this option?
Take a look at the info on this link - pretty comprehensive and up-to-date.
Ă French tax return though?
Yes @cat the income needs to be declared in France and the UK.
As a non-resident, in order to declare your French earnings you need to contact the Service des ImpĂŽts des Particuliers Non-RĂ©sidents, TSA 10010, 10 rue du Centre, 93465 Noisy-le-Grand, Cedex.
The e mail address of the office for non-residents is: sip.nonresidents@dgfip.finances.gouv.fr. Their telephone number is (00 33) 01 72 95 20 42.
And you declare under regime réel, so you can offset the vast majority of your costs against the income. Losses can also be carried over.
If the works were improvements, rather than maintenance, make sure you have the evidence of the costs as might be able to offset this against capital gains when you finally sell.
Thank you. The Regime Reel, must have been what was being referred to. Do you know if there is criteria for this?
Ashley - itâs all explained in the link on post #4 - here it is again:
Back in 2005 we were receiving a small income from a Rental propertyâŠ
I completed Declaration de Revenu Foncier⊠Cerfa No.10334*10 (2044).
Listed rental income and expenses in the appropriate areas on the Form⊠and enclosed the bill for having the boiler replaced. (supporting itâs entry as a Deduction)
The resulting Debit figure showing on 2044 was posted onto the Declaration Des Revenus 2042
and I took all the paperwork to my local Tax Office, where they were very kind, checked it through (briefly) and sent me on my wayâŠ
I bet a lot of people donât know that! Thanks!
LOL surely not @cat 
It goes further than that - a Brit guy (who is french resident) who lives not that far from me is more than happy to state that, as he takes all his rental bookings in sterling and pays them into a UK bank account - he thinks heâs âexemptâ from declaring in France⊠pretty sure he wonât be alone!
Something else just sprung to mind - how do non-resident landlords handle Taxe de SĂ©jour ? Hummmmm
Shouldnât be much of an issue if theyâre with one of the online platforms as they are now mostly responsible for collection and remittance to the fisc (along with full details of all rentals!). ButâŠdirect bookings with the ownerâŠ???
Hi Simon
The taxe De sejour is an interesting one. Any bookings I receive come via a platform, and they charge the guests this tax. As such I donât receive direct bookings. However, I receive emails from the local tax office asking me to complete an occupancy form, and pay this tax. However, as far as Iâm aware this has already been dealt with by the booking company. The local tax office are very persistent, which does concern me.
Ashley⊠why donât you give the Tax Office the details of your booking platform⊠then they may be able to correlate their dataâŠ
@anon87147852. And does this brit pay taxe de sejour in sterling I wonder? Of does he think heâs exempt from that too? It distresses me that fellow country people take the p*** like that. One day the administration will wake up and check the major booking platforms I guess, but could be a long time coming.
Hi Stella, thanks for your suggestion. I think this is a good idea, as every time the tax office contact me I feel I might be doing something wrong!
Give the Tax folk âthe worksâ ⊠with as much detail/info about your presence on the booking platform as you can. The more info the merrier⊠be seen to be pro active⊠canât do any harm and may (eventually) get them out of your hairâŠ
and they will probably relax once you have done a Tax Return⊠never let them think you are ignoring them⊠if you donât understand what they are getting at⊠say so, and ask them to explainâŠ
They are actively doing this now as one of our UK rental clients found out when the Maire turned up at the house on a Saturday in August last year, to say the paying guests were unhappy is an understatement.
Tim, I get a certain wicked pleasure out of your tale⊠
quite made my dayâŠ