Furnished rental property in france: All professional furnished renters will be subject to social security contributions.
Owning a furnished rental property in France means knowing your status: professional or non-professional furnished rental
Subject to social security contributions (social security for self-employed persons) :
- professional renters registered with the Trade and Companies Register (condition abolished by the decision of the Constitutional Council of February 8, 2018, and confirmed by the Finance Law of 2020) ;
- seasonal furnished renters (AirBnb type), whose revenues exceeded € 23,000 per year.
Following this decision of the 2018 Constitutional Council, professional furnished renters (except for seasonal renters) refrained from registering with the Trade and Companies Registry (RCS), or requested their removal, in order to avoid the payment of social security contributions.
However, since January 1, 2021, renters who are not registered with the Trade and Companies Registry (RCS) are liable for these charges if they meet the professional criteria, i.e., their income from furnished rentals is greater than €23,000 and greater than all other income from the tax household’s activities.
The overall contribution rate is generally around 40% of the profits made (net of charges). In the case of loss-making activities, professional furnished renters still have to pay a minimum flat fee of €1,145.
In case of sale of the furnished accommodation or a complete cessation of activity, the consequences can be heavy. Indeed, the so-called short-term capital gains representing the depreciation deducted fiscally since the beginning of the furnished rental activity, will be subject to social contributions of around 40% (compared to 17.2% via social levies previously) without any possible exemption.
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Our objective: Facilitating your compliance with French law
The case of non-residents
This change in the Social Security Financing Act affects most non-residents. Indeed, since the abolition of the condition of registration in the Trade and Companies Register (RCS), many of them meet the conditions to become professional furnished renters (LMP).
- For non-residents, the condition relating to the preponderance of income is assessed by taking into account only professional income taxable in France (BOI-BIC-CHAMP-40-10 n°165).
- From now on, all these non-residents could be forced to register with the Social Security for self-employed persons for their furnished rental activities, whereas previously, insofar as they did not take the step of registering with the RCS, they were not obliged to do so.
However, for non-European residents, this new measure is in conflict with the application of Community law on social security, which provides that each taxpayer is subject to contributions from only one social security system (that of the country of residence and the main activity).
