French property capital gains: the exemptions

The main home

This is the most common exemption. Article 150 U, II, 1° covers properties “which constitute the seller’s main home on the day of the sale”, including outbuildings (cellar, garage, parking space) when they are sold at the same time. It means the usual and actual home, occupied for most of the year (service-public.gouv.fr; see our guide on the résidence principale (main home)). The exemption is total, with no minimum holding period or reinvestment condition.

The home must still be the main home on the day of the sale. The BOFiP (the tax authority’s official guidance) nevertheless accepts that a home occupied until it was put up for sale remains exempt if the sale takes place within a normal period and it has been neither let nor occupied free of charge in the meantime; “in a normal economic context, a period of one year is in principle the maximum period”, assessed case by case. In the event of separation, one of the former spouses must have occupied it until it was put up for sale (service-public.gouv.fr).

First sale of another home, with reinvestment

Article 150 U, II, 1° bis exempts the first sale of a home other than the main home where the seller has not owned their main home, directly or through an intermediary, during the four years preceding the sale.

The exemption covers only “the fraction of the sale price” that the seller reinvests within twenty-four months in buying or building a home used as their main residence. If only part of the price is reinvested, only the corresponding share of the gain is exempt. If the conditions are breached, the exemption is withdrawn in the year of the breach (art. 150 U).

Clarifications from the BOFiP:

• the reinvestment must be in a home held in full ownership; buying shares in an SCI (property-holding company) or an SCPI (property investment fund) is not accepted;
• the 24-month period is calculated from date to date starting from the sale;
• the home acquired may be located in the European Union or the EEA, provided there is an administrative assistance agreement.

The exemption is obtained by a statement in the deed of sale and can be used only once (service-public.gouv.fr).

Sales of €15,000 or less

Article 150 U, II, 6° exempts sales where the price is €15,000 or less: a garage, a plot, a small unit. According to the BOFiP, this exemption also applies to social security levies. The threshold:

• is assessed property by property, not on all sales in the year;
• is assessed by share in joint ownership (indivision): a co-owner holding 20% of a property sold for €70,000 (€14,000 for them) is exempt, one holding 80% (€56,000) is not;
• is assessed on the full-ownership value where the usufruit (usufruct) or nue-propriété (bare ownership) are sold separately.

Retirees and disabled people on modest incomes

Article 150 U, III exempts people receiving an old-age pension or holding the carte mobilité inclusion (disability and mobility card) marked “invalidité” (disability) who, for the year before last preceding the sale:

• are not liable for the IFI (property wealth tax);
• have a revenu fiscal de référence (reference taxable income) below the limit in article 1417, I of the CGI.

For a sale in 2026, service-public.gouv.fr indicates a 2024 reference taxable income not exceeding €12,793 for the first part (household tax unit), plus €3,428 per additional half-part (different amounts in the overseas territories). This exemption applies to any property, not just the main home.

A related exemption (II, 1° ter) covers the former main home of a person who has moved into a care home for the elderly or disabled adults, sold within 2 years and not occupied in the meantime, with an income cap of €30,024 for the first part in 2026 (service-public.gouv.fr).

Non-residents

A non-resident is taxed on French capital gains under the same conditions as a resident (service-public.gouv.fr; see our guides on achat immobilier par un non-résident (buying property as a non-resident) and plus-value d’un non-résident (capital gains for non-residents)). They cannot, however, rely on the main-home exemption, the first-sale-with-reinvestment exemption or the one for people who have moved into a care home (BOI-RFPI-PVINR-10-20, § 200). Two exemptions are specific to them:

• former main home: sale no later than 31 December of the year following departure from France, without the property being made available to a third party in the meantime, provided the seller’s new residence is in an EU State or in a State bound to France by an administrative assistance agreement to combat tax fraud and evasion and an agreement on assistance in tax recovery (impots.gouv.fr);
• another home in France (art. 150 U, II, 2°): for a national of the EU or the EEA (a State bound to France by an administrative assistance agreement), who was tax-resident in France continuously for at least two years beforehand, limited to one residence and €150,000 of net taxable gain, assessed per seller and, for a married couple, on each spouse’s share (BOI-RFPI-PVINR-10-20, § 420). The sale must take place no later than 31 December of the tenth year following departure, unless the seller has had free use of the home since at least 1 January of the year preceding the sale.

Other cases

Service-public.gouv.fr also lists ownership of more than 22 years (income tax) and 30 years (social security levies), sales to a social housing body or to an operator that undertakes to produce social housing (until 31 December 2027), compulsory purchase with reinvestment of the compensation within 12 months, and the sale of a droit de surélévation (right to build upwards) completed no later than 31 December 2026 (unless extended, this exemption no longer applies to sales in 2027). For taxable sales, see our guide on plus-value immobilière (property capital gains) and the calculateur de plus-value (capital gains calculator).

Which professional to consult

The notaire (notary) calculates the capital gain, applies the exemption and enters the reinvestment statement in the deed: you must provide them with your supporting documents (tax notices, proof of occupation). For a sale followed by a purchase within 24 months, the agent immobilier (estate agent) helps you plan the timing, and a courtier en crédit (mortgage broker) can cost the financing of the new main home.