Find Out if You Need a French Accredited Tax Representative in 2026

I run this site to answer one practical question: do you actually need a représentant fiscal accrédité before you sign the deed? Three short lines below will tell you, with no guesswork and no upsell.

ACCREDITED Représentant Fiscal 1 Non-EU resident? Country of tax residence matters. 2 Sale above €150k? Threshold applied per seller. 3 Appoint representative Mandated before the deed.

Do you need a representative? Three lines.

  1. You are selling (or transferring) French real estate, including shares of an SCI that mostly holds property.
  2. Your tax residence is outside the EU, the EEA, and Switzerland. UK residents count as outside since Brexit; Monaco residents count as outside by treaty, despite the geography.
  3. Your share of the sale price is above €150,000, the threshold is per seller, not per property.

If all three lines are true, the French tax authority requires an accredited representative to sign the tax return with you, before the notaire releases the proceeds. Article 244 bis A of the French tax code makes it mandatory; here is the rule in plain English.

A worked example, with real numbers

Imagine you live in London and you sell a small Paris apartment for €620,000 that you bought in 2009 for €380,000. Raw gain is €240,000. After the statutory taper for holding period and the social-charge allowances, your taxable gain drops to roughly €165,000 for income tax and €185,000 for social charges in 2026. The income-tax CGT hits at 19%, the UK-specific social contribution at 7.5%, and the surtax on high gains adds about 2%. Total tax bill: in the neighbourhood of €52,000.

Your accredited representative signs the return, pays the tax out of the notaire escrow, and keeps liability for any audit for four years. A flat fee of €1,400 on this file is common; a 0.7% percentage mandate would cost €4,340 on the same sale. That fee gap is why I push readers to compare fee models carefully before signing a mandate.

The pitfall I see most often

People read the €150,000 threshold as per property. It is not. When two spouses jointly own and sell a €260,000 house, each half is €130,000, so on paper the representative is not required. Easy win, except that case law and BOFiP doctrine apply the threshold to each seller’s share, and the tax office occasionally re-qualifies joint tenancies where the split is less clear. The safe reading: if your personal share sits anywhere between €140,000 and €160,000, commission a representative anyway. The €900 worst-case fee is cheap insurance against a late re-qualification that freezes your net proceeds.

One pro-level tip

Ask the representative to quote two ways: once as a flat fee, once as a percentage of sale price. French firms often default to the percentage because it protects them on long, complicated files. If your sale is clean (no SCI, no prior gift, no contested holding-period documentation), a flat fee is usually fairer and always faster to negotiate. I also recommend requiring, in the mandate, that the invoice be issued before the notaire’s signature day, so the fee flows into your deductible sale costs. If the invoice arrives late, your capital gain is calculated without it and you lose part of the deduction.

Start where you stand

The five guides most readers start with

Frequently asked questions

Who exactly needs a French accredited tax representative?

A non-EU, non-EEA, non-Swiss seller of French real estate whose share of the sale exceeds €150,000, unless a specific exemption applies (for instance a sale after more than 22 years of ownership).

Can my notaire act as my fiscal representative?

No. The notaire drafts and registers the deed; the fiscal representative is a separate accredited entity that guarantees the tax filing on your behalf. Some notaires partner with one, but the two roles are legally distinct.

How much does it cost?

Typical fees range from 0.3% to 1% of the sale price, or a flat fee between €900 and €3,500 for standard mandates. Percentage models tend to hurt on high-value sales; flat fees are often cheaper above €500,000.

Is the representative’s fee deductible from my capital gain?

Yes, it is treated as a sale cost and reduces the taxable gain when properly invoiced and linked to the sale, as long as the mandate and payment flow through the notaire file.

Informational content only. Our editorial team verifies every accreditation claim against the French tax authority’s published lists before a firm appears in our directory. See how our ranking works for the full methodology, including what paid placement does, and does not, change.