Get Your Documents Ready Before Your Representative Asks in 2026

Why gather the file at listing, not at compromis

The accredited representative has one statutory job: guarantee to the French Treasury that the capital-gains tax and social charges have been correctly computed and paid at the deed. To do that, they must size your taxable basis (acquisition price plus deductible costs plus provable works) against your sale price. Every euro that cannot be proven by a document is a euro taxed. Sellers who discover the paperwork gap at compromis stage rarely have time to fix it before the deed; they lose deductions they were entitled to, because evidence is disqualified on form. The remedy is banal and effective: build the file when the estate agent mandate is signed, not six weeks before signature.

The full checklist, in the order a representative will ask

Identity and civil status

• Passport copy of every seller (SCI or spouse co-owners included), certified if requested by the notaire.
• Proof of tax residence abroad: a certificate of residency issued by your home tax authority, dated within the last 12 months.
• Marriage contract or PACS agreement if the property is jointly owned, with a sworn translation if not in French.
• For inherited property, the acte de notoriété or equivalent, plus the declaration of succession that set the base price.

Property and acquisition

• Original acquisition deed (acte authentique). If lost, a certified copy from the notaire office of record.
• Proof of acquisition costs: notaire fees invoice, registration tax, agency commission if paid by the buyer at the time.
• Any subsequent deeds modifying ownership: gifts, successions, SCI share transfers, carving out of usufruct.
• Current title extract (état hypothécaire) less than three months old at the deed date.

Works and improvements

• VAT invoices from French registered contractors for works of improvement, extension, reconstruction. Keep the SIRET visible.
• Bank statements proving payment of those invoices, so the representative can tie each euro to a trace.
• Permits and completion certificates for major works, if applicable, as fallback evidence when invoices are patchy.

Sale leg and rental history

• The signed agency mandate and the current compromis de vente once issued by the notaire.
• If the property was rented, the last three tax returns in France (2042 and 2044) and the depreciation schedule if under LMNP.
• Confirmation that no current tenant holds a pre-emption right, from the notaire.

Banking and mandate

• Bank details (IBAN, SWIFT) of the account receiving the net proceeds, named exactly as on the acte.
• A power of attorney to the representative for tax filing, drawn up by the representative, apostilled if signed abroad.
• A mandate to the representative, signed before the deed, with the agreed fee expressed in euros or as a fixed percentage.

Originals, copies, translations

Send scanned colour copies first, in PDF, named with a clear prefix (01_passport, 02_residency_certificate, and so on). The representative builds the working file from scans. Closer to the deed, the notaire will request wet-signed originals of the power of attorney, the representative mandate, and sometimes a certified translation of identity documents issued abroad. Reserve a single courier slot in the fortnight before signature; do not drip-feed originals across weeks. A sworn translator (traducteur assermenté inscrit en cour d'appel) is the only French professional whose translation the Treasury will accept for civil-status items. Budget €60 to €120 per page of certified translation, and a week of lead time.

Worked example

A US couple sells a Cannes apartment for €820,000 in 2026. Their acquisition deed from 2008 shows €410,000 plus €32,000 of fees, total €442,000 on the deductible side. They did €95,000 of works in 2014 and 2019. Of those works, €61,000 is proven by VAT invoices from two local SARL contractors; the remaining €34,000 was paid in cash to a local craftsman with informal receipts. The representative accepts the €61,000 line but rejects the €34,000, because cash receipts without SIRET fail the test. The taxable gain rises by €34,000 and costs them around €11,000 in extra CGT and social charges. Had they gathered the works evidence at listing, the craftsman could have reissued invoices under his micro-entreprise status, and the deduction would have held.

Pitfall to avoid

Sending the acquisition deed to the representative without the breakdown of acquisition costs is the classic pitfall. Sellers assume the deed contains everything. It usually does not: the notaire fees and registration tax appear on a separate invoice issued after the deed, often kept in the client file and never sent to the buyer. Without that invoice, the representative will default to the flat 7.5% of purchase price allowance, which is almost always worse than the actual costs (which typically run 7.5% to 8.5% of the price, plus the agency commission if the original deed had it on the buyer side). Retrieve the original fee invoice from the 2008 or 2013 notaire folder; it is a two-minute request.

Pro tip

Ask your representative for their internal checklist template as a PDF, not as a list of emails. Reputable firms have a numbered master list they hand to notaires and to sellers; working off that file instead of improvising one keeps every scan named consistently, which matters when the notaire audits the pack the day before signature. A firm that refuses to share the checklist template is a minor red flag: they are either improvising case by case, which slows you down, or they subcontract the compliance leg to an external accountant who holds the template, which adds a layer you pay for without knowing.