Finance Act 2026 and Real Estate: SCI, Capital Gains, Taxation

Quick answer. France's 2026 Finance Act does not overhaul property taxation: individual real estate capital gains are still taxed at 36.2 % (19 % income tax plus 17.2 % social levies), with full income-tax exemption after 22 years. The real shift remains the reintegration of furnished-rental depreciation, applicable to sales since 15 February 2025.

Every winter, French property investors await the budget bill with one practical question: should I sell, hold, or restructure before year-end? The 2026 Finance Act brings no earthquake, yet it confirms several changes that alter the real return on a rental portfolio. Here is the real estate filter of those measures, for investors holding directly, through an SCI (a French property-holding civil company), or under the furnished-rental regime, along with the trade-offs we recommend reviewing before any decision.

French property taxation in 2026 is marked by continuity rather than rupture. The structural regimes (individual capital gains, wealth tax, rental income) keep their rates and thresholds. The genuine movement comes from a reform voted in late 2024 whose effects are now in full force: the end of the historic advantage that furnished-rental landlords enjoyed on capital gains.

Three main lines stand out for investors in 2026.

1. Individual real estate capital gains keep their scale: 19 % income tax and 17.2 % social levies, that is 36.2 % before the holding-period allowance.
2. Furnished rental loses its most discreet tax edge: deducted depreciation now reduces the acquisition price on resale, thereby inflating the taxable gain.
3. The 1.4-point rise in the CSG social levy from the 2026 Social Security Financing Act lifts the flat tax on dividends to 31.4 %, but it does not touch the 17.2 % rate on real estate gains and rental income.

For an owner hesitating between holding and selling, these three points are enough to reconsider the timing. We regularly support investors using SCI and furnished-rental structures who discover the real impact of these adjustments on their net cash after a sale.

The individual capital gains regime is one of the most stable parts of the French tax landscape. In 2026, the gross gain is still taxed at 19 % income tax and 17.2 % social levies. The holding-period allowance gradually erases the base: full income-tax exemption is reached after 22 years, and full social-levy exemption after 30 years.

An additional tax under Article 1609 nonies G of the French tax code applies to taxable gains above 50,000 euros, on a progressive scale from 2 % to 6 %. This surtax is often overlooked when modelling the sale of a highly appreciated asset.

Holding-period allowance scale#

The gap between income-tax exemption (22 years) and social-levy exemption (30 years) creates an eight-year window where the gain is income-tax free yet still partly subject to 17.2 %. This is one of the points we systematically explain, as in our dedicated note on the holding-period capital gains allowance.

The SCI is not targeted by any specific 2026 measure. Its taxation depends above all on its tax regime, and that is where most of the decision lies.

An SCI under income tax (pass-through) flows its results up to the partners, who report rental income and, on resale, an individual capital gain under the scale above. An SCI under corporate income tax instead computes a professional capital gain, with no holding-period allowance, on the difference between the sale price and the net book value, after the depreciation taken during ownership.

This choice of regime remains the investor's central trade-off. We examine it in detail in our comparison of the trade-off between an income-tax SCI and a corporate-tax SCI, because the right choice depends on the holding horizon and the exit strategy.

Income-tax SCI or corporate-tax SCI: which capital gains regime?#

The corporate option is attractive for its ability to depreciate and smooth tax during ownership, but it removes the resale allowance: a property held for twenty years can then cost far more on exit. Before deciding, we suggest reading our holding versus SCI comparison, because the holding structure weighs as much as the tax regime.

Non-professional furnished landlords enjoyed a rare advantage: they depreciated their property to reduce taxable rent, without that depreciation being recaptured on resale. Act no. 2025-127 of 14 February 2025 (Article 84) ends this asymmetry. Deducted depreciation now reduces the acquisition price used to compute the gain, under Article 150 VB III of the French tax code.

In concrete terms, a property bought for 200,000 euros, resold for 300,000 euros after ten years, with 50,000 euros of deducted depreciation, generates a taxable gain that rises from 100,000 to 150,000 euros. The measure applies to sales completed from 15 February 2025, and it also covers depreciation taken before 2025. Service residences (student, senior, and care homes) operated under commercial leases are excluded.

This change is reason to revisit how your furnished-rental accounting under the actual-cost regime is kept, because precise depreciation tracking becomes decisive for anticipating the exit tax. We detail the practical consequences in our file on the 2026 furnished-rental capital gains reform.

The landscape of rental investment incentives has narrowed. The Pinel scheme has ended, with no equivalent of the same scale for new builds. For renovated and existing property, the levers rest more on actual expenses than on flat-rate tax reductions.

• The property deficit remains a powerful tool for actual-cost landlords funding works, subject to the annual cap on offset against overall income.
• The zero-rate loan has been extended to 31 December 2027, with revised ceilings, but it targets home purchase rather than standard rental investment.
• Energy obligations weigh on strategy: renting out homes rated G on the energy performance diagnosis has been banned since 1 January 2025, with the ban reaching F-rated homes on 1 January 2028 and E-rated homes on 1 January 2034.

For works financed by credit, we often point investors toward the property deficit and works cap mechanism, safer than a fading niche scheme. Our note on the end of Pinel and defiscalisation alternatives lists the remaining options.

The real estate wealth tax (IFI) remains a structuring factor for larger estates. In 2026, the liability threshold stays at 1,300,000 euros of net taxable real estate as of 1 January, with a 30 % allowance on the principal residence and a progressive scale from 0.5 % to 1.5 %. Pass-through SCI shares enter the base for the value of the properties held.

Property dealers follow a different logic: they report a trading result, taxed as business profit, not a capital gain on sale. Our support for that activity, described for the real estate tax specialist, clearly separates patrimonial holding from commercial trading.

Late-2025 budget debates mentioned a private landlord status based on tax depreciation of rented housing. According to the texts in force in spring 2026, this scheme is not confirmed by a published act: we monitor it without presenting it as settled.

The underestimated risk. Many furnished landlords still reason on the old regime and expect a small gain on resale. With depreciation recapture, the bill can double. Recently, a private investor holding three furnished studios asked us to estimate their exit tax: they had depreciated nearly 80,000 euros over eight years and had not realised this amount would inflate the taxable gain. Recalculating upfront changed their sale schedule.

What the tax authority looks at. Consistency between depreciation declared during the rental and the gain computed on resale becomes a natural review point. Rigorous, year-by-year tracking of the depreciation schedule is now a protection as much as an obligation.

Our reading. The 2026 Finance Act confirms a deep trend: the State is gradually aligning the taxation of property holding with that of professional holding. The furnished advantage is eroding, flat-rate niches are disappearing, and the trade-off shifts toward the holding structure and the resale horizon.

Our conviction, shaped in the investor files we follow as a chartered accountant registered with the Ordre, is that no regime is universally best. A corporate-tax SCI remains relevant for a long-term capitalisation project that reinvests rent; actual-cost furnished rental keeps value for generating lightly taxed income during ownership, provided the exit gain is built into the plan from the start. The wrong reflex is to freeze a structure chosen ten years ago without testing it against the new framework.

Hayot Expertise advice. Before any sale or restructuring in 2026, have a full exit-tax simulation prepared, including reintegrated depreciation. Compare the immediate tax with the saving achieved by holding the asset until the next allowance threshold. A figured trade-off, validated with your accountant, is worth more than a decision made under year-end pressure.