Furnished tourist rentals in 2026: the Le Meur law, micro-BIC allowances and VAT

Quick answer. Since the Le Meur law, the micro-BIC regime for furnished tourist rentals has tightened. For your 2025 income declared in 2026: an unclassified furnished tourist rental gets a 30 percent allowance, with a revenue ceiling of 15,000 euros; a classified property (or a guest house) gets a 50 percent allowance, with a ceiling of 77,700 euros. Above that, the real regime applies. Getting the property classified is often the key decision.

Short-term letting long enjoyed very favourable micro-BIC taxation: a high flat allowance, a comfortable ceiling, and no accounts to keep. The Le Meur law (law of 19 November 2024) has narrowed that advantage to rebalance the housing market. As a result, in 2026 owners of furnished tourist rentals face lower allowances and lower ceilings, and many should review their regime.

This article covers the whole question: what has changed, the micro-BIC regime in force in 2026, the value of classification, the choice between micro and real, the taxation of resale and the VAT question.

A furnished tourist rental is a furnished home let to a passing clientele who do not take up residence there, for a short period (by the day, week or month). This is the typical case of a home let on a platform such as Airbnb or Booking.

It must be distinguished from ordinary furnished letting (year-round, to a tenant who makes it their home) and from letting your own main residence, which is possible up to 120 days a year. The tax regime for furnished tourist rentals falls under industrial and commercial profits (BIC), either micro-BIC or real.

Before the reform, the micro-BIC was very generous: a 50 percent allowance for an unclassified property, and up to 71 percent for a classified one, with high ceilings. The Le Meur law sharply reduced these benefits.

Two movements combine: the allowance falls (so the taxable base rises), and the revenue ceiling above which you switch to the real regime also falls, especially for the unclassified case (only 15,000 euros).

The micro-BIC remains the default regime as long as your revenue stays below the ceiling. The tax authority applies the flat allowance automatically, meant to cover all your costs: you have no accounts to file, you simply report your gross revenue on the return.

• For an unclassified rental, revenue is reported in box 5NH or 5OH (the 30 percent allowance is applied automatically, within the 15,000 euro revenue limit).
• For a classified property or a guest house, revenue is reported in box 5NG or 5OG (50 percent allowance, 77,700 euro ceiling).

Above the relevant ceiling, the switch to the real regime is automatic, even without an option on your part.

This has become the central trade-off. Classification, granted for five years by an accredited body under Atout France, rates the home from one to five stars on a comfort grid. It triggers two tax benefits under the micro-BIC:

• a 50 percent allowance instead of 30 percent;
• a revenue ceiling raised to 77,700 euros instead of 15,000 euros.

For an owner exceeding 15,000 euros of revenue, classification is often what allows staying under the micro-BIC with a decent allowance, rather than switching to the real regime with a 30 percent allowance. The process has a cost (the classification visit) but it quickly pays for itself once revenue is significant.

With reduced allowances, the real regime becomes attractive again for many landlords. Under the real regime, you do not get a flat allowance, but you deduct your actual costs (loan interest, works, service charges, insurance, management fees) and above all you depreciate the property and the furniture. Depreciation, which spreads the cost of the home for accounting purposes, often wipes out the taxable result for many years.

The simple rule: if your actual costs and depreciation exceed the flat allowance, the real regime wins. This is frequently the case as soon as there is a loan and works. To decide with figures, our LMNP real versus micro-BIC simulator compares the two regimes on your situation.

A new and important point: on the resale of a property let under the real regime, the 2025 finance act adds back the deducted depreciation into the capital gain calculation. In other words, the depreciation that reduced your tax during the letting inflates the taxable gain at the time of the sale.

The gain is still taxed under the individual property capital gains regime: 19 percent income tax and 17.2 percent social levies, with allowances for the length of ownership (income tax exemption after 22 years, social levies after 30 years). Some managed residences (student residences, homes for the elderly) remain outside this recapture.

This measure does not remove the value of the real regime during the letting, but it invites you to reason over the whole cycle, from purchase to resale, and not on the annual tax saving alone.

In principle, letting a furnished tourist rental is exempt from VAT. It becomes subject to VAT (at the 10 percent rate applicable to accommodation) only if you provide para-hotel services, meaning at least three of the following four: breakfast, regular cleaning of the premises, provision of household linen, and reception, even non-personalised, of the clientele.

Without these services, no VAT to charge, but no VAT recovery on your purchases either. With these services, you enter a para-hotel logic (VAT to collect, VAT recoverable) which is framed case by case, particularly for a new-build investment.

Beyond taxation, the Le Meur law and local rules impose several formalities:

• Registration with the town hall: declaring the furnished tourist rental and obtaining a registration number is becoming general, via a national online service.
• Energy performance certificate (DPE): the law now requires a DPE for furnished tourist rentals and provides, in the municipalities that activate it, the gradual exclusion of the most energy-hungry homes.
• Change of use: in high-demand areas, converting a home into a furnished tourist rental may require authorisation from the municipality.
• Business property tax (CFE): furnished letting is a professional activity, in principle subject to the CFE.

Take a studio let as a furnished tourist rental generating 18,000 euros of revenue in 2025.

• Unclassified: revenue exceeds the 15,000 euro ceiling, the micro-BIC is no longer possible, the real regime is mandatory. If the owner stays on the flat basis within the limit, the 30 percent allowance leaves a high base.
• Classified: the 77,700 euro ceiling is well above, the micro-BIC applies with a 50 percent allowance, so a taxable base of only 9,000 euros.

On the same property, classification often halves the taxable base. That is the whole point of the choice of regime, which we frame in our LMNP accounting engagement.