Methodology: how French property costs and taxes are calculated here

This page describes the formula the calculator applies, the data it uses, how we check it and what it cannot do. The parameters were checked against their sources on 4 October 2026. All calculations run in your browser; nothing you enter is sent anywhere.

The formula

Fees = transfer tax + proportional emoluments incl. VAT + flat formalities fee incl. VAT + land registry contribution + disbursements. The price entered is the net seller price; the value of any listed furniture is deducted from it before anything else.

• Transfer tax, resale. Base × (départemental rate + municipal surcharge of 1.20 % + départemental rate × 2.37 %). Départemental rate: the one in the DGFiP table of 1 June 2026; 4.50% for a first-time buyer in a 5% département; 4.00% in Savoie for a first property.
• Tax on a VAT-able sale. Base × 0.70 % × (1 + 2.14 %) = 0.71498 %.
• Emoluments. Bracket scale of article A444-91 of the Commercial Code, with the specific scales for Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion and Mayotte; minimum €90 excluding VAT, cap at 10 % of the price; optional discount of up to 20 % on the part calculated above €100,000; VAT of the zone.
• Formalities. Flat fee of €339.58 excluding VAT (article A444-171, no. 194), VAT of the zone.
• Land registry contribution. 0.10 % of the base, minimum €15.
• Disbursements. Entered by the user, €500 by default: a working assumption, not an official figure.

The data

The DGFiP table of 1 June 2026 lists 88 tax areas at 5% (6.3185 % in total), 11 départements at 4.50% (5.80665 %) and Indre at 3.80% (5.09006 %). The data lives in the site’s params-2026.json and departements.json files, never in the text of pages: every figure shown is recalculated from those files.

The other calculations: PTZ, capital gains, local taxes, yield

Since 4 October 2026, the site also calculates the other costs and taxes of a purchase on the same principles: pure functions, dated parameters in params-2026.json, tests on official examples, and no loan simulation.

• PTZ. Income used = max(reference tax income N-2, cost ÷ 9); bracket from income divided by the family coefficient and the zone; amount = min(cost, ceiling for the zone and household) × share (50/40/40/20% for flats and resale homes, 30/20/20/10% for new houses); resale homes only in zones B2 and C with 25% of works; deferral and term from ANIL. Zone read from the 26 June 2026 zoning (34,875 municipalities).
• Capital gains. Net sale price − (purchase price + max(actual costs, 7.5 %) + max(actual works, 15 % after 5 years)); allowances of article 150 VC; 19 % income tax and 17.2 % social charges; surtax of article 1609 nonies G with the BOFiP smoothing. Actual costs are recalculated by the notary fees engine for the département of purchase.
• Property tax. Base (half the rental value) × combined rate voted by the municipality and its grouping for 2025 (DGFiP); optional 0.8 % uprating (article 1518 bis, Insee HICP); new-build exemption from 40% to 100%; exemption over 75 and €100 reduction from 65 to 75 under the 2026 income ceilings. State management fees not included.
• Development tax. Area × €892 (€1,011 in Île-de-France), optional 50% allowance on 100 m², pool €251 per m², parking €2,928; × (municipal + département + Île-de-France regional rates) in force on 1 January 2026.
• Rental yield. Gross = rent ÷ price; net = (rent collected − charges − property tax − management) ÷ (price + notary fees of the département + works); net-net after micro-foncier (30%) or micro-BIC (50%) and 17.2 % or 18.6 % social charges.
• Agency fees and total cost. Fees including VAT = rate × price excluding fees, 20% VAT; notary fees on the net seller price or on the price including fees depending on who pays; property tax refund = tax × days remaining ÷ 365, as in the service-public.fr example.

Checks

A set of automated tests replays the examples published by official sources every time the engine changes: emoluments of €1,995.25 excluding VAT on a €200,000 sale in mainland France, the Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion and Mayotte examples, the overall rates of 6.3185% and 5.80665% given by Notaires de France, and the nine gift tax examples on service-public.fr. They also check the count of départements in the DGFiP table.

While re-reading the service-public.fr page, we found an error in its Guadeloupe example: the total of €2,426.58 excluding VAT counts €1,348.20 for the last bracket instead of €140,000 × 0.983 % = €1,376.20. The site applies the page’s rates, giving €2,454.59 excluding VAT, and documents the gap in its tests.

Two points of interpretation

The discount on emoluments: the service-public.fr page still mentions it “if the service exceeds €150,000”, whereas Notaires de France gives the €100,000 threshold and the maximum 20% of article R444-10 of the Commercial Code. The calculator applies the latter rule, only on the part of the emoluments above the threshold. Minimum and cap: for a tiny sale where the 10% cap falls below the €90 minimum, the calculator uses the cap, described by Notaires de France as the protection for small sales.

What the calculator does not do

• Loan guarantee costs (mortgage, lender’s lien, guarantee).
• The €46,000 allowance voted by Calvados on certain purchases, and the 3.80% rate on block sales in Hautes-Pyrénées: flagged, not applied.
• The reduced municipal surcharge in Lamentin (Guadeloupe) and Tsingoni (Mayotte).
• The overseas formalities fee, counted at the mainland rate in the absence of a separately published scale.
• Exemptions reserved for social housing bodies and special operations, partition duty, share transfers, viager sales.
• Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

The result is an estimate: only your notary’s statement is binding. Errors can be reported via the contact page; the correction procedure is set out in the editorial policy. Last updated: 4 October 2026.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of these official sources, read on2026-10-04.

• DGFiP, registration duty and land publicity tax rates applicable from 1 June 2026, by département
• Service-Public.fr, notary fees explained (emolument scale, mainland France and overseas)
• Notaires de France, acquisition costs (municipal tax, collection fee, CSI, discounts, formalities)
• impots.gouv.fr, registration duties: monthly tables of départemental rates