Notary fees and French capital gains tax: what your purchase costs give back on resale
Costs paid on purchase that come back, in part, when you sell.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
French notary fees paid on purchase are not lost for everyone. When you sell a property that is not your main home, the taxable capital gain is calculated on a purchase price increased by acquisition costs: either their actual amount, proved by the notary’s statement, or a flat 7.5 % of the purchase price, as service-public.fr explains. The choice is free and made on resale. For a flat bought for €200,000 on the Paris resale market, the actual costs estimated here come to €16,139 and the flat rate to €15,000: the higher of the two is used. On a new build, actual costs of €4,932 make the flat rate far more attractive. The benefit then shows in the income tax and social charges avoided, which matters to anyone keeping a French second home.
Actual fees or the 7.5% flat rate?
Amount added to the purchase price
€15,000
| 7.5% flat rate | €15,000 |
| Documented actual costs | €14,500 |
| Better option | the flat rate |
Flat rate or actual costs: the comparison
| Purchase | Estimated actual costs | Flat rate 7.5 % | More favourable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resale, €200,000, Paris | €16,139 | €15,000 | actual |
| New build, €200,000 | €4,932 | €15,000 | flat rate |
| Resale, €150,000, Indre | €10,607 | €11,250 | flat rate |
| Resale, €400,000, Alpes-Maritimes | €28,846 | €30,000 | flat rate |
| Resale, €400,000, Paris | €30,893 | €30,000 | actual |
On resale homes, the comparison is decided by a few hundred euros, because fees on a purchase in a 5% département are around 7.5 to 8% of the price. Loan guarantee costs, if paid, and an agency commission paid by the buyer are added to actual costs and often tip the balance their way. On new builds, the flat rate almost always wins.
How the capital gain is calculated
The gross gain is the difference between the sale price, less selling costs, and the purchase price, plus acquisition costs and works. Allowances for length of ownership are then applied, separately for income tax and for social charges: according to service-public.fr, the gain is fully exempt from income tax after 22 years of ownership and from social charges after 30 years. Every euro added to the purchase price reduces the gain before allowances, and therefore the tax and charges.
Documents to keep from the purchase
The notary’s final statement is the key document: it breaks down precisely the tax, emoluments, formalities, land registry contribution and disbursements. Also keep the deed of sale, the agency invoice if you paid the commission, the loan deed and the guarantee cost statement. These documents must outlive your memory of the purchase: on resale, ten or twenty years later, it is the seller’s notary who calculates the gain, and only what you can prove can be taken into account.
A twenty-year example
Take a flat bought for €200,000 in Paris and sold for €320,000 twenty years later, with no works. With the flat rate, the purchase price used would be €215,000; with the actual costs in the table, it is slightly higher, because they exceed the flat rate by a little over a thousand euros. The gross gain falls by as much, before allowances for length of ownership. The tax difference looks modest, but it is obtained with no effort, provided you kept the notary’s statement for twenty years.
Non-residents selling French property
A non-resident who sells a French second home is also taxed in France on the capital gain, under specific rates and with social charges that depend on the country of residence. The calculation of the gain itself follows the same logic: purchase price increased by acquisition costs, actual or flat rate, then allowances for length of ownership. The French notary handling the sale calculates and withholds the tax from the price. Keeping the purchase statement is therefore just as useful when you live abroad.
What the calculation does not change
Acquisition costs give no deduction in the year of purchase for a main home. For a rental investment, their treatment while you own the property depends on the tax regime chosen, and it can affect the capital gain on resale: depreciation deducted on furnished lettings by non-professional landlords (LMNP), for example, is added back for sales made since 15 February 2025. The tax itself, with the allowances for years of ownership and the surtax, is calculated on the capital gains tax on French property page, which runs the actual-versus-flat-rate comparison automatically.