# Purchasing a home.



## MLuscombe

My wife and I are EU nationals looking to purchase a primary home in France. Is there a tax advantage if we were to rent a home first and then become residents beforehand?

Otherwise we intend to purchase immediately as non-residents and then transfer residency.


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## BackinFrance

Are you aware that it takes a good 3 months from signing the compromis to the final acte de vente, so your purchase is very likely to be finalized before 2023.

OTOH renting a home in France this year would mean you could make a tax declaration for part of 2022 next May, which could simplify things significantly in terms of taxe d'habitation and taxe foncière, as well as entitling you to many other benefits sooner, such as assistance with making energy efficient modifications to your home, especially since it would reduce your declared income. 8


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## BackinFrance

Of course my comment only applies if you can move this year. It would almost certainly be your only opportunity to have a low RFR, revenues fiscale de référence.

Still, the US France tax agreement is very generous, so not perhaps such a big deal for you. And of course it is not easy to find a rental in France, though I do not see why you could not make a tax declaration here even if you are in a holiday rental (others will no doubt correct me).


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## Bevdeforges

Even assuming you could find a place to buy and move to France by the end of 2022, in the year you move, you would only declare your worldwide income in France from your move-in/arrival date to the end of the year. 

How the US-France treaty comes into play here depends a bit on what your status is in the US right now (noting the US flag on your info). It's a function of how long you've been living in the US, whether or not you've taken US citizenship and if you haven't, then properly surrendering your "green card" before you leave. But I leave all that to the tax whizzes in the Expat Tax section to explain.

The main "advantage" to renting before you buy on coming to France is that you need to give yourselves a chance to get to know the area you are looking to buy in. There are well over 30,000 towns in France, and even neighboring towns can have vastly different tax rates (mainly for the taxe fonciere these days), and a different overall "character." Hard to assess that until you've lived in the area for a while. Also, because property doesn't generally turn around nearly as quickly here as it does in the US, if you make a mistake in your first purchase or change your mind about the location, you may find yourselves "stuck" in a place or a house you're not happy with for many months while trying to re-sell. Otherwise, no particular "tax advantages" to renting before you buy.


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