If the property is your first fixed domicile, you are exempt from the property profit tax, provided that you have lived in France for five years before reselling the property. In most cases, however, foreign buyers purchase only holiday homes or second homes (Residences secondaires). In these cases the tax reaches its maximum amount during the first two years after the purchase of the property, 33 1/3% of the added value (selling price minus expenses, solicitors' fees, credit interest to a maximum of FF 30,000, etc.), although charges can be deducted for such things as renovation works.
In the third year the tax is reduced according to the inflation rate, and after three full years have elapsed, the tax rate digresses.
