A property owner renting a furnished two-room apartment in Lyon for short-term stays discovers, while preparing their 2026 tax declaration, that the micro-BIC is no longer accessible to them. Their income exceeds the new threshold of 15,000 euros imposed by the Le Meur law, and the flat-rate allowance has dropped to 30%. This kind of situation illustrates how real estate tax optimization is no longer just about choosing a scheme and letting it run.
Le Meur Law and Short-Term Rentals: The Tax Trap to Anticipate
Law No. 2024-1039 of November 19, 2024, has profoundly modified the micro-BIC regime for unclassified tourist accommodations. The income ceiling has been reduced from 77,700 euros to 15,000 euros, and the flat-rate allowance has been cut from 50% to 30% for income earned in 2025 and declared in 2026.
In practical terms, as soon as short-term rents exceed 15,000 euros, the real regime automatically applies. There is no longer a choice: it switches over. For an owner who previously declared under the micro-BIC without a second thought, this represents a radical change in accounting management.
Classified tourist accommodations and guesthouses retain a more favorable allowance (at 50%), but the ceiling has been tightened to 77,700 euros. The gap between classified and unclassified becomes a real lever: obtaining classification for one’s property can represent several thousand euros in tax savings per year. Specialized platforms like Fiscal Immo help understand these trade-offs between regimes and assess the concrete impact on rental taxation.
Real Regime in LMNP: Depreciation and Capital Gains, What Changes in 2025
The status of non-professional furnished rental under the real regime remains one of the most effective tools for reducing the taxation of rental income. Actual expenses (loan interest, work, insurance, property tax) are deductible, and the property is depreciated over several decades. The result: taxable income is often brought down to zero for years.
However, since sales made from February 15, 2025, the depreciations deducted in LMNP are reintegrated into the calculation of capital gains upon resale. Before this date, depreciation was accounted for during the holding period, and sales benefited from the capital gains regime for individuals without reintegration. This double advantage no longer exists.
What This Changes in Holding Strategy
An investor planning to resell in the medium term (less than ten years) must recalculate the benefits of the real regime. The annual tax savings on rental income remain real, but they will be partially recovered by the administration at the time of sale.
For long holdings (beyond twenty-two years regarding income tax), the total exemption from capital gains absorbs the issue. The holding period becomes a central parameter in real estate tax optimization.
- Short holding: the real regime with depreciation loses attractiveness due to reintegration into capital gains.
- Long holding: depreciation remains relevant since the capital gains exemption neutralizes reintegration.
- Unfurnished rental under the real regime: no depreciation possible, but the property deficit offers an alternative lever on work.
Property Deficit and Energy Renovation: The Underutilized Lever
In unfurnished rentals, the property deficit allows for the deduction of maintenance, repair, and improvement work from rental income. When expenses exceed rents, the deficit can be offset against global income up to a limit of 10,700 euros per year.
This ceiling is doubled to 21,400 euros per year for properties that move from an energy class E, F, or G to a class A, B, or C. Energy renovation of a thermal sieve becomes a measurable tax accelerator.
How to Articulate Work and Rental Income
Concentrate the work over one or two years to increase the deductible deficit. Returns vary on this point depending on the owner’s marginal tax bracket, but the principle remains the same: the higher the TMI, the more each euro of property deficit generates tax savings.
The choice between furnished rental (LMNP) and unfurnished rental (rental income) directly depends on this mechanism. A property requiring heavy renovation work will often be more interesting as an unfurnished rental with a property deficit than as a furnished rental with depreciation, especially if resale is considered before twenty years.
Furnished or Unfurnished, Real Regime or Micro: A Concrete Decision Grid
The right tax regime depends on three parameters: the amount of actual expenses compared to rents, the planned holding period, and the owner’s marginal tax bracket.
- Actual expenses below 30% of rents in furnished rentals (or 30% in rental income): the micro-regime remains simpler and sometimes more advantageous.
- Actual expenses above these thresholds, especially with high work or loan interest: the real regime generates significant tax savings.
- Resale project in less than ten years in LMNP: the reintegration of depreciations into capital gains reduces the overall advantage of the real regime.
- Classified thermal sieve with planned work: the property deficit doubled to 21,400 euros per year constitutes the most direct lever.
One cannot optimize their real estate taxation with a single rule. Each combination (type of rental, tax regime, holding horizon) produces a different result. Simulating before committing avoids discovering the mistake at the time of declaration.
French rental taxation has tightened on several fronts in 2024 and 2025: reintegration of LMNP depreciations, restrictions on micro-BIC for short-term rentals, new obligations related to energy performance. Adapting one’s strategy to these developments, rather than clinging to an old setup, remains the only way to truly preserve net rental income.