Form 2044: declaring French rental income line by line

If you let a home unfurnished in France under the régime réel (actual-expenses regime), you detail the year's rent and expenses on form 2044, then carry its result to your main income tax return, form 2042: box 4BA for a profit, boxes 4BC and 4BB for a deficit, box 4BD for deficits from past years. This guide walks through the form section by section, with a full example.

Form 2044 covers revenus fonciers, the income from unfurnished lettings. Furnished lettings are declared elsewhere: see our guide LMNP: micro-BIC or actual.

The line numbers below are those of the latest form 2044 published, for 2025 income, filed in 2026 (form 2044 and its instructions, both in French). The return for 2026 income opens in April 2027 (service-public.gouv.fr): we will update this guide when the 2027 form comes out.

Do you need a form 2044?#

Three situations require one (form 2044 instructions):

• your tax household's gross rent from unfurnished lettings, all properties together and excluding service charges, exceeds €15,000 in the year;
• you are excluded from micro-foncier, for instance because you own a listed historic building or claim a specific deduction;
• you could use micro-foncier but choose the réel regime instead: simply filing a 2044 is the option, and it binds you for three years.

Under micro-foncier, there is no 2044: you enter your total rent in box 4BE of form 2042 and the tax office deducts a flat 30% for expenses. Our guide Micro-foncier or actual expenses explains the choice, and our free micro-foncier or réel simulator runs it on your own figures.

Some properties go on a separate 2044 spéciale instead: homes under an older depreciation scheme (Périssol, Besson neuf, Robien, Borloo neuf), the Scellier intermédiaire or ZRR deductions, listed historic buildings and property held in bare ownership (nue-propriété). This guide does not cover them.

Two rules before you start#

You declare what was paid during the year. Rent counts in the year you receive it, including arrears and rent paid in advance. Expenses count in the year you pay them, even for earlier work (instructions, § 211 and 220).

The tenant's charges stay out of the calculation. Recoverable charges you pay on the tenant's behalf (shared heating, lift maintenance, the household waste tax) are not deductible, and their reimbursement is not taxable rent. You enter them nowhere, except those the tenant never repaid when leaving (line 225).

Keep invoices, property tax notices and the managing agent's statements: the tax office may ask for them.

Page 1: you, your company shares, your signature#

• Section 100: your name and personal address. All your rental income is declared at your home address, wherever the properties are.
• Section 110: only if you hold shares in a property company not subject to corporate tax (an SCI or an SCPI). Each line takes the share of the result the company allocates to you, from the annual statement it sends: gross income (line 111), expenses (112), loan interest (113), profit or deficit (114). If you borrowed personally to buy the shares, your interest is added to the company's.
• Section 120: date and signature.

If you only hold company shares, with no property let directly, you do not file a 2044: the income goes in box 4BA of form 2042. You cannot use micro-foncier either.

Page 2: your properties (section 200)#

One column per property, "Immeuble 1" to "Immeuble 8": the address, the purchase date, the tenant's name (and each successive tenant's if it changed during the year). A building with several homes under the same tax rules can take a single column, with the number of units.

The "Borloo ancien" and "Cosse" boxes are ticked only when the home is under an agreement with the national housing agency (Anah) that gives a specific deduction.

Page 3: receipts (lines 211 to 215)#

Line	What it holds
211	Rent received in the year, excluding charges: current rent, arrears, rent paid in advance
212	Expenses that fall on you but that the lease puts on the tenant (a major repair, the property tax)
213	Other receipts: payouts from rent-guarantee insurance, Anah grants, insurance payouts for repairs, renting a roof for an antenna
214	The rental value of premises you keep for your own use, other than your own home
215	Total of lines 211 to 214, per property, then box E for all of them

The security deposit is not rent when you receive it. It becomes a receipt, on line 213, when you keep it to cover unpaid rent or repairs after the tenant leaves (instructions, § 213). Our security deposit guide covers its return at move-out.

Line 212 is usually left blank: the tax office accepts that you leave out an expense there if you did not deduct it either.

Page 3: expenses (lines 221 to 240)#

This is the part that brings your taxable income down. An expense is deductible only if it relates to a let property and was paid during the year (article 31 of the tax code, in French).

Line	Expense	Note
221	Administration and management	Letting or management agency, caretaker, lawyer or bailiff fees in a dispute with the tenant, landlords' association membership. Actual amount
222	Other management costs	A flat €20 per unit, covering post, phone and travel. Nothing more, even if you spent more
223	Insurance premiums	Landlord's insurance (propriétaire non occupant), rent-guarantee insurance. Not your loan insurance
224	Repairs, maintenance, improvements	Boiler, roof, façade, repainting before reletting, compulsory surveys. Not extensions or new construction
224 bis	Energy renovation, if you opt in	Work that moves a home from energy class E, F or G to A, B, C or D, to raise the deficit ceiling
225	Recoverable charges never recovered	What the tenant had not repaid by 31 December of the year they left
226	Eviction compensation, rehousing costs	When paid to relet on better terms, not to take the home back or sell it
227	The year's property tax (taxe foncière)	Without the household waste tax, but including the notice's management fees
228	Specific deductions	Anah agreements (Borloo ancien, Cosse): a percentage of the rent
229	Service-charge advances paid in the year	The total of the advances paid to the building's managing agent (syndic)
230	Adjustment of last year's advances	Subtracted: the recoverable or non-deductible share of the advances deducted the year before
240	Total	Lines 221 to 229, minus line 230, then box F

Source: form 2044 instructions.

Works: deductible or not#

Repairs and maintenance keep the home in working order: replacing a boiler, redoing a roof, treating for termites. Improvements add new comfort without touching the structure: installing central heating, a shower room, a kitchen. Both go on line 224.

Construction, reconstruction or extension work is not deductible, nor is work inseparable from it: adding a room or a storey, altering the structure. Nor is the time you spend repairing or maintaining the property yourself (instructions, § 224).

Every expense on line 224 is detailed on page 4, section 400: the property, the nature of the work, the contractor, the payment date and amount.

Flats in a co-owned building: lines 229 and 230#

If your flat is in a co-owned building (copropriété), you deduct on line 229 all the advances paid to the managing agent in the year, without sorting them. The sorting happens the following year, on line 230, once the general meeting has approved the accounts: you subtract the share that was not deductible (an extension), the share recoverable from the tenant (heating, cleaning) and any surplus of advances.

The instructions' example: €1,200 of advances deducted last year; the accounts allocate €800 to deductible expenses, €200 to non-deductible ones and €180 to recoverable charges. The surplus is 1,200 − 800 − 200 − 180 = €20. Line 230 receives 200 + 180 + 20 = €400. A two-year example, ending the letting and the other special cases are in Deductible co-ownership charges: the 2044 lines.

Page 3: interest and result (lines 250 to 263)#

Line 250: the interest paid in the year on the loan used to buy, build, repair or improve the property, plus borrowing costs: arrangement fees, mortgage registration fees, guarantee-company fees, and the premiums of the insurance that guarantees repayment of the loan. Each loan is detailed on page 4, section 410: the lender, the loan date, the interest paid.

Line 261: receipts minus expenses minus interest (line 215 − line 240 − line 250), property by property.

Line 262: only if you break the commitments of an Anah deduction; the deduction is then added back.

Line 263: each property's profit or deficit, and their total in box I.

Page 4: result and deficit (lines 420 to 442)#

Line 420: the total of your company shares (box D) and your properties (box I). If it is a profit, carry it to box 4BA of form 2042 and go to section 450.

If it is a deficit, lines 430 to 442 split it by origin (instructions, § 435 to 442):

• line 431: total receipts; line 432: total interest; line 433: total other expenses; line 434: the energy-renovation share (line 224 bis);
• if interest does not exceed receipts (line 432 lower than or equal to line 431), the deficit comes from other expenses: line 441 takes up to €10,700, carried to box 4BC (deducted from your other income: salaries, pensions); the rest goes on line 442, box 4BB;
• if interest exceeds receipts, the part due to interest is never deducted from other income: line 436 takes the other expenses up to €10,700, box 4BC; line 439 adds the rest and the excess interest, box 4BB.

The €10,700 ceiling becomes €15,300 if a "Cosse" home is in deficit, and is raised by the amount on line 434, up to €21,400 (article 156 of the tax code). Box 4BB is carried forward against your rental income for the next ten years.

Page 4: deficits from past years (section 450)#

The table lists, year by year, the deficits you have not yet been able to use. Column A copies column C of last year's 2044. If you declare a profit this year, column B offsets it against the oldest deficits first; column C shows what is left. The total of column A, line 451, goes in box 4BD.

A deficit still unused after ten years is lost: the 2015 one lapsed on 31 December 2025.

Full example#

A flat let unfurnished at €1,300 a month excluding charges, bought with a loan. In 2026, the landlord receives 12 months' rent, €15,600: above €15,000, the réel regime applies automatically.

Line	Item	Amount
211	Rent received	€15,600
215	Total receipts	€15,600
221	Agency fee for reletting	€800
222	Flat fee, one unit	€20
223	Landlord's and rent-guarantee insurance	€550
224	New boiler	€2,400
227	Property tax, without the waste tax	€1,450
229	Service-charge advances paid in 2026	€2,400
230	Adjustment of the 2025 advances	−€950
240	Total expenses	€6,670
250	Loan interest and loan insurance	€3,340
261	15,600 − 6,670 − 3,340	€5,590

The €5,590 profit goes on line 420, then box 4BA. Had the landlord a €1,200 deficit left from an earlier year, it would go in section 450 (box 4BD): column B would offset it against this profit, and the taxed rental income would be €4,390.

Same flat, a year of major works. With €25,000 of works on line 224 instead of €2,400, expenses rise to €29,270. The result becomes 15,600 − 29,270 − 3,340 = −€17,010. Interest (€3,340) does not exceed receipts (€15,600): the deficit comes from other expenses. Line 441 takes €10,700, box 4BC, deducted from 2026 total income; line 442 takes the remaining €6,310, box 4BB, carried forward against the next ten years' rental income. The landlord must keep the flat let until 31 December 2029.

These figures are taxable income. The tax due depends on your tax rate and on social charges (prélèvements sociaux).

What changes for 2026 income#

The 2026 finance act created a depreciation deduction for homes let unfurnished, in a block of flats, bought between 21 February 2026 and 31 December 2028: new (3.5% a year for a mid-market rent) or older with works (3%), on 80% of the price, capped at €8,000 a year per household, more for social lettings (article 31, I, 1°, i and j of the tax code). A household that claims it is excluded from micro-foncier (article 32 of the tax code).

The micro-foncier threshold (€15,000) and the deficit ceilings (€10,700, €21,400 with energy renovation until 2027) are those described above, in the texts in force on 9 November 2026. The tax office has not yet said which form will carry the new depreciation: we will add it when the 2027 form 2044 comes out.

The most common mistakes#

• Deducting the household waste tax along with the property tax: it is recovered from the tenant, not deductible.
• Putting loan insurance on line 223: it belongs on line 250, with the interest.
• Adding actual postage or phone costs to the €20 flat fee: the flat fee covers them all.
• Forgetting line 230 the year after paying service-charge advances.
• Declaring the security deposit as rent when the tenant moves in, or forgetting it when you keep it.

Sources#

• Form 2044 for 2025 income, impots.gouv.fr (French)
• Form 2044 instructions for 2025 income, impots.gouv.fr (French)
• Article 31 of the French tax code (deductible expenses, depreciation), Légifrance
• Article 32 of the French tax code (micro-foncier), Légifrance
• Article 156 of the French tax code (rental deficit), Légifrance
• Income tax return, 2027 campaign, service-public.gouv.fr (French)

Last checked on 9 November 2026