French Tax Authorities Target 1,000 Wealthy Taxpayers with Income Tax Reassessments

(FRANCE) — French tax data showed that 13,335 millionaires with real estate assets of at least €1.3 million paid no income tax in 2024, while the government has not launched tax reassessments specifically targeting that group as of April 2026.

The figures, provided by the Economy and Finance Ministry to Senators Claude Raynal (Socialist) and Jean-François Husson (Les Républicains, LR) of the Sénat’s Finance Committee, sharpened a debate over how France taxes wealth, property and income.

At the same time, France’s 2026 budget, promulgated under Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu after clearance by the Constitutional Council, kept its focus on broader fiscal fairness measures rather than direct reassessments of wealthy French households that paid no income tax.

Those ministry figures cover French households with real estate wealth above the threshold for the real estate wealth tax, or IFI, set at €1.3 million. The total excludes non-residents and deceased individuals.

They also show that large property holdings do not always produce taxable income. In one case cited in the data, a household held €142 million in property while paying no income tax.

Several dynamics sit behind that outcome. Some owners are non-residents taxed abroad, while others hold property in high-appreciation areas like Île de Ré, where asset values can rise without generating taxable income.

Among the 4,144 wealthiest households, each with real estate assets above €7.3 million and an average of €14 million, the non-taxation rate reaches nearly 15%.

That concentration drew attention because it places the issue among the richest property owners, not only among households near the IFI threshold. The figures also feed a wider political argument over whether France should pursue tax reassessments, alter wealth taxes or keep focusing on income-based measures.

So far, the government has chosen the latter course. The 2026 budget contains measures aimed at higher earners and asset-holding structures, but it stops short of reopening a general wealth-tax debate.

One measure extends the 20% minimum effective income tax rate for high earners from 2025 into 2026. It applies to income over €250,000 for individuals or €500,000 for couples.

That provision targets taxpayers with low effective rates on adjusted tax income. It does not create a reassessment program focused on millionaires who paid no income tax because their wealth sits in property rather than taxable earnings.

The budget also introduces a tax on non-business holding companies, which are often used by the wealthy to shield assets. The measure is expected to raise €1 billion.

That tax passed narrowly amid opposition, showing how contested France’s 2026 budget remained even after lawmakers settled on it. The government still presented it as part of a fairness drive, rather than as a return to broader wealth taxation.

Lecornu tied that approach to deficit control as well as distributional concerns. He ruled out reintroducing a general wealth tax while aiming for a 4.7% GDP deficit and answering demands for “fiscal justice”.

That balancing act shaped the final budget text. Lawmakers debated sharper wealth measures, but those proposals did not survive into the 2026 Finance Bill.

Among the rejected options was the Zucman tax, a 2% levy on wealth over €100 million. Also debated were plans to expand the IFI beyond real estate to “unproductive wealth” such as yachts and art.

Neither proposal made it into the final law. The IFI threshold therefore remains at €1.3 million.

That outcome left France with a narrower set of tools. The government preserved a tax aimed at high earners and added a levy on non-business holding companies, but it declined to widen taxation across all forms of wealth.

The distinction matters in the current debate. A household can sit on very high real estate wealth and still report no taxable income, especially where values have climbed sharply but cash income has not.

The ministry’s data illustrates that gap with unusual clarity. It shows wealthy French property owners who fall within the wealth-tax perimeter while remaining outside the income-tax net.

For critics of the current structure, that gap raises questions about whether asset-rich households contribute enough through income tax. For the government, the response has centered on targeted budget measures rather than tax reassessments or a revived general wealth tax.

Raynal and Husson pushed the issue into the open by requesting the ministry’s data. Their work on the Senate Finance Committee now points to further scrutiny.

The senators have also asked for more documents, including material on what they called “fiscal black holes”. Raynal plans a report by June 2026 ahead of talks on the 2027 budget.

That timetable means the issue is likely to remain alive even though the 2026 Finance Bill is already in force. The next stage of debate may turn on whether lawmakers treat the figures as a problem of tax design, enforcement or political choice.

For now, the adopted budget points in a different direction. It leaned on corporate surtaxes and other revenue measures, not on direct tax reassessments of millionaires who paid no income tax.

That choice followed a bruising legislative process. The 2026 budget was adopted after no-confidence votes, a sign of the pressure surrounding both spending restraint and tax policy.

In practical terms, the government’s approach separates income taxation from property wealth more sharply than some lawmakers sought. A household’s real estate fortune alone does not trigger income tax if that wealth does not translate into taxable income.

The ministry figures help explain why that matters politically. When one household can hold €142 million in property without paying income tax, the contrast becomes hard for lawmakers to ignore.

Yet the same figures also show why the question is not straightforward. The ministry data includes situations involving non-resident owners taxed abroad and owners in places like Île de Ré, where paper wealth can swell through property appreciation.

That distinction has shaped the official response. Rather than using tax reassessments to chase households identified through property values alone, the government kept to measures based on effective income-tax rates and asset-holding vehicles.

The extended 20% minimum effective income tax rate fits that logic. It targets high earners with income over €250,000 for individuals or €500,000 for couples, rather than households defined only by property wealth.

The non-business holding company tax fits it as well. By focusing on structures used to shield assets, ministers can argue they are addressing avoidance risks without reopening the larger battle over a general wealth tax.

Opponents of that narrower path tried to push further. The Zucman tax would have reached fortunes above €100 million, and proposals to broaden the IFI would have moved beyond real estate into other forms of wealth.

Those efforts failed. France’s tax system therefore enters the 2026 budget year with the IFI threshold unchanged at €1.3 million and with no dedicated reassessment campaign aimed at wealthy French households that paid no income tax.

The numbers disclosed to the Senate nonetheless leave a vivid marker in the debate. Of 13,335 millionaires with real estate assets of at least €1.3 million who paid no income tax in 2024, nearly 15% of the 4,144 wealthiest households also fell into that category.

That combination of high asset values and zero income-tax bills is likely to remain a pressure point as lawmakers prepare for the next budget round. Raynal’s planned June 2026 report could give fresh momentum to calls for changes.

Until then, the government’s position is set by the 2026 budget itself: extend the 20% minimum effective income tax rate, add a tax expected to raise €1 billion from non-business holding companies, reject broader wealth levies, and keep the focus on “fiscal justice” without reopening a general wealth tax.