According to Article 155, IV of the French Tax Code, LMP status is granted to taxpayers:
– Whose annual income, derived from said activity by the members of their tax household, is over € 23,000 and exceeds their tax household’s professional revenues; and
– Whose tax household has one member registered in the Trade Register as a professional landlord.
As a relieving measure, the French tax authorities granted LMP status to individuals who were not registered in the Trade Register simply due to the Register’s refusal based on the non-commercial nature of the activity, so long as those individuals could provide proof of the reason for said refusal.
In ruling n°2017-689 QPC dated February 8, 2018, the Constitutional Council overturned the obligation for registration in the Trade Register, considering that the aforementioned obligation ignored the principle of equality of public burdens.
As such, only the conditions pertaining to income derived from the activity as a furnished rental property landlord remain necessary for qualifying the activity as professional in nature, or not.