In the area of rental, empty as well as furnished, the theme of rent unpaids often returns as one of the main fears of owners. And if the procedures to be undertaken or the possible remedies are often at the heart of attention, the subject of the accounting treatment of the unpaid rent remains, meanwhile, very little known to the rental companies. Let us therefore take the time to look at the obligations of an owner-lessor of a furnished accommodation vis-à-vis the tax authorities in the event of unpaid rents, especially since the latter are different from one tax regime to another.
How to declare an unpaid rent a micro-BIC diet?
On furnished rental, the owners have the possibility, with the exception or amount of revenue exceeding the planned ceiling, to fall under the micro-BIC diet. Within the framework of this regime, taxation is calculated after applying a flat -rate reduction rate to the amount of the annual revenue collected by the lessor. Its simplified operation therefore allows the rental company to have, as the only declarative obligation, only to indicate the amount of annual revenue which it has generated thanks to its activity.
Consequently, if certain rents have not been paid, the tax administration tolerates that the share of unprecedented revenues is not declared, and it is therefore enough to indicate the amount of revenue actually recovered. Be careful however, because if the rents are then paid, but in a different year, they will have to be added to the rental revenues collected in the year. For example, an owner who rents a furnished property € 750 per month and knows three months of rent unpaid in 2025 will declare the sum of € 6,750 instead of € 9,000, but if he recovers them in 2026, he will then have to declare € 11,250 that year. In this situation, a good reflex perhaps, when declaring his income, to join a word explaining the situation to the tax administration in order to avoid any later question. In addition, if the rental company changes tax regime during activity, passing from the micro-BIC regime to the real regime, even though some rents have not yet been paid, this time he will have to declare them on his tax bundle, as is the case within the framework of the real tax regime.
How to declare an unpaid rent to the real regime?
Within the framework of the real regime, which makes it possible to have access to the mechanism of deduction of charges for their real cost, as well as the amortization, the declarative obligations of the rental companies are greater, with in particular the realization and the sending of a tax bundle prior to their declaration of income. It is within this tax bundle that unpaid rents must be mentioned. All of the rents that should have been perceived must therefore be declared for the year concerned, but, for the missing part, it is necessary to postpone them in a box corresponding to a deferred payment. In fiscal language, he then created a “dubious claim”. Subsequently, and according to the turn the events take, two options are possible. Either the rents are never paid, and the claim then becomes “irrevocable”, or the rents are acquitted, by the tenant, his guarantor, or by GLI insurance (guarantee of unpaid rents) for example. But in this case, and as for the micro-BIC regime, if the payment period is important, they will be imposed the year when they are perceived, and not that when they should have been, which will therefore lead to a tax differential. In order to avoid any error in their treatment, it is obviously recommended to turn to a specialized accountant.
Unpaid rent: watch out for unexpected tax consequences
Beyond variations in the taxation that unpaid or, possibly deferred rents can create, other more unexpected consequences can take place, as a change in tax status. Indeed, furnished rental companies are part of the status of LMNP (non -professional furnished rental company) or LMP (professional furnished rental company) depending on the recipes generated by furnished rental and their other activity income. Thus, a professional rental company who accuses significant revenue losses could run the risk of switching to the status of LMNP, and, conversely, an LMNP which would recover significant sums in a delayed manner could suddenly fulfill the conditions to be LMP. As a reminder, LMNPs are considered to be the rental companies which generate less than € 23,000 in annual furnished rental revenues (all types of rental combined and for all goods), or which, even if they generate an amount of revenues above € 23,000, have activity income higher than their revenue. If these conditions are not met, in other words that the lessor generates revenues which are both greater than € 23,000 and its other activity income, the LMP status applies. However, tax status has an impact on many factors, such as the treatment of added value in the event of sale, the fate of the deficit created by a surplus of deductible charges, or the payment of social security contributions or social contributions. It is therefore necessary to also be vigilant on this point.
