Buying in Crete as a French citizen: the 2022 tax treaty, the IFI, form 3916 and French inheritance tax
A French passport makes buying and living in Crete simple; the French tax return is what follows the house. Since 2024 a new France–Greece treaty decides how Greek rent and gains are treated in France, the IFI reaches a Crete home once your property passes €1.3 million, the Greek bank account goes on form 3916, and French inheritance tax still claims the house.
A French passport makes the Greek side of a Crete purchase almost dull: an EU citizen needs no permit to buy here or to live here. The French side is where the work is, because a French resident’s tax return follows the house. Since 1 January 2024 a new France–Greece treaty has changed how Greek rent and gains are treated in France; the IFI counts the house; the Greek account goes on form 3916; and French inheritance tax still reaches it. In short: none of this is a reason not to buy, but cost the eventual sale before the purchase, because while Greece’s capital-gains tax is suspended, France taxes the whole gain. Rules and figures as they stood in October 2026, checked against the treaty text, impots.gouv.fr, service-public.gouv.fr, the French notaries and the Greek tax authority.
I am not a tax adviser or a lawyer, and this is not tax or legal advice. French and Greek rules interact in ways that depend on your residence, your family and your other income, so take advice from someone who files French returns with foreign property every year.
A French owner in Crete in one minute. As an EU citizen you buy freely with a Greek AFM and bank account. The France–Greece convention of 11 May 2022, in force since 30 December 2023, applies from 2024 income: Greek rent is taxed in Greece and earns a French credit equal to the French tax on it — no French income tax, but a higher rate on your other income. A gain earns credit only for Greek tax actually paid, and Greece’s 15% tax is suspended to 31 December 2026, so France taxes the gain. The IFI counts the house above €1.3 million of net property, at 0.5–1.5%. Every Greek account goes on form 3916, or €1,500 for each one missing. French inheritance tax reaches the house if you die domiciled in France, and there is no France–Greece inheritance treaty.
Buying and living in Crete as an EU citizen
The Greek paperwork is the same as for any buyer: a Greek tax number and bank account. If you live here for more than three months you register your residence, as moving to Crete as an EU citizen explains. The 15% transfer tax reported for some buyers from 1 July 2027 is not law; the latest Greek reporting frames it by tax residence outside the EU and EEA rather than by nationality, so a French citizen living in, say, Switzerland should read the final text.
The 2022 treaty: rent is taxed in Greece and neutralised in France
The 1963 convention exempted Greek rent in France under the effective-rate rule. Its successor, signed in Athens on 11 May 2022 and in force since 30 December 2023, applies from 1 January 2024 and works through a credit. Article 6 lets Greece tax rent from a Crete property, on a Greek return; the letting rules are in renting out your Crete home. In France, article 21 includes the rent in your income and gives a tax credit equal to the French tax on it: the French tax on the rent is cancelled, but the rent still pushes up the rate on your other income. impots.gouv.fr’s 2026 guide to foreign income puts such income on form 2047 and in the property lines of the return, with the amount repeated in box 4BL or 4BK for the credit.
The social levies: what impots.gouv.fr says
French social levies on property income are 17.2% in 2026 — 9.2% CSG, 0.5% CRDS and a 7.5% solidarity levy, according to service-public.gouv.fr. On income that carries a credit equal to the French tax, impots.gouv.fr’s 2026 guide says “French tax” means income tax plus the social levies; on that reading, the credit cancels the 17.2% on Greek rent as well. The treaty’s own list of the French taxes it covers names the CSG and the CRDS but not the solidarity levy, so confirm how your return treats that 7.5% before relying on a zero. A French resident insured in another EEA country or Switzerland is outside the CSG and CRDS altogether and owes only the 7.5% levy.
Selling: the Greek suspension does not help a French resident
Gains work differently. Article 13 lets Greece tax the gain, but article 21 gives French residents a credit only for the Greek tax actually paid, capped at the French tax. Greece’s 15% tax on individuals’ property gains is suspended to 31 December 2026, and a Finance Ministry bill reported on 24 October 2026 would extend that to the end of 2027. A French resident who sells meanwhile pays no Greek tax and has nothing to credit, so France taxes the gain as it would a French one: 19% income tax plus 17.2% social levies, with relief from the sixth year of ownership that clears the income tax after 22 years and the levies after 30. The sale is declared on form 2048-IMM within the month after it, according to impots.gouv.fr; the Greek side is in selling a property in Crete.
The IFI and form 3916: the house and the account on your French return
The IFI, France’s tax on real-estate wealth, is due when a household’s net taxable property exceeds €1.3 million on 1 January. A French resident counts property in France and abroad, so the Crete house is in; the 2026 rates run from 0.5% on the slice between €800,000 and €1.3 million to 1.5% above €10 million. Foreign taxes similar to the IFI can be credited on line 9RS; whether ENFIA, Greece’s annual property tax, qualifies is a question for your adviser. A non-resident counts only French property, as does, for five years, someone moving to France after five years abroad.
The Greek bank account is a separate duty: every account held abroad is declared each year by ticking box 8UU and filing form 3916, and impots.gouv.fr’s 2026 guide puts the fine at €1,500 per undeclared account, with an 80% surcharge on any tax evaded through it.
Inheritance: French tax on the whole estate, and no treaty
French gift and inheritance duties follow domicile. If you die domiciled in France, they apply to everything you own, the Crete house included; if you lived in Greece, France still taxes your French assets, and an heir who has lived in France for six of the previous ten years is taxed on what they receive, according to the French notaries. Greece taxes the house too, under the bands in inheritance, gifts and wills. Both France–Greece conventions cover income taxes only, so relief comes from French law: article 784 A of the tax code credits the Greek duty paid. With the Greek allowances for children, the Greek tax is often small, and so is the credit.
Move to Crete for good and become a Greek tax resident under the 183-day rule, and the French picture shrinks: the rent leaves your French return, the IFI counts only French property, and private and social-security pensions become taxable only in Greece, while a public-service pension stays taxable in France.
The honest downside
Two tax systems, every year: a Greek return for the rent and a French return that asks for it again, under a credit the French guidance has not entirely caught up with — its 2026 brochure still lists Greece under the 1963 treaty’s exemption method for salaries. The Greek capital-gains suspension, the headline that sells houses, is worth nothing to a French resident who sells. And inheritance means two taxes and no treaty, a conversation for your notary in France before you sign in Heraklion.
Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed estate agent, not to us; the full statement is below. Nothing in this article names a developer, a property, a notary, a tax adviser or any other professional; the French and Greek tax authorities are named as the public institutions they are.
Worth it if you want the house for itself, will keep it for years and will pay for clean filings in both countries, having costed a future sale with no Greek tax to credit. Skip it if your numbers rest on the Greek capital-gains suspension, or your property already sits near the IFI threshold and nobody has run the figures.
Can a French citizen buy property in Crete?
Yes. A French citizen buys in Crete with a Greek tax number (AFM) and a Greek bank account, like any buyer, and as an EU citizen needs no visa or permit to live there; a stay of more than three months means registering your residence. The 15% transfer tax reported for July 2027 was not law in October 2026 and, as last reported, concerns buyers tax-resident outside the EU and EEA.
How is rent from a house in Crete taxed for a French resident?
Greece taxes the rent first, on its own scale. Under the France–Greece convention of 2022, in force since 2024, France then includes the rent in your income and grants a tax credit equal to the French tax on it, so no French income tax is left on the rent but the rate on your other income rises. impots.gouv.fr's 2026 guide counts the social levies as part of that French tax, but the treaty names the CSG and CRDS and not the 7.5% solidarity levy, so confirm that line with your adviser.
Do I pay tax in France when I sell my house in Crete?
Usually, yes, while Greece's capital-gains tax is suspended. The 2022 convention gives a French resident credit only for Greek tax actually paid on the gain, and Greece's 15% tax is suspended to 31 December 2026, so France taxes the gain under its own rules: 19% income tax plus 17.2% social levies, reduced from the sixth year of ownership. The sale is declared on form 2048-IMM within a month.
Is my house in Greece subject to the IFI?
For a French tax resident, yes: the IFI counts property in France and abroad once a household's net taxable real estate exceeds €1.3 million on 1 January, at rates from 0.5% to 1.5%. A non-resident counts only French property, and someone who moves back to France after five years abroad counts only French property for five years.
Do I have to declare my Greek bank account to the French tax office?
Yes. A French tax resident declares every account held abroad each year, ticking box 8UU of the return and filing form 3916. The fine for an undeclared account is €1,500, according to impots.gouv.fr's 2026 guide, and tax evaded through such an account carries an 80% surcharge.
Is there an inheritance tax treaty between France and Greece?
No inheritance treaty links the two countries: the France–Greece conventions of 1963 and 2022 cover income taxes only, so a Crete house can be taxed on death in both. French law credits the Greek duty paid under article 784 A of the tax code, and French duties reach the whole estate of anyone who dies domiciled in France.
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