You left for two years, or perhaps for twenty. You earn more than you did in France, your savings are building up, and no one has explained to you what your departure changed for your investments. Your bank told you nothing, and neither did your advisor. The result: like many expatriates, you will let your money sit in a checking account for years, or buy an apartment in France out of reflex, without gauging what that costs in tax terms. In this article, we propose to sort things out: what you can keep, what you must close, what remains open to investment from abroad, and how to allocate your savings according to the actual duration of your expatriation.
French expats: where and how to invest from abroad?
Non-resident for tax purposes: the line that changes everything
Before discussing investments, a clear definition is needed. Everything else follows naturally from it.
The law chooses your status for you
Many people think that tax residence is decided, or declared, but that is not the case.
Article 4 B of the Code général des impôts sets out four criteria, and just one is enough to make you a French tax resident: your household is in France, you stay there more than 183 days a year, you carry out your main professional activity there, or you have the center of your economic interests there.
You meet none of these criteria? You are a non-résident fiscal français. You and your spouse may also have different statuses, which happens more often than one might think.
The word "expatriate" does not exist in tax law. All that matters is the resident/non-resident pair.
France continues to tax what comes from France
Becoming a non-resident does not remove you from the scope of French taxation. It limits it to your French-source income : rent from a property located in France, real estate capital gains, certain pensions, income from an activity carried out on French territory… In short, anything connected closely or remotely to mainland France.
And on this income, a specific mechanism applies.
Article 197 A of the CGI imposes a minimum rate of 20% up to approximately 29,000 euros of net taxable income (the threshold is adjusted each year), then 30% above that. It is a floor, not a ceiling.
There is a way out: the option for the taux moyen.
If you demonstrate that the progressive scale applied to all of your worldwide income would result in a lower rate, the tax authorities will apply that rate.
In this context, a retiree living in Portugal with a small French pension almost always comes out ahead. An expatriate executive in Singapore, rarely.
Your host country decides the rest
France has signed more than 120 bilateral tax treaties, and each one allocates the right to tax between the two States, income category by income category.
The general rule is easy to state: real estate is taxed where it is located, financial income where you reside. In practice, each treaty has its own particularities, and two French expatriates, one in Dubai and the other in Berlin, are not at all in the same situation.
One piece of advice that applies to every country: read the tax treaty between France and your country of residence before making any investment decision! It is public, available on impots.gouv.fr, and it takes precedence over the domestic law of both States.
What you keep, what you close
Let's approach this from a different angle: your investments. At that level, not everything is allowed: some French savings products are reserved for tax residents. Others are not. And the dividing line is not the one you might imagine.
| Product | Retention after departure | New contributions | Opening as a non-resident |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEA | Yes, except for a move to an ETNC | Yes in principle, to be confirmed with the bank | No |
| Assurance-vie | Yes | Yes, depending on the insurer and the country | Yes, depending on the insurer and the country |
| Compte-titres ordinaire | Yes | Yes | Yes, depending on the broker |
| Livret A | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| LDDS | No, restricted to tax residents | No | No |
| LEP | No, must be closed | No | No |
| Livret jeune | No, must be closed | No | No |
| PEL and CEL | Yes | According to the plan's rules | No |
| PER | Yes | Yes, with no tax advantage in France | No |
The PEA survives your departure, but it is sometimes frozen
Since 2012, moving your tax residence outside France no longer results in the closure of the plan d'épargne en actions. You keep the plan, its tax seniority and its gains. The only exception: a move to a non-cooperative State or territory, which triggers automatic closure.
Except that the legal rule and banking practice diverge. Some institutions block payments from non-residents, others close the associated securities account, and still others do nothing.
The solution is therefore simple: call your bank before you leave. Really.
And keep in mind that once you are a non-resident, you will never again be able to open a PEA ! If you were hesitating, open it before you leave, even with 100 euros in it: the tax seniority starts at opening, not at the first significant payment.
Regulated savings accounts
The Livret A has no tax residence requirement. You can keep it, and even open one from abroad if you do not already have one.
The LDDS, the LEP and the Livret jeune, for their part, are reserved for people whose tax residence is in France, so there is no debate: they must be closed. No exit taxation applies: your capital and accrued interest are returned to you, full stop.
Assurance-vie remains open, provided you find the insurer
Unlike the PEA, French assurance-vie accepts non-residents, both for holding and for new subscriptions. In practice, everything depends on the insurer and on your country of residence: some refuse US residents, others UK residents, others apply restrictions based on country lists…
The tax advantage is real: a non-resident is exempt from social levies on gains withdrawn, whereas a French resident bears 17.2% on their contract. Over fifteen years of compounding, the gap is not trivial at all.
The contrat luxembourgeois goes further, with its tax neutrality: it creates no taxation of its own, each policyholder being taxed under the law of their country of residence.
So logically, for someone who has already moved twice and does not rule out a third country, it is the most suitable wrapper. The entry ticket, however, is high (below several hundred thousand euros it is of little interest).
The French bank account
Closing your French current account when you leave is a classic mistake. It is the account that receives your rents, pays your taxe foncière, funds your assurance-vie and receives the repayments from your investments.
Rather than shutting everything down: report your change of address to your bank. Some will move you to their non-resident department, with higher fees. That is unpleasant, certainly, but it is still better than a forced account closure discovered six months later.
The six investment areas accessible from abroad
Let's move on to the real question: where should you put your money as an expatriate?
Rental real estate in France
This is the first choice of most expatriates, and it is understandable. You know the market, you are preparing for a possible return, and you are building tangible assets using bank leverage.
Let's still look at the tax bill.
Your rental income is taxed in France at a minimum rate of 20%, to which social security contributions are added: 7.5% if you are affiliated with a social security scheme in the European Union, the EEA or Switzerland, 17.2% otherwise.
An expatriate in Dubai therefore pays at least 37.2% on net property income. On resale, the capital gain is subject to 19% tax plus social security contributions!
Add financing, which is harder to obtain from abroad, with down payments often required between 20% and 40%. And remote management, which requires a paid intermediary.
French real estate remains relevant if you are going to return. Much less so if you do not know where you will be in ten years.
SCPI, real estate without the management
Same tax logic as directly held real estate, since the distributed income is property income. On the other hand, you eliminate management, renovation work and the rental risk concentrated on a single property.
The entry ticket is much lower, a few thousand euros, sometimes less, but beware of an overlooked point: some management companies refuse non-resident subscribers, and the SCPI invested outside France are subject to yet different tax rules.
L'assurance-vie, the wrapper that compounds without friction
We come back to it, because it is probably the best compromise for an expat who wants the long term without the headache. You hold some fonds euros, and unités de compte, some ETFs, and nothing is taxed as long as you don't make a withdrawal.
Still, check two things. First, that your country of residence recognizes the contract as a capitalization wrapper, which isn't the case everywhere: the United States, for example, taxes the interest annually, and Spain sometimes reclassifies the contract as a compte-titres.
Also, don't forget to check that your clause bénéficiaire still holds up after your move.
The compte-titres and ETFs: the most portable solution
A compte-titres is not subject to any residency requirement. You can open one in France, Luxembourg, Ireland or in your host country, and keep it no matter where you move next.
A single world ETF is enough to build a diversified equity exposure without thinking about it. Dividends and capital gains from French sources received by a non-resident are exempt from French prélèvements sociaux, and since January 1, 2026 dividends paid to non-resident individuals have been subject to a withholding tax at source of 12.8%, partly recoverable depending on the applicable treaty.
It will be your country of residence that taxes most of it. It is up to you to check how.
Crowdlending, a regular income stream uncorrelated with the markets
The crowdlending consists of directly financing loans to companies, through a platform, and receiving interest as the borrower repays. On Maclear, loans are granted to European SMEs, backed by physical collateral such as equipment, vehicles or inventory, and the minimum ticket starts at 50 euros.
To understand the mechanism in detail, our beginner's guide to P2P lending covers each step.
Three features are of particular interest to an expatriate. Interest is paid every month, which builds a regular cash flow. Performance depends neither on the stock market nor on the French real estate market; it depends on borrowers' repayments, which makes it a useful building block for diversification by asset class . And the investment is not tied to any territory: you can move without selling anything.
The trade-off must be stated clearly. Capital is exposed to a risk of loss, a borrower may default, and exiting before maturity depends on a secondary market, and therefore on finding a buyer.
Our articles on the P2P lending risks and on the geographic diversification of a crowdlending portfolio detail what to watch for.
A Swiss or European platform is not automatically open to all countries of residence. Identity verification, anti-money-laundering rules and local regulations may lead to a registration being refused. US citizens, for example, cannot use Maclear.
Investments in your host country, the ones most often overlooked
The last area, and the most neglected: the one you actually live in.
A local company retirement plan, a national tax wrapper equivalent to our assurance-vie, an interest-bearing savings account in your salary currency. If you earn in dirhams, dollars or Swiss francs and invest only in euros, you are adding a currency risk on top of everything else.
A well-organized expatriate invests in both worlds. Not only in the one they left behind.
Taxation in a single table
| Type of income | Taxation in France (non-resident) | French social security contributions |
|---|---|---|
| Rent from a property in France | Minimum rate of 20%, then 30% | 7.5% if covered by an EU, EEA or Swiss scheme, otherwise 17.2% |
| French real estate capital gain | 19 % | 7.5% or 17.2% |
| Dividends from French sources | Withholding tax of 12.8% | None |
| Securities capital gains | Generally exempt | None |
| Withdrawal from a French assurance-vie | Depending on the age of the contract | None |
| Interest from a foreign platform | No French taxation | None |
This table can be read in a single sentence: France taxes your real estate heavily and largely lets your financial income go. This is exactly the opposite of the reflex of most expatriates.
Note that the absence of French tax does not mean the absence of tax. Your country of residence takes over, at its own rates. If you one day become a French tax resident again, it is the prélèvement forfaitaire unique of 31.4% that will apply to your interest and dividends.
Three situations, three allocations
The right allocation does not depend on your risk profile. It depends first on the length and destination of your expatriation.
Short expatriation, planned return
Two or three years, a contract with an end date, a return to France planned.
Here, French real estate still makes complete sense: you will buy what you will live in later, or you will rent it out in the meantime. Keep your PEA and your assurance-vie, pay into them if your bank allows it, and take advantage of the exemption from prélèvements sociaux while you are away.
Above all, keep a substantial liquid reserve, because returning is expensive, between the move, the security deposit and the months of downtime.
Long expatriation, uncertain country
Five years, maybe ten, with a third country not ruled out. This is the most common case, and the one most poorly served by conventional advice.
Your priority becomes portability : favor what follows you. Securities account, ETF, Luxembourg contract, crowdlending. Everything that can be managed from a phone, requires no travel and does not lose value because you have changed time zones.
Directly held French real estate becomes questionable here. You will pay 27.5% or 37.2% on your rental income, you will manage it remotely, and you will tie up capital that you will not be able to recover quickly if your life shifts elsewhere. The liquidity of an investment is not a minor detail when you don't know where you'll be in three years.
Permanent relocation abroad
You will not be coming back. You have bought property locally, your children attend school in the country, and your career is based there.
The issue is no longer investment, it is transmission. Your French assets become a diversification pocket and an estate planning matter. Have your assurance-vie beneficiary clause reviewed, check which inheritance law will apply, and ask yourself whether it really makes sense to keep a property in France that no one will ever live in.
Many permanent expatriates keep an apartment out of attachment, not calculation. That is a legitimate choice. It should at least be a conscious one.
In all three cases, one rule does not change: build your emergency savings first, in the currency of your day-to-day expenses, before investing anything. Three to six months of expenses, immediately available.
Three costly mistakes
Failing to notify your bank and your insurer of your departure.
A forced account closure, discovered while you are living 8,000 kilometers away, turns an administrative problem into weeks of blockage.
Checking the wrong box on your tax return.
Boxes 8SH and 8SI of the 2042 return certify your affiliation with a social security scheme in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland. Forgetting them means paying 17.2% instead of 7.5% on your rental income. A claim remains possible, within a limited time frame.
Concentrating all your assets in your host country.
Your salary, your housing, your savings and your retirement in the same country and the same currency: the day that country goes through a crisis, everything moves at once. That is precisely what geographic diversification protects against.
In summary
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Who decides my tax status? | Article 4 B of the CGI, not you |
| What must I close before leaving? | LDDS, LEP and Livret jeune |
| What can I keep? | PEA, assurance-vie, compte-titres, Livret A, PEL and CEL |
| What can I no longer open? | PEA, LDDS, LEP, Livret jeune, PER |
| What is my minimum tax in France? | 20% up to about 29,000 euros, 30% above that |
| Is my investment income taxed in France? | Very little, and without prélèvements sociaux |
| What criterion should guide my allocation? | The length and the certainty of your expatriation |
What you should remember
Your departure has not closed the doors to investing, it has opened others! You lose the ability to open a PEA and three regulated savings accounts but… You gain an exemption from prélèvements sociaux on your French-source investment incomea tax regime that is often lighter in your host country, and a savings capacity generally higher than the one you had in France.
The real trade-off is not between real estate and the stock market. It is between what ties you to a territory and what follows you. An apartment in Nantes anchors you in France for ten years. An ETF portfolio, a Luxembourg contract or a portfolio of crowdlending loans can be managed from anywhere, and liquidated without a notary.
Start with an inventory of what you already hold, product by product. Then choose based on the length of your expatriation, not on what your parents used to do.
FAQ
Can you keep your PEA when becoming a non-resident?
Yes. Since 2012, transferring your tax residence outside France no longer triggers the closure of the PEA, except when moving to a non-cooperative State or territory. You keep the plan's tax seniority. However, no account can be opened once you are a non-resident, and some banks in practice block new payments.
Can an expatriate open a French assurance-vie?
Yes, subscription is open to non-residents. It all depends on the insurer and your country of residence, with some institutions refusing US residents in particular. A non-resident also benefits from an exemption from social levies on the gains withdrawn.
Should you close your Livret A when moving abroad?
No. The Livret A is not subject to any tax residence condition; you can keep it and even open one from abroad. The LDDS, the LEP and the Livret jeune, however, are reserved for French tax residents and must be closed.
What taxes does a non-resident pay on French rental income?
A minimum rate of 20% up to about 29,000 euros of net taxable income, then 30% above that, plus social levies. The latter amount to 7.5% if you are covered by a social security scheme in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, and 17.2% in other cases.
Does a non-resident pay French social levies?
Not on investment income. Dividends, capital gains and assurance-vie withdrawals from French sources received by a non-resident escape social levies, including after their increase to 18.6% in 2026. Real estate income and capital gains, on the other hand, remain subject to them.
Can you invest in crowdlending as an expatriate?
It depends on your country of residence. A platform may refuse an investor based on local regulations and its own compliance rules, and US citizens cannot use Maclear. Identity verification and a bank account in your name are required in all cases.
Moving abroad does not prevent you from investing and building wealth; it simply requires you to build it differently. Keep in mind that the right reflex is not to replicate remotely what you would have done had you stayed, but to choose investments that accommodate your mobility. And you, would your savings follow your next move?
About Maclear
Maclear AG is a Swiss peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and crowdlending platform, headquartered in Switzerland. The company acts as a financial intermediary in the non-banking sector and is a member of PolyReg SRO, in accordance with Swiss financial regulations, particularly regarding AML, KYC, and GDPR. Maclear provides individual and qualified investors access to carefully selected business loan opportunities, with integrated risk assessment, a Provision Fund, and a Secondary Market for liquidity.
The content of this article is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, financial, tax, or legal advice. Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and crowdlending investments carry a risk of partial or total loss of capital. Past performance does not predict future results. Liquidity on a secondary market is not guaranteed. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult qualified advisors before making any financial decisions. The availability of products and services may be restricted in certain jurisdictions.