Money. How to get a tax deduction on your expenses?

Salaries and wages, property income, investments... when you file your tax return, you fill in (or not) different boxes corresponding to different categories of income.

These revenues are likely to show a deficit when the related expenses are higher than the earnings.

In certain cases, this deficit is deductible either from your overall income or from the income of the category in question.

The most well-known is the land deficit. It can be triggered on a property you own if and only if you use it for unfurnished rental and opt for the actual tax regime.

It is capped at €10,700 per year. Any excess can be carried forward to the following year, and so on for six years on your overall income or for ten years on your property income alone.

The attributable expenses are diverse. They concern loan interest linked to a real estate loan, insurance premiums, provisions for charges (in the context of a co-ownership), management fees, property tax, and, mainly, expenses related to works (repairs, maintenance or improvements).

Moreover, in order to help landlords carry out energy renovation work on their property, the public authorities have decided to double the annual ceiling, increasing it to €21,400.

The measure is currently in effect until December 31, 2025 and applies to work enabling thermal strainers (energy class E, F or G) to change to class A, B, C or D.

The General Tax Code also provides for a deduction of deficits from agricultural operations.

However, they are subject to a subtlety: if the total net income from other (non-agricultural) sources exceeds €127,677, the deficit can only be allowed as a deduction from profits of the same nature.

On the other hand, if it is less than €127,677, it is deductible from all income.

Self-employed workers, craftspeople, traders and liberal professions are likely to experience losses greater than their earned income.

Their deficit is then attributable to their overall income and carried forward over the following six years. However, the activity must be carried out on a professional basis, in other words with "personal, direct and continuous" participation.

If this is not the case, the activity is declared to be carried out on a non-professional basis. The deficit can then be deducted, but only on future profits derived from the same activity over six years.

Have your listed shares suffered a capital loss? This loss can be deducted, but under two conditions. The first is that the shares must have been sold: without a sale, the capital loss cannot be recognized.

The second is that the deduction can only be applied to gains of the same nature (and not to your overall income).

Good news: the capital loss can be carried forward for ten years, and even more so on the capital gains of your choice.