Eligibility conditions for the French impatriate regime

The four cumulative conditions

Article 155 B of the CGI reserves the regime for persons who meet all of the following conditions simultaneously:

1. Have the status of an employee or of an executive treated as an employee for tax purposes;
2. Have been called from abroad to take up a position in a company established in France — either through a foreign company (intra-group mobility) or by direct recruitment abroad;
3. Not have been tax-domiciled in France during the five calendar years preceding the year duties begin;
4. Be tax-domiciled in France, from the start of duties, within the meaning of a and b of 1 of article 4 B of the CGI (home or main place of stay in France and main professional activity in France).

Nationality is irrelevant: the regime benefits a foreign executive recruited in Singapore just as much as a French national returning from Dubai after six years of expatriation. The guidance also accepts that the employment may be for a fixed or an indefinite term (BOI-RSA-GEO-40-10-10, § 10) — the letter of the statute refers to a « limited period », but the authorities do not object to open-ended contracts, and that position is binding on them under article L. 80 A of the LPF (to that effect, CE 22 December 2020, no. 427536).

Eligible employees and executives

In addition to employees, executives treated as employees for tax purposes are eligible — those listed in 1°, 2° and 3° of b of article 80 ter of the CGI:

• in SA and SAS companies: chairman of the board of directors, chief executive officer, deputy chief executive officer, provisionally delegated director, members of the management board, as well as any director or supervisory board member entrusted with special functions;
• in SARL companies: minority or equal-share managers;
• in other companies liable to corporate income tax: executives subject to the tax regime of employees.

Holding all or part of the capital of the recruiting company, directly or indirectly, does not bar the regime, provided the person receives remuneration taxable in the salaries and wages category and the other conditions are met (DGFiP fact sheet « Le régime des impatriés », updated 8 April 2026).

Who is excluded?

• Majority managers of SARL companies (remuneration falling under art. 62 of the CGI);
• Liberal professions and the self-employed: the « non-salaried » component subject to approval was repealed as from 1 January 2017 (law 2016-1917 of 29 December 2016, art. 71);
• Employees of public administrative bodies, in particular practitioners recruited by public hospitals: the Conseil d'État has held that reserving the regime for « companies » breaches neither equality before the law nor equality before public burdens (CE, QPC, 20 May 2015, no. 388480);
• Civil servants and State employees serving abroad who are not subject to a personal tax on their entire income in the country of assignment: they remain domiciled in France by operation of article 4 B, 2 of the CGI — which also prevents them from meeting the non-residence condition (see the VIE case below).

The two recruitment channels — a structuring distinction

Channel 1: intra-group mobility

The employee is previously employed by a company established outside France and called to work in a company established in France that has links with it — capital, legal or commercial (BOI-RSA-GEO-40-10-10, § 40). The typical example: secondment or transfer from a foreign subsidiary to the group's French company. The home entity may be a permanent establishment, a branch or a liaison office; the host company may even not yet exist if the purpose of coming to France is precisely to create it (§ 120).

Channel 2: direct recruitment abroad

The employee or executive is recruited directly abroad by the company established in France. Their situation at the time of recruitment does not matter: employee of another employer, self-employed, student or not working (§ 70). The guidance of 11 August 2025 adds that persons recruited after applying from abroad for a job offer in France are treated as recruited directly abroad (§ 80) — endorsing the solution reached by the Paris administrative court of appeal (CAA Paris, 10 June 2022, no. 20PA02279).

Why the distinction still matters

Before 2019, only external recruitments opened the right to elect the 30% flat-rate valuation of the bonus. Since the 2019 Finance Act (art. 6), the election is available to intra-group mobility as well, for duties taken up on or after 16 November 2018. The distinction nevertheless retains an evidentiary stake: the qualification of the channel determines the supporting documents to gather (links between entities for intra-group; proof of recruitment from abroad for external) and remains decisive for earlier start dates. See the impatriation bonus page.

The exclusion: coming on your own initiative

Persons who came to work in France on their own initiative, or who had already established their home in France at the time of recruitment, cannot qualify for the regime (BOI-RSA-GEO-40-10-10, § 80). The employee must be able to show that their actual home was still located abroad at the time of recruitment: correspondence with the employer, offer letter, evidence of residence and travel, family situation (§ 90).

Five calendar years of non-residence: the count

The condition is assessed by full calendar years: not having been tax-domiciled in France — within the meaning of article 4 B of the CGI or, where a treaty applies, a resident of France within the treaty meaning — during the five calendar years preceding the year duties begin (BOI-RSA-GEO-40-10-10, § 140).

The start-of-duties date means the date on which performance of the employment contract or corporate office within the company located in France actually begins (§ 150) — not the signature date, nor the moving date. A shift of a few weeks can therefore gain (or lose) an entire year of the non-residence condition: it is a negotiation parameter in its own right.

Tax domicile in France from the start of duties

The benefit of the regime is reserved for years in respect of which the impatriate is domiciled in France within the meaning of a and b of 1 of article 4 B: they must have their home or main place of stay in France and carry on their main professional activity there. Someone who has only the center of their economic interests in France (art. 4 B, 1-c) does not meet the condition (BOI-RSA-GEO-40-10-10, § 210). The authorities further require that the person be a resident of France within the meaning of the applicable tax treaties (§ 220).

Compliance with the condition is assessed year by year: a year of non-compliance forfeits the benefit for that year only, without calling into question earlier or later years, and without extending the end date of the regime (§ 230).

The settling-in tolerance

To account for family and professional constraints (probation period, schooling, spouse), the authorities accept that the household may settle in France up to the end of the calendar year following that of the start of duties without losing the exemption on remuneration from the start of duties. If the household settles later, the regime is not lost: it applies from the year of actual settlement (§ 240). Caution: this tolerance does not extend to the 50% exemption on passive income and capital gains, which requires actual domicile.

The organized return: securing the timeline

For an executive based in the Emirates or Singapore preparing their return, eligibility turns on the contractual timeline:

1. Negotiate and sign from abroad: employment contract, transfer addendum or offer letter concluded while the home is still abroad, keeping proof of that precedence;
2. Include the impatriation bonus in that document, drawn up before the start of duties (see the impatriation bonus page);
3. Move afterwards, the start of duties marking the starting point of the regime and of French domicile.

Someone who first returns « for personal convenience », settles in, then signs a contract with a French employer risks exclusion from the regime: they will be regarded as having come on their own initiative or as already domiciled in France at the time of recruitment. The line can be thin — hence the value of documenting every step, or even seeking an advance ruling (LPF, art. L. 80 B).