You own an apartment in Le Gosier, a villa in Sainte-Anne or a gîte in Deshaies, and you rent it furnished to holidaymakers: you are almost certainly affected by the LMNP status in Guadeloupe. By far the most widely used regime among the archipelago’s short-term landlords, it is flexible, inexpensive and very tax-friendly — especially once you understand the few quirks specific to the French overseas departments (DOM). Based in Guadeloupe and supporting owners across both Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre, we see the same hesitations every year: micro-BIC or the actual-cost regime? Should you have your property officially rated? And how does depreciation actually work? This guide answers it all, backed by local 2026 figures.
The LMNP status in Guadeloupe: what it really means
The LMNP status (Loueur en Meublé Non Professionnel — non-professional furnished landlord) applies as soon as you rent out a furnished property (bed, fitted kitchen, crockery, proper bedding: the list of mandatory equipment is set by decree) and you do not cross into professional status. Since Guadeloupe is a full-fledged French department, this overseas LMNP status works exactly as it does in mainland France: there is no separate “Guadeloupean LMNP,” just the national LMNP, plus a few overseas (DOM) bonuses.
You remain non-professional as long as you meet one of these two conditions:
- your household’s furnished rental income is below €23,000 per year, or
- it stays below the household’s other earned income (salaries, pensions, other BIC income).
Beyond that, you become a Professional Furnished Landlord (LMP), with different tax and social-security rules. In practice, the vast majority of owners we manage in Guadeloupe are and remain LMNP. Your rents are then taxed under the category of Industrial and Commercial Profits (BIC), rather than as property income: it is precisely this difference that opens the door to depreciation.
The first, unavoidable step: register your activity on the INPI one-stop portal to obtain a SIRET number. Without it, you cannot declare your income correctly. It’s free and takes a few days.
Micro-BIC or actual-cost regime: the choice that changes your tax bill
The whole question of furnished rental taxation in Guadeloupe comes down to this choice. Two regimes coexist.
Micro-BIC: simplicity, with a threshold trap
The DOM micro-BIC applies a flat-rate allowance to your gross income, with no bookkeeping whatsoever. You declare the total received, the tax authority deducts the allowance, and you are taxed on the rest. The 2026 ceilings and rates:
- Classified tourist accommodation (a property that has been awarded stars): a 50% allowance, up to €77,700 in annual income.
- Unclassified tourist accommodation: a 30% allowance, capped at €15,000 in income.
The difference is huge. Picture a two-bedroom flat in Le Gosier earning €22,000 in rent over the year. Unclassified, it exceeds the €15,000 cap and switches automatically to the actual-cost regime. Classified, it stays under micro-BIC and is taxed on only €11,000 (€22,000 − 50%). The tourist accommodation rating costs €150 to €250 (an inspection by an approved body), remains valid for 5 years, and pays for itself in the very first season. For a Sainte-Anne villa or a Deshaies gîte that performs well, not being rated amounts to voluntarily paying a tax penalty.
The actual-cost regime: deduct and depreciate
Under the actual-cost regime, you forget the flat-rate allowance and deduct your real expenses: loan interest, owner’s (PNO) insurance, concierge fees, property tax, pool maintenance, common-area electricity, accountant — and above all the depreciation of the property and furnishings. It means more paperwork, but it is often dramatically more advantageous once income rises.
A simple rule we give our owners: below €15,000 in income, classified micro-BIC is unbeatable for simplicity; above €30,000, the actual-cost regime almost always wins. Between the two, it’s a matter of calculation, and a specialist chartered accountant (budget €900 to €1,500/year in Guadeloupe) settles it with a single simulation.
Furnished-rental depreciation in Guadeloupe: the actual-cost regime’s tax weapon
This is the real lever, and the one that travellers and first-time owners alike misunderstand. Furnished-rental depreciation in Guadeloupe means deducting a fraction of your property’s value each year, as if it were wearing out on paper — even though it often gains value on the market.
In practice, you split it out:
- the building (excluding the land value, which cannot be depreciated) over 25 to 40 years depending on components;
- the furniture and appliances (beds, sofas, air conditioning, kitchen) over 5 to 10 years;
- major works and fit-out over their own useful life.
Let’s take a realistic local example. You buy a furnished apartment near the beach in Sainte-Anne for €280,000, of which €230,000 is the building after deducting the land, and you furnish it for €20,000. The combined annual depreciation runs around €9,000 to €11,000. If this property generates €24,000 in income and €6,000 in deductible expenses, the taxable result after depreciation can fall to zero, or even into a carry-forward loss. The upshot: for often 8 to 12 years, your rents generate almost no tax at all. Depreciation is not lost if it exceeds the profit: the unused portion carries forward with no time limit.
This is why many owners of a Saint-François villa or a credit-financed Le Gosier apartment choose the actual-cost regime: between deductible loan interest and depreciation, taxation is neutralised for as long as the loan runs.
