5 legal levers a French wealth advisor uses to lower your income tax

Matteo Dubourg walks through the everyday tax-optimization tools most French residents can use — PER, PEE, LMNP, life insurance, and holding structures — in plain language.

If you live and pay tax in France, you already know the feeling: April comes around, you file your declaration, and you wonder if you're leaving money on the table. In most cases, you are — not because you did anything wrong, but because the French tax code is dense and the biggest levers only kick in when someone shows them to you.

Matteo Dubourg spends his days doing exactly that at MD Patrimoine in Toulouse. Here are five of the levers he uses most often with everyday clients — the kind you can start using this year with a single conversation.

1. Le PER — Plan d'Épargne Retraite

The PER is one of the simplest wins in French tax planning. You put money aside for retirement, and the amount you contribute (up to a personal ceiling) comes straight off your taxable income. If you're in the 30 % or 41 % bracket, that's an immediate 30-41 % 'discount' on every euro you save.

Matteo helps clients pick the right PER (there are dozens on the market), set the right monthly contribution, and choose investments inside the plan that actually grow — because a badly invested PER is just a slow money-market account with tax paperwork.

2. Le PEE / PERCO — if your employer has one

If your employer offers a PEE (Plan d'Épargne Entreprise) or PERCO, you might have thousands of euros of abondement (matching contribution) available every year — and most people either forget it or leave it in the default fund. Matteo checks your bulletin, calculates how much matching you're leaving unclaimed, and helps you get that money to work.

3. LMNP — the meublé non professionnel

If you own or are thinking of buying a small rental property, LMNP is one of the most powerful tax status combos in France. Furnished rental income is taxed as BIC — you can amortize the property against your rents, which often means your rental cashflow is tax-free for 10-15 years.

Matteo often refers clients to Makasa for the actual furnishing (they turn the whole thing into a 15-day, fully-compliant setup) and stays in charge of the fiscal side — accounting, régime réel, and reporting.

4. L'assurance-vie — France's favourite wrapper

Life insurance in France isn't really 'insurance' — it's a flexible investment envelope with three killer perks: after 8 years, gains are lightly taxed (up to a 4 600 € annual allowance); it passes to your beneficiaries outside the normal succession rules; and you can invest in almost anything inside it — funds, ETFs, private equity, structured products.

Matteo helps clients pick a modern, low-fee contract (many old ones charge 3-4 % that eats performance) and builds an allocation that actually matches the client's goals.

5. The holding — for business owners

If you own a company, a holding structure can save real money. Dividends between your operating company and your holding come out at an effective 1.25 % tax rate (via the mère-fille regime). Sale of shares can benefit from the Pacte Dutreil for succession, and you can smooth income across years.

Setting this up correctly needs a real advisor — the SIREN filing is easy, but keeping the structure compliant (holding animatrice, real activity, correct minutes) is where mistakes get expensive. This is one of Matteo's favourite conversations.

The catch

None of these levers require you to be rich or complicated. What they require is 45 minutes to look at your actual situation, pull the two or three that matter, and set them up correctly. Matteo does that for free the first time you meet.