The EU court of Justice has ruled that France's 15.5% social charge on property sales by non-French EU residents is illegal. Some sellers may nevertheless have difficulty obtaining refunds of tax paid overpaid.

The court says that the tax violates EU law: a resident of a member state must contribute to the social security system of one member state only.

The charge was imposed in 2012 and so anyone who had paid this charge may now claim a refund from the French tax administration. There are two factors which "muddy the waters": the French government has changed the time limits for claiming tax refunds, and so another legal challenge may be necessary to obtain a refund, and the value of the Euro has dropped substantially this year.