A footballer who claimed not to be a tax resident of France has been handed a €5 million tax bill after authorities tracked his Deliveroo account and found more than 200 meal deliveries in a single year to his French address.
Footballer Sami Nasri, who previously played for Manchester City and has also had call-ups for France, claimed that he lived in Dubai, and was therefore not liable for French income tax.
However, French tax authorities became suspicious about his residency status and launched an investigation – using airline records, they concluded that he stayed in France for between 126 and 208 days a year between 2021 and 2023.
Another key piece of evidence was the footballer’s account with meal-delivery service Deliveroo – which in 2022 delivered 212 takeaways to his Paris home.
French tax authorities have calculated his outstanding tax liabilities at €5.51 million, including €5.25 million in back income tax payments for the period between 2020 and 2022, and have frozen his bank accounts until he pays up.
The footballer’s legal team says that he intends to appeal after the penalty was upheld by the Paris tribunal.
French tax residency
France considers people to be ‘resident’ for tax purposes if they;
- Live in France
- Work in France
- Have the centre of their economic interests in France
When it comes to living in France, the government’s definition of living in France is that France is your ‘main place of residence’ and it defines this as ‘you stay there more than six months of the year’ – which would be 182 days per year.
People can therefore automatically become ‘tax resident’ if they spend more than a total of 182 days per year in France, even if they consider themselves to be resident elsewhere.
READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: The rules on tax residency in France✎
Anyone who is considered resident in France must make the annual déclaration des revenus (income tax declaration) – which this year opens on Thursday, April 9th.
Doing the declaration does not necessarily mean that you will have to pay tax in France – if all your income comes from abroad (eg a foreign pension) you will likely, depending on the tax treaty between France and your country of origin, not pay tax in France.
However even if you are not liable for tax in France, you must still make the declaration – and must declare all worldwide income.
Some non-residents also have to make the declaration, if they have income in France – for example, income from letting out a holiday home.
Find our 2026 Tax Guides HERE
Tax inspectors
French tax inspectors have wide ranging powers to track your activity if they believe you have lied about your status or your income which can, as in the Nasri case, include tracking travel data or even meal deliveries.
They can check social media and, in 2024, were given the power to go undercover and create fake social media profiles to, for example, try to rent out a property or engage a paid-for service.
They can also cross-check your other French paperwork – if, for example, you have a carte de séjour residency card which proclaims you as a resident of France but are telling the tax officials that you are non-resident, the anomaly is likely to be flagged eventually.
While Nasri’s case is a high-profile and extreme example, normal people can also face heavy fines and hefty back-taxes bills.
