In short. French personal services cover routine private-garden maintenance, with exclusions for garden construction, earthworks and specialist tree surgery.
Definition: French personal services, or services à la personne (SAP), include routine maintenance of private gardens and vegetable patches under petits travaux de jardinage. Eligible tasks include hedge trimming and brush clearance; exclusions cover garden construction and specialist tree surgery.
Key facts
- As of 17 October 2026, the DGE's activity list includes harvesting fruit and vegetables for personal consumption and removing waste generated by eligible gardening work.
- The Ministry of Agriculture's tree-work FAQ excludes pruning or felling that requires moving at height within a tree.
- A ministerial answer published by the Senate limits eligible orchard maintenance to the taxpayer's residence and a non-commercial orchard.
- The DGE's tax-relief guidance sets a €5,000 gardening expenditure cap and a tax-credit rate of 50% of expenses actually borne after deducting assistance.
Which maintenance tasks are included?
The Direction générale des Entreprises (DGE) defines the category in its activity list. It covers routine garden and vegetable-patch maintenance, harvesting for personal consumption and removal of the resulting waste. The same documentation excludes plant and equipment sales, garden design and construction, earthworks, and other agricultural or forestry work.
Where is the boundary for tree work?
The Ministry of Agriculture's FAQ, question 10, describes eligible tree trimming as routine maintenance performed at human height. It excludes pruning and felling that require moving at height inside the tree. The FAQ discusses direct employment through the chèque emploi service universel (CESU), a system through which a private individual can employ a worker for personal services.
The Economy Ministry's answer of 8 December 2022 further specifies that eligible trimming requires neither climbing within the tree nor specialist equipment such as ropes, harnesses or removal by truck. For an orchard, the answer requires the work to take place at the taxpayer's residence and the orchard to have no commercial activity. Owning a separate plot alone does not satisfy the residence condition.
Who supplies equipment, and what supports a tax-credit claim?
The DGE's activity list requires service companies and associations to supply equipment to their workers. In direct employment or employment through an intermediary, the private employer supplies it. Organisations seeking the scheme's tax and social advantages need a SAP declaration.
The DGE's tax guidance identifies €5,000 as the specific gardening spending limit. It requires the service organisation to send an annual tax certificate before 31 March of the following year. Private employers access their certificate through their personal online account; those without an online CESU account receive it on paper.
Related terms
- Which QualiPaysage label covers tree pruning and care?
- Which home-cleaning tasks fall within French personal services?
- What conditions belong beside a home-support company's tax-credit claim?
FAQ
Can I include garden waste removal?
The DGE's gardening category includes removing waste generated by the eligible gardening service itself.
Can I claim the gardening tax credit for specialist tree surgery?
The Economy Ministry's answer restricts eligible trimming to routine maintenance at human height, without climbing within the tree or using the specialist equipment it lists.
Is €5,000 the tax-credit payment?
The DGE's tax guidance identifies €5,000 as the gardening expenditure cap. The credit rate is 50% of eligible expenses actually borne after deducting assistance.
Sources
- DGE, "Les 26 activités de services à la personne", updated 21 September 2026
- Ministry of Agriculture, "FAQ sur le décret n°2021-1833 relatif aux règles de sécurité applicables aux travaux agricoles", 6 November 2025
- Senate, "Crédit d'impôt et travaux d'élagage", ministerial answer published 8 December 2022
- DGE, "Services à la personne : les avantages fiscaux et sociaux et les aides pour les particuliers", updated 8 October 2026
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