The paper is devoted to the issue of real estate taxation in the Russian Federation and France. The practice of calculating and controlling payment of taxes on real estate has its own characteristics in European countries: it is more strongly controlled, has a multistage differentiated structure and high rates for large volumes of real estate. It should be emphasised that the real estate tax in the European Union is a national tax provided for by the legislative systems of the states. At the same time, the high level of the legal regulation structure of the taxation system in France hinders the development of an informal shadow business sector to avoid tax evasion.