France tax return: deadlines, acronyms explained, where to go for help

Tax season is upon us in France, with frequent reminders from the tax services to declare 2022’s income before the deadlines for your department of France.

The deadline for paper declarations has already passed and for online declarations in some areas of France it is later this week on Thursday, May 25, so time is running out for some residents. The same date also applies to online declarations by non-residents with French-taxable income to declare.

Here, we look at where Connexion readers can go for help with tax declarations (including if they are non-residents), give reminders of the deadlines, and a list of some common acronyms you might see when declaring.

Where to find help

If you are having difficulty declaring your income, there are a number of places to look.

The best source of help with specific queries about your declaration is to send a private message to your tax office via your personal space on the impots.gouv.fr website. It is often possible to receive a quick response, though it cannot be guaranteed that you will hear back in time if your deadline is on Thursday night.

Otherwise, you can use the https://www.impots.gouv.fr/contacts space on the tax website to find contact details for your tax office and potentially book a slot to talk to them, either in person or on the phone. It is possible, if necessary, for tax office staff to help you with your online declaration using a screen-sharing tool.

You can also call an official income tax helpline for general tax-related queries on 0 809 401 401 (if you are currently in France).

Non-residents who derived taxable income from a French source in 2022, such as renting out your second home in the country, will also need to declare this.

If you are a non-resident and are having trouble declaring, there is a dedicated number for the Service des impôts des particuliers non-résidents (based in Noisy-le-Grand) from 09:00 to 16:00 Monday to Friday: +33 (0) 1 72 95 20 42. Monaco residents, however, should call 04 93 28 62 78 or 04 92 41 71 40 (+option3) to speak to the Service des Impôts des Particuliers Nice Est Ouest Menton.

It is important to note that this is an extremely busy time for the services, so you may not be able to book an appointment before the 2023 declaration deadline.

Many local tax offices allow for walk-ins in the morning, but you can expect long queues if you do not get there very early (one staff member lives close to one which opens its doors at 08:30 but has people queuing outside from 07:00).

Another possible port of call is a branch of France Services, local centres helping with formalities. See this link for a map of various sources of local help.

If you are having trouble logging onto your tax space, we have recently written articles about what to do if you do not have a numéro fiscal (French tax number) or if you have lost your log-in details.

The Connexion also offers a help guide covering this year’s tax declarations with further detail on how to obtain help with your declaration and explanations of how common kinds of income are declared.

Read also: Do UK or French inheritances need to be declared on French tax return?

Deadlines and penalties

The deadline to declare your tax return depends on the department you are in:

• For departments numbered 0 - 19, and for non-residents, the deadline is May 25 at 23:59

• For departments numbered 20 - 54 (and Corsica), the deadline is June 1 at 23:59

• For departments numbered 55 and above, and for overseas territories, the deadline is June 8 at 23:59

Almost everybody now has to declare their taxes online, via the impots.gouv website.

You declare by logging into your espace particulier (at the top right of the website).

For those who could file paper tax returns, the deadline to send them was May 22 at 23:59, meaning you may incur a penalty if you have not declared yet.

Penalties for late declaration are:

• A 10% increase if you declare late before receiving a formal notice of absence.

• A 20% if you receive a formal warning and then declare within 30 days of this.

• A 40% increase is levied if you declare taxes 30 days after receiving the notice.

If the authorities discover you have engaged in undeclared or illegal work activity, an 80% increase can be levied.

Late payments will also incur interest at 0.2% per month.

It is always highly advisable to declare by the deadline. However, if you later realise you made a mistake or forgot something there are opportunities to make corrections, usually without incurring penalties (though interest may still be levied).

Key acronyms

You may see a number of acronyms and initialisms when filling out the form, and here we have highlighted some of the more common ones.

ASDIR: avis de situation déclarative à l'impôt sur le revenu: An estimate of tax liability received after making an online declaration. For those with no tax to pay a copy is sent in the summer in place of a full avis d’impôt tax statement.

DGFiP: Direction générale des Finances publiques, the national body which oversees tax declarations

DINR: Direction des impôts des non résidents, the office responsible for the tax declarations of non-residents.

IR: Impôt sur le revenu (income tax)

PAS: Prélèvement à la source (at-source tax, levied on many kinds of income in France)

PFU: Prélèvement forfaitaire unique (a flat tax on investment income)

RAS: Retenus à la source (this refers to tax taken at source on certain French incomes of non-residents).

SIP: Service des impôts des particuliers (local tax office for members of the public, as opposed to businesses)

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