We only have joint French tax number – should we get personal ones?

Reader Question: We moved to France this year and already have a fiscal number due to having paid French property taxes in the past. However, our house is jointly owned and we only seem to have one numéro fiscal (French tax number).

Would it be useful for us to have one each and our own personal accounts on the tax website? Also, our first tax return will be next year, but would there be advantages to paying instalments in advance? J.R.

While you can have your own accounts on the tax authority’s website, taxation in France is joint so you will always see the same information on each of your individual accounts.

This said, operations such as monthly on-account tax payments are modifiable individually. When you submit your income tax declaration for this year’s income in 2023, the tax assessment will automatically be issued with two numbers, one for each of you.

If you do not yet have access to your personal space, you can obtain it using the fiscal number.

If you wish to apply for another fiscal number in the meantime, you need to send a copy of your carte de séjour, or passport, to your local tax office (Centre des finances publiques) with a request for it. You can find its details on your taxe foncière statement.

As to any advantages in paying tax earlier than necessary, I would suggest not but the choice is up to you if you would prefer to spread out the payment.

You can start making payments based on expected income for the year via Gérer mon prélèvement à la source in your personal space.

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