10 steps to the basic process for calculating tax for a resident

These steps show how the French tax office calculates your income tax. 

You do not need to do this yourself. You only need to declare your income and expenses correctly.

1. Add up all income that must be declared in France.
2. Deduct 10% from salaries, pensions, and unemployment benefits (unless you choose the real expenses system).
3. Deduct other allowable expenses and losses.
4. Deduct the over-65s or disabled allowance, if applicable.
5. Divide the income by the number of “parts” (family quotient).
6. Apply the tax bands to this amount.
7. Multiply the result by the number of parts.
8. Apply the family quotient ceiling, if relevant.
9. Deduct the décote, if applicable.
10. Apply tax credits and reductions, for example: Credit for employing home help, Tax credit for certain foreign income (e.g. UK government pensions)

Very high earners also pay an income surtax: contribution exceptionnelle sur les hauts revenus. For a single person it is 3% of the revenu fiscal de référence between €250,000–€500,000 or 4% of amounts above €500,000 (the ceilings are doubled for a couple [no children or dependents]).

This is different again from the Contribution différentielle sur les hauts revenus, voted in the 2025 finance law, which states that households with these same income levels must, after income tax + contribution exceptionnelle, pay at least 20% tax on their income averaged out.

This affects 2025 income for the first time and those with incomes high enough to be affected were asked to make an assessment of their 2025 income in December 2025 and pay an advance of 95% via a new section of the personal tax space. There will be refunds if people are found to have overpaid after their full tax assessment for 2025’s income.