Family situation changes

Linked to the prélèvement à la source (PAS) at-source taxation, people who have an online account on impots.gouv.fr can notify the tax authorities of changes in their circumstances immediately via their online space under Gérer mon prélèvement à la source and Signaler changement (notify a change).

In fact this is an obligation in the case of big life changes such as getting married or having a baby. In such circumstances you should notify the tax service within 60 days (see chapter 2 for more about disclosing changes).

This allows for modifications to your PAS tax rate and may change the amount you are paying at-source or as instalments.

Death of spouse/partner

When a spouse or Pacs/civil partner dies, you should note this change via your account on impots.gouv.fr within 60 days. If appropriate, you may indicate a drop in household income so your PAS rate is recalculated.

In the calendar year after the death, you make two declarations at the usual time. If declaring online, use your own space on the website, not your partner’s.

One is for the couple up to the date of death. Online, click oui under the section that asks if you wish to notify a death (décès), give the date of death and click confirmer votre choix. 

Click Commencer la déclaration commune to do the shared declaration. On paper, at the situation du foyer fiscal, you enter the date of death under décès. It will be pre-filled if you give notification of the death.

You declare the income of all household members from January 1 up until the date of the death (or after for further income of the deceased person). The family ‘parts’ are based on January 1 or at the date of death if this would be higher.

If you are using a pre-filled form, you may need to adjust certain figures so all income shown relates only to the period in question. If appropriate, work out pro rata amounts.

If your spouse was self-employed under the réel regime, there is a separate declaration for their professional income up to the date of death (and any subsequent income received). It must be done within six months of the death.

One is for yourself. Online, a button will appear after the joint declaration is complete. On paper, select veuve ou veuf (widow/er).

Declare income for yourself and dependants from the date of the death to the end of the year. Your family quotient will be based on January 1, 2025 and does not change due to the death.

Any tax credits or deductions due for certain expenses should apply to either one or the other declaration depending on when the expenses were incurred.

If you do not have your own online space: If, following a partner’s death, you realise you do not have your own personal online space and you require one for the procedures mentioned above, it can be easily resolved. Create one with the FranceConnect service if you have the log-in details for another partner organisation, such as ameli.fr. Otherwise, you can use your numéro fiscal (unique to you) and the revenu fiscal de référence from your last tax avis statement and numéro d’accès en ligne. The latter, which changes every year, will be at the top right of the online declaration on your husband’s space, if you log into this. If not, you can ask the tax office for it.

What if we got married in 2025?

You should declare the change within 60 days via your online account.

You then make a joint declaration as a couple for the whole year in which you were married or Pacsed, unless you opt in your online declaration (or paper 2042) to make separate declarations for the whole year. This is generally available only in the year of getting married and not in future years.

If declaring jointly, you may use the online or paper declaration of either spouse to make the declaration.

What if I got divorced or separated during 2025?

There are special rules relating to declaring income for a year when you got divorced, a civil partnership/Pacs ended, you were officially separated via a judge or avocat with authorisation to live apart, or (only if you have a séparation des biens matrimonial regime) if you started to physically live apart (deliberately, due to separation, not just temporarily or due to some other life circumstances other than a relationship breakdown).

The rules also apply where one spouse has abandoned the family home, if each person has their own identifiable, separate incomes from work or investments.

You should notify the change within 60 days in your online account. You then make separate declarations for the whole year in which you separated and each partner is treated as single, with or without children, for the family quotient parts.

If children are in shared custody then the extra parts are shared equally.

The former partners will each receive a separate avis. Each must declare their part of income that was received jointly as a couple, or if this information is missing, one half of this part.

If declaring online, ensure nothing related to your ex-partner is pre-filled.

Select the relevant box towards the start of the online declaration or paper 2042 to show you are divorcé(e)/séparé(e) and enter the date of the separation.If declaring on paper, use a blank 2042.

After a separation, if you pay your ex-partner to support your children and they do not live with you, you can deduct this from your income.

If you receive such money, you must declare this as income (see chapter 10, for more on deductions).

I sold my French home in 2025 and moved abroad

France expects you to make a French income tax declaration for the period from January 1, 2025 to the date you became a permanent resident abroad. This is done in the usual way. 

If, in the remaining period of the year, you still had some French taxable income, such as from renting out a French property, it should be declared on a specific form for this: 2042-NR. 

You should declare online or send your forms to the tax office of the area where you used to live. Enter your new address in the relevant box. 

Do not wait until declaration time to inform the tax office that you have moved. 

In your online personal space, click Signaler mon changement d’adresse, under Gérer mon profil. Alternatively send a private message to the tax office, or write a letter.

Becoming a student

If you are aged over 18 but under 25 consider – and discuss with your family – if you wish to remain ‘attached’ to your parents’ tax household or prefer to make your own separate income declaration. Students aged 25 or more must declare individually.

In either case, students benefit from an exemption from tax on income from holiday or part-time work they do to finance their studies and do not need to declare it below certain levels. To benefit from this you must be aged under 26 on January 1 of the tax year in question (2025 for the 2026 spring declaration). It is possible to earn, in the year, an amount equivalent to three times the monthly Smic minimum wage before tax is due. If you earned more you must declare the part above this level.

If a student represents a foyer fiscal on their own they benefit from the usual tax bandings and may well not pay tax if their annual income is low.

However, in this case their parents lose the benefit of the extra part or half part from having the student attached to their household. The benefit of the exemption mentioned above is retained by the student, along with the right to the tax reduction for young people on work placements (see below), and the tax reduction for educational costs (frais de scolarité).

Students (of any age) on work placements linked to their studies benefit from an exemption up to the limit of the gross (before employee social charges) annual Smic. Only amounts above this have to be declared.

Means-tested (‘social’) grants for study are not taxable but some other kinds of grant are.