Donations to good causes

Giving to good causes can lighten French tax residents’ tax bills because they can give rise to tax reductions. A tax reduction is an amount taken off your final tax bill. A tax credit is a similar mechanism, with the main difference being that a reduction can only reduce tax actually payable, whereas with a credit, you can get a balancing payment from the tax office if you do not have enough tax payable to fully benefit.

Up to 75% of the amount donated to good causes in 2025 is available as a tax reduction. Causes do not have to be in France, but you do need to pick the right cause. Essentially, it concerns bodies deemed to be d’intérêt général (of general interest).

To help with cash-flow in accordance with the PAS system, the state paid out 60% instalments in January 2026, based on the reductions people had relating to gifts to good causes in 2024, as declared last year. It was presumed they had also donated in 2025. 

The payment was combined with money owed due to various other tax credits and reductions, such as those for employing a cleaner, nanny, or other help at your home. 

The remainder will be regularised in September this year with an extra payment or money off tax, if applicable. In the case of someone who made a donation in 2024 but not in 2025, they may have to reimburse some money in September 2026.

This system continues, so it is worth noting that there will be the possibility of going into your personal space on impots.gouv.fr towards the end of this year and modifying the amount of payment due to you in January 2027 if it is likely to be large, bearing in mind any actual gifts you made to good causes – or other eligible expenses that you incurred – in 2026.

A good cause may be suitable for these purposes if it is non-profit-making, socially useful, run without self-interest, and not for a highly restricted circle of people. Qualifying bodies can include cultural and sporting clubs as well as organisations with scientific, educational, or humanitarian goals. Ones promoting gender equality were added as eligible in 2024. If in doubt, check websites or ask the organisation directly.

The reduction also concerns organisations officially designated association d’utilité publique (useful to the general public), which refers to some 2,000 often large charities with humanitarian activities and minimum levels of membership and funds (for example, the food bank charity Les Restaurants du Coeur or Red Cross, La Croix Rouge Française). There is a similar category of fondations d’utilité publique (which do not offer memberships and are set up with a founding gift), which includes fondation pour le Logement des défavorisés (formerly fondation Abbé Pierre) for the homeless or 30 Millions d’Amis for pets.

In France, eligible associations include some linked to the English-speaking community. For example, Cancer Support France meets criteria for general interest, being not-for-profit, meeting a societal need, and not catering for a highly restricted group, as do French branches of the Royal British Legion. 

You can also give to charities in other EU/EEA countries if they have been accredited by the Service juridique et de fiscalité of the DGFiP (central French tax authorities) or you can justify, if asked, that they meet the same conditions as those operating in France. 

Over 30 are listed as ‘accredited’, including Missing Children Europe (a Belgian charity for missing or sexually exploited minors), an art museum in Bilbao, the Dutch Red Cross, and a group of ‘Electricians without borders’ from Italy (see:tinyurl.com/assos-eu). British charities do not qualify for this post-Brexit.

Another way to obtain a tax credit while benefiting charities abroad, and to ensure you receive a proper receipt in French for the gift, is to give via the Transnational Giving Europe (TGE) network, for which the French contact is the Fondation de France. Each participating country has a national contact organisation that vets new charities wishing to participate. A person in France then gives a gift via the Fondation de France, which passes it on – however, as the gift was technically to a French foundation, it qualifies, even if a British charity is the ultimate beneficiary.

Further information on eligibility of any gifts is available on the service public website.

A standard 66% of charitable donations is available as a reduction, but if a group’s main activity involves helping people in difficulty, such as giving food, health care, shelter, or rehousing domestic violence victims, then 75% is deductible up to €1,000 of donated money (maximum €750 reduction) and then 66% for amounts above that. 

You can also benefit from the 75% (then 66% after €1,000) rate for gifts to the Fondation du patrimoine to help preserve old churches in villages and small towns (from 15 February, 2025 onwards, this also includes gifts to certain other fondations d’utilité publique also involved in preserving religious heritage).

Precise rules on rates and ceilings sometimes vary from year to year, and in some cases the rules change in the course of a year. For example, from February 15, 2025 the 75% rate is available for donations to domestic violence charities. In addition, for gifts made from October 14, 2025 onwards, the total annual ceiling to benefit from the 75% rate was raised to €2,000 with regard to gifts to charities helping those in difficulty + those helping domestic violence victims (the two categories combined, not two separate €2,000 ceilings). 

See also chapter 10, ‘Tax credits and reductions’ for more on declaring these gifts.

Check with the charity if in doubt as to its status, as this affects how you declare the income.

Example: Without any reduction, your overall income results in a tax bill of €1,500. In June 2025, you gave €1,500 to an eligible charity that helps homeless people in France.

• 75% × €1,000 = €750

• 66% × €500 = €330

• Total reduction = €1,080

• Actual tax to pay = €1,500 − €1,080 = €420

Charities in France will give a receipt – in the case of regular donations, they often supply one for the year – which explains which level of deduction you can make. If donating in the EU/EEA, use the above definitions as a rule of thumb.

If you volunteer for an eligible charity, it is possible to ‘donate’ your expenses to the organisation by renouncing them in writing to the charity. You should retain slips from charities for your records for three years in case of a tax office check.

Your total amount of gifts giving rise to reductions may not be more than 20% of your net taxable income. If you exceed this, the excess may be carried forward and deducted from future tax bills for up to five years. Gifts to good causes are not included in the overall €10,000 ceiling on niches fiscales (tax breaks; keep reading the next sections in this chapter to find out more).

The carrying forward does not happen automatically – look on the avis d'impôt for the amount to be carried over (reporté), which needs to be placed in the appropriate box in the tax reductions section of the main declaration (the box names start with 7X) under the heading of report de l’excédent de dons des années antérieures. On the paper forms, these are declared on the 2042 RICI. The line for declaring these is just after the box for declaring gifts to bodies elsewhere in the EU/EEA.

The ordinary boxes for declaring gifts in 2025 can be found in the 2042, page 4. Simply insert the amount of qualifying donations in the appropriate box. 

Some organisations accept donations by text. Participating charities can provide a five-figure number for sending text gifts to them as well as information on what to write in the text. For example, at Restos du Coeur, texting DON to 92424 results in an automatic €5 gift, and the same system exists at Fondation des Hôpitaux, where the number to use is 92111 to give a €10 gift. The amount is taken via your mobile phone bill.