French income tax: an overview

Income declarations in France are completed in spring and are obligatory for the vast majority of French households. This is for the French tax authorities to calculate your liability to income tax and to certain so-called prélèvements sociaux (social charges) which help to fund France’s social security system. Income tax in France goes towards the state’s budget in many areas, such as education, health, justice, and security.

For residents, declarations concern worldwide income over the previous year. For some foreign income, depending on double tax treaties, this is not necessarily to be taxed on it but rather for it to be taken into account in order to make sure the correct tax bands are applied to the declarer’s other income (among other reasons). French declarations of French-source income must also be made by non-residents anywhere in the world who receive income arising in France, notably money from renting out a French property.

Your declaration is used to check you have been paying the right amount of tax on an ongoing basis under France’s prélèvement à la source system, and refunds or demands for more payments of tax and/or French social charges may follow as a result. The process for most people involves online declaration at the official tax site impots.gouv.fr. This process is fairly user-friendly and convenient once you get used to it.

However, for some, it is still possible to fill in and post paper forms, notably if you do not have internet access or are incapable of using the internet. First-time declarers also typically still use the paper forms. For those who declare by paper without any of the above reasons, there is theoretically a penalty, but it is very low, on a second offence only, and we have not heard of any cases of it being levied.

It is important to note that residents of France must, in a specific part of the declaration, declare the existence (including a closure) of all of their foreign bank accounts, regardless of whether they were used or not in the relevant tax year – in this case 2025 – and regardless of whether they pay interest or if interest was taken out. The tax year in France is the same as the calendar year and this spring you will be declaring income received in 2025.

Every foyer fiscal in France must make a declaration (as explained in chapter 3, section ‘who has to declare?’. There can sometimes be more than one such foyer fiscal under the same roof) and you are responsible for understanding your obligations and declaring. Online declarations will open on April 9 and if you declared on paper last year, paper forms will arrive in the post. If you are not sent the paper forms but want them, they can be printed off blank atimpots.gouv.fr.

Even if you believe your income is too low to pay tax, you must still declare. You must also still declare if you are a French resident but all of your income is from abroad. One exception to declaring is for households that benefit from the option of making an automatic declaration. This is for people with simple declarations limited to incomes already known to the French tax office, such as French salaries and pensions and without any foreign income, who may declare tacitly.

Those in this category and who did not need to make any change or addition to pre-filled information last year will receive a document, at least a month before the declaration deadline, indicating elements known to the tax office. If you accept this, you do not have to do anything else. This document is called the 2042K AUTO, or Déclaration automatique.

Deadlines for declaration submissions are from late May to early June, with online deadlines that vary depending on where you live in France. Departments with lower numbers, such as Ain (01) or Alpes-Maritimes (06), have the earliest deadlines. Regardless of whether or not you declare online, you may still want to consult the official tax website impots.gouv.fr. It has plenty of information – most in French only – as well as access to the traditional forms in PDF format. These can be useful to help you compile required information before you start an online declaration.

From your second year of declaring, you should usually log into your personal space on the site and declare online. This is also optionally possible in the first year (see chapter 4). Non-residents with tax payable in France, including local property taxes, can have accounts at impots.gouv.fr and it is highly recommended to open one.

If you are non-resident, also bear in mind how you will pay your French tax, including any instalments that may be due ‘on account’ for regular property incomes. 

If you own a property, you probably already have a French bank account, but if not, it is advisable to look to set one up. Banks will generally open a basic account for non-residents with a French address. You will need an account in France or the SEPA area, to make online payments or have direct debits taken or refunds paid out. The UK is still, post-Brexit, in the European SEPA payments area.

Quick notes and getting advice

French tax year

This follows the calendar year so it is: January 1 - December 31.

Tax office 

The general name for the central French tax authority is the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP).

The local tax service is the centre des finances publiques and within this the section dealing with the public is the Service des impôts des particuliers, or SIP and the one for businesses is the Service des impôts des entreprises (SIE).

The Centre prélèvement service (CPS) deals with setting up payment methods, and the banking and tax collection arm of the tax authority, to whom you pay tax, is the Trésor Public.

A building that houses tax offices may be referred to as the Hôtel des impôts, where several of the above might be found.

Simulator

An income tax simulator can be found at: impots.gouv.fr/portail/simulateurs. Note, however, that it is not able to accurately deal with all situations, such as having foreign incomes which give rise to a tax credit for French tax. 

Getting help

You can call the official tax helpline (in French) on 08 09 40 14 01. Press ‘0’

after the opening comments, then ‘2’ for information on managing your tax-atsource,

or ‘4’ for general enquiries.

It aims to give information but does not give financial advice and advisors may not be well-informed on matters affecting those whose tax affairs have an international element. You can also ask tax questions in your personal space of the tax website via secure messaging. 

For more tax office contact options see: impots.gouv.fr/contacts and click Particulier.

Professionals qualified (and insured) to give tax advice include specialist lawyers (avocats fiscalistes and some notaires) and accountants (experts-comptables).

Financial advisors sometimes also provide some tax guidance to clients, especially those qualified as conseillers en ingénierie patrimoniale or conseillers en gestion de patrimoine, who advise on a broad range of personal finance issues, and in particular those with an accreditation called Compétence Juridique Appropriée (CJA) which allows them to advise on legal matters. 

The most common title for a qualified financial adviser, meanwhile, is conseiller en investis sements financiers (CIF). A CIF may some times inform clients about tax issues though their main job is advising on and managing client’s investments. 

Advisers will be listed at orias.fr and must also all belong to a professional association accredited by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF).