How your tax bill is worked out

We have looked at the main elements that go towards working out your tax bill, such as the bands and the family ‘parts’ system, but there are other adjustments that come into play.

Some come before the family quotient and bands, others come after.

Deductions for workers, pensions and unemployed

Before the parts are applied there is a 10% deduction on salaries – this is for related expenses you are assumed to have had.

This does not apply if you opt to declare ‘real’ professional expenses and can prove them with receipts.

The 10% deduction is extended to pensions, which are considered a replacement for a salary.

It also applies to unemployment benefits or compensation for being off work due to illness as these are seen as equivalent income.

You do not need to request this déduction forfaitaire de 10%; it is applied by the tax office automatically.

There are maximum and minimum amounts.

It cannot usually be less than €509 for salaries and related income (unless the declared income is itself less than this, in which case the deduction reduces the income to zero) or more than €14,556 per employed person; or €454 per pensioner and €4,439 per household.

How tax office works out these levels: 

As mentioned above the set 10% expenses deduction is subject to maximum and minimum amounts. 

The official tax information publication Bulletin Officiel des Finances Publiques - Impôts states that the levels of these deductions are updated annually in proportion with the rise in the ceiling of the first income tax band. It means that once the bands are set as part of the finance law for the year in question (usually in December of the year before) they can be worked out. 

The ceiling of the first band was €11,498 for 2024 income and is €11,600 for 2025 income. If we divide 2025’s figure by 2024’s this shows the level has been multiplied by 1.009.

The ceilings and minimums were raised in this proportion, for example, a minimum amount of €454 per pensioner for 2025 income, up from €450 for 2024 income declared last year.

Deductions for over-65s and disabled people

The tax office may also make a deduction for people who were aged over 65 on December 31, 2025 or who hold a disabled person’s card.

Disabled people need to be on a work accident pension or have a card for a disability rated 80% or more.

This over-65s/disabled people’s allowance is called abattement spécial accordé aux personnes âgées et aux invalides.

If the person’s overall income in 2025, excluding certain kinds such as interest from regulated French tax-free bank accounts, was no more than €17,670, they are entitled to have a deduction of €2,822 from their taxable income.

If the income is between €17,670 and €28,430 then the deduction is €1,411.

This should happen automatically, as the authorities work on your declaration.

If the income is above this no deduction is available.

The figures above are doubled for couples where both people qualify but in this case the total tax household income is considered.

The décote

The government says the bands and rates are calculated so that if you rise into a higher band you always end up with more in your pocket afterwards than if you had not earned the extra to cause this effect.

This is because it is only the top part of the income that is taxed under the higher band.

If your income rises only moderately into a higher band the overall effect is to just slightly increase the averaged-out rate applicable to your income taken as a whole.

Those with low tax liabilities, falling below certain thresholds, can benefit from a mechanism called the décote.

This calculation, which is done by the tax authorities, results in an extra reduction in tax for couples whose tax bill after application of the parts (but before any reductions and credits) is below €3,277 (or €1,982 for single people).

The amount of the reduction is equal to the difference between:

• Couples: €1,483 and 45.25% of your tax

• Single people: €897 and 45.25% of your tax

There are then various possible reductions (or credits) applied to the actual tax payable.

Note that a tax reduction is only applied to reduce your actual tax bill, whereas in the case of a credit, any excess from which you cannot benefit because your tax payable is too low, is paid to you by the tax office as a transfer.

A tax credit for certain foreign incomes is applied.

Finally, there is a seuil de mise en recouvrement (tax recovery threshold) that is a tax level below which tax offices do not collect the tax.

This is €61 for 2025 income (unchanged from 2024).

It is worth noting, also, that if you have some kind of ‘exceptional’ income in a given year — such as a windfall that causes you to have much more overall income than the average of the previous year — it may be eligible for le système du quotient (quotient system), a special measure limiting the usual effect of the bands (see the final section of chapter 7).

• A simulator is available for estimating your tax (for French tax residents only). See the simulateur de l’impôt sur le revenu at: impots.gouv.fr/simulateurs.

It comes in two versions depending on whether your tax affairs are very simple, or not (the latter applies, for example, if you have BIC income from furnished rental). However, it is not able to correctly account for certain kinds of income such as foreign incomes that qualify for a tax credit for the French tax.