Money off tax for services in the home

Many kinds of expenses can give rise to tax credits and reductions (for the boxes for claiming, see the final sections in chapter 10). 

They allow for a credit or reduction at a set percentage of eligible expenses. Many are subject to annual ceilings (ie. there is no additional benefit if you spend beyond a certain figure).

Services in the home — whether paid for by employing someone directly using the Cesu (chèque emploi-service universel) or by paying for the services of an accredited organisation — benefit from tax credits. 

This can include, for example, a gardener, nanny, cleaner, help with IT and admin, tutoring, a sports coach, or music teacher. 

It also includes assistance for elderly and disabled people (such as preparing meals; but not including medical care), watching over an invalid, collection and delivery of ironed clothing, DIY, and, if you have dependency problems, help with pets, such as dog walking. 

For disabled people, it can include specialist support services such as a sign-language interpreter or a speech-to-text transcription professional.

If you have paid someone to check your home in your absence, water plants, collect mail, etc., this can also qualify, including for second homes, but only if you live in France.

The easiest method is paying directly a business or association that has a Services à la personne accreditation – you should ask if this is the case and if their work is eligible for the tax credit. The credit is 50% of expenses within a ceiling of €12,000 per year. 

This is increased by €1,500 per dependent child or per household member aged above 65, but usually to no more than €15,000.

If you are employing a person in the home directly for the first time, the annual baseline limit is increased to €15,000, or up to €18,000 if there are additional factors (ie. dependents). 

The ceiling rises to €20,000 where a member of the household has an invalidity card at 80% disability or more, or a ‘third category’ disability pension, or disabled child benefit AEEH with the complément. There is no additional increase possible on top of this €20,000.

You can also benefit from these tax credits relating to a parent or grandparent aged 65+ who qualifies for the APA benefit for dependency if you pay for help for them in their home. However, if you claim this, you cannot also obtain a pension alimentaire deduction for financial help given to them.

Some home services have specific ceilings, including €500/year for simple DIY/handyman jobs, €3,000/year for IT help, and €5,000/year for general gardening (amounts claimed also factor into the overall ceilings for home-help tax credits).

Services outside the home, such as collecting children from school, can also fall under the credit scheme. 

Services of téléassistance or visio-assistance (alert systems or video help) for elderly or handicapped people can also qualify even if they are not part of a service package including actual physical help in the home. More details on rules relating to home services can be obtained from the website of the economy ministry.

When you claim these tax credits in your declaration, there are additional boxes to complete to break down the kind of help concerned (see chapter 10, 'Tax credits and reductions'). This year you will also have to provide more detail about the worker or firm you used.

Please note: Work by home services organisations (firms, associations…) only benefits from tax credits if the organisation has as a minimum declared itself for services à la personne. Their quotes and bills should include a numéro SAP (services à la personne number). 

Some kinds of work, especially those for vulnerable people, also require an agrément (accreditation) from the state and/or an authorisation from the departmental council. 

See the list at servicesalapersonne.gouv.fr for more about this. 

Note that where it refers to mandataire or prestataire, prestataire refers to an organisation directly carrying out a service, where the member of the public is therefore their client. 

An organisation that is a mandataire, on the other hand, helps you with the formalities of finding and employing a person in the home, but you are the person’s employer. 

Cesu and immediate advance

The Cesu is a way of employing people in your home, such as a cleaner. It simplifies the calculation and payment of workers’ social charges and gives rise to tax credits for the employer. 

The service is run by Urssaf, responsible for collecting social charges on work income. You can sign up and register an employee at cesu.urssaf.fr. Information is also available on 0806 802 378.

There is an option to directly deduct the tax credit amount from the money paid to the worker. 

This is only for people who do not also benefit from aid such as APA or the PCH disability benefit towards the services. 

You declare to Urssaf the hours worked and amount of salary/payment. Urssaf then takes from your account the total cost of the service, including social charges, minus a 50% home-employment tax credit. 

Only half of the actual cost of employment or the service is taken from you, bearing in mind tax credit ceilings outlined above. Urssaf then pays the worker the full salary. The tax office should automatically take into account these ‘immediate advances’ so you are not given extra money again for the same expenses as part of the RICI tax credit advance payment that is usually made the following January.

To sign up to use the Cesu system, see tinyurl.com/cesu-plus. You need to sign into your account on the Urssaf site to activate it. A system called Tpee can be used instead of the Cesu for non-residents who employ someone at their second home, but it does not give rise to tax credits.

‘Immediate advance tax credits’ are also available to people who pay an accredited firm or association for home services work. 

If you ask the firm, it will tell Urssaf and you will receive instructions to activate an account at particulier.urssaf.fr (the firm may be able to help you do this), which includes providing your bank account details.

You will then be asked in your online space to pay Urssaf for the work minus the tax credit amount, and once you do this, Urssaf will forward the fee to the service provider.