Tax credits and reductions

This section concerns expenses incurred in the tax year giving rise to amounts taken off your final tax bill by the tax office.

Reductions can only reduce tax liabilities whereas credits can mean you receive a payment from the tax office if the amount exceeds the amount of tax to be paid.

You may have received an instalment in January 2026 if you had certain credits or reductions for 2024 income declared last year.

If you had a payment in January but in fact had no eligible expenses in 2025 you will be asked to pay it back.

If you are still owed money, including if you had types of expenses in 2025 not included for this January’s instalment, then you should receive a further payment in late summer following your declaration.

Tax credits and reductions are calculated at set percentages of the money spent on eligible services or investments within the relevant year, within set spending limits.

For example, credits are available towards home help costs, such as nannies or gardeners, and reductions are available for investing in small businesses or giving to charity.

You enter what you spent on the item / service and the tax office works out your entitlements as appropriate.

Note that tax credits no longer exist for eco-friendly home improvements, but you may be able to benefit from a grant called MaPrimeRénov’ towards these.

There is an overall ceiling on the benefit that may be obtained in a given year from various niches fiscales (tax breaks). This does not include gifts to charity (see the end of chapter 7 for more about this). It is €10,000 per tax household (or €18,000 if some of the investment is in the French overseas departments or in Sofica schemes).

When declaring online be sure to select Réductions et crédits d’impôt under the Charges list of rubriques if these are relevant to you; also Investissements locatifs or Investissements Outre-Mer if you invested via the Pinel scheme or Girardin industriel, for example.

If declaring on paper, you will need to use the 2042 RICI form (signed and completed with name and address), and/ or the 2042.

From time to time, boxes on the paper forms move from one to the other so it is wise to check both for these.

Gifts to good causes

See chapter 7 on donations to good causes and gifts to charity for more about these.

2042

7UD – donations to French organisations helping those in difficulty, such as with food or shelter (which attract a 75% tax reduction within a certain ceiling, then the standard 66% credit for amounts above this). The box states the benefit is limited to gifts up to €1,000, however put the full amount in here even if it is more; the rest will be accounted for but obtains the lower tax reduction (within a maximum limit of gifts equal to 20% of your taxable income).

Please note that in 2025, gifts made to such organisations from October 14 onwards are eligible for the 75% tax reduction up to a doubled level of €2,000 (total ceiling for the year). We expect there will be different boxes this time to account for gifts before and after this date, so check the box descriptions in section 7 to select the correct boxes for your situation.

7UF – donations to standard French associations and charitable organisations not included in item 7UD.

Gifts to charities helping domestic violence victims are eligible for tax reductions as of the year 2025, but the rate of the tax reduction available depends on when the gift was made. If relevant to you, check the labels of the section 7 boxes to ensure you use the correct box for such gift/s. These gifts made from January 1 to February 14 obtain a standard 66% tax credit; gifts from February 15 to October 13 obtain the higher 75% tax credit, within a ceiling of €1,000 which is combined with the ceiling for gifts to organisations helping those in difficulty. Gifts from October 15 to December 31 attract 75% within a total ceiling of €2,000 (for the year for such gifts) combined with the ceiling for organisations helping those in difficulty.

7UJ – donations to the Fondation du patrimoine to restore old churches.

7UO – donations to help victims of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte (made up until May 17).

Home help services

7DB relates to tax credits for employing at home through the Cesu system or payments to accredited home help organisations.

These are for French tax residents.

This applies to services at your own main or second home or at the home of a parent or grandparent who has the Allocation Personnalisée d’Autonomie (APA) benefit.

Write the amount that you have paid for the service.

You should find that payments you made via the Cesu or Pajemploi services are already inserted.

You must also enter the same amount/s in an additional box or boxes to clarify what services (IT help, gardening etc) were concerned.

If declaring online, click on the pencil symbol to the right of 7DB to open the additional sections.

On paper these are found on the first page of the 2042 RICI. 

Form 2042 

This year you will also be asked for additional details about the firm or worker who did the eligible work. Note that to benefit from these tax credits any home help firms or associations must have services à la personne approval (see chapter 7 for more about this). You can search for one here: nova.entreprises.gouv.fr/nc/annuaire.

7DR – insert the amount of any APA, or other benefits, such as the PCH, Cesu préfinancés etc., from which you benefited to pay for these home help expenses.

As above, you may see a pencil symbol to click on to break down the aids received by type of service.

7HB – this should be prefilled with the amounts of any ‘immediate tax credits’ you benefited from for home services.

7DL relates to paying for services for an elderly relative in their own home who has the APA benefit (enter the relevant number of dependents aged 65 or more).

If you enter expenses in these boxes you cannot also enter them under the deductions section.

There is a line below for the name and address of beneficiaries.

7DQ selects this if you employed someone directly (not via an accredited firm or association) at home for the first time.

7DG select if you are claiming for services in the home and you or another member of your tax household has a disabled person’s card for invalidity.

2042 RICI

You may claim benefit for gifts in previous years that you were not able to benefit fully due to the ceilings, in the 7X boxes.

Gifts to bodies outside France in the EU/EEA/Switzerland are declared in 7VA (help for people in difficulty) or 7VC.

Education/childcare

Enter the number of children in collège (7EA), lycée (7EC) or higher education (7EF) who you financially support.

For those in education on December 31, 2025, there is a reduction of €61 (collège), €153 (lycée) or €183 (tertiary education, including classes préparatoires or BTS studies in a lycée).

The amount is halved for children who alternate residence between parents, in which case enter the number of children in 7EB/7ED/7EG.

For higher/further education, do not include people doing paid apprenticeships, or informal study not leading to a diploma.

If your family situation changed in 2025 the reduction only applies to children you were looking after on December 31, 2025.

7GA – for each child, enter any costs of childcare (up to the child’s sixth birthday, with reference to age January 1, 2025).

This relates to money paid to child minders, crèches, holiday and after-school activity centres etc (see page 51) within a ceiling of €3,500 per child (€1,750 for children in alternating residence).

Deduct any benefits received towards the costs.

Nursing/care home costs

7CD and 7CE

Care home costs qualify for a tax reduction (with the exception of medical expenses) for dépenses d’accueil dans un établissement pour personnes dépendantes.

The reduction is 25% of costs, within a limit of €10,000 per person.

Home adaptations for elderly/disabled people

7WI - Insert money spent on eligible home adaptations for older people with autonomy needs or disabled people

Investment in small businesses

A tax reduction is available for investing in the capital of a small or medium-sized business in France or abroad in the EU/EEA or Switzerland.

Sums are in most cases eligible within a limit of €50,000 for a single person or €100,000 for a couple and are claimed in boxes starting with 7C (on paper, on page 11).

If the amount of your reduction exceeds the overall niches fiscales ceiling you can carry over the benefit of any excess for up to five years.

Car charging points

The credit for electric car charging points is, for the main home: first system installed 7ZQ, second system 7ZR; second home: first system 7ZS, second 7ZT.

Note that it is not available to non-residents.

Buy-to-let schemes

Boxes for the Pinel and Denormandie schemes start with 7 but depend on factors including year of investment and how long you will rent out the property.

The box for Loc’Avantages is 7B (7AA for former residents of France) and the benefit of the Malraux scheme is claimed in 7TX/7TY.

Sofica

7FN/7GN/7EN - for investments in Sofica schemes

Forests

Boxes for investments in forests start with 7U.