The basics

Many people who move to France come from countries where income tax is deducted at source on salaries, pensions and other common income types such as bank interest.

This is the situation, for example, in the UK and it means that most people are often not required to make an annual declaration.

Apart from simplicity, one advantage of tax-at-source is immediacy. There is no waiting for the following year to pay related tax after the whole year’s income has been declared as was the case in France until a few years ago.

A wide-ranging tax-at-source system is now in place in France – known as PAS (Prélèvement à la source) – however, despite this, the vast majority of residents still need to make an annual income declaration.* 

This is because France has a hybrid system, which involves tax at-source alongside some older tax mechanisms. The latter includes the taxation of the household unit as a whole with a system that provides a relative lightening of taxation as family size/responsibilities increase.

It also includes various ways of spending which allow people to access reductions to declarable income or deductions on their tax bill (these are known unofficially as niches fiscales). 

The annual declaration thus allows the tax office to know your actual overall situation to make sure you have paid the right amount of tax through at-source levies.

It is also used to check that any tax credits and reductions have been correctly applied. 

People with French employment income will find that their French salaries have been pre-filled on their online and/or printed declaration forms. This is not for this income to be taxed again – it is for officials to see if your PAS taxation rate is correct.

Any required amendment to the amount of the tax paid at source over the year – either a refund or top-up demand – will be made after a tax statement (avis d’impôt sur le revenu) is issued to you in the summer following your spring declaration.

If you have certain regular forms of income that France is not able to directly tax at source then estimated instalments are set up and taken from your French bank account on a monthly or three-monthly basis. This is the case for rental income or foreign state and private pensions (but not foreign ‘government’ pensions such as those paid to former civil servants as these are usually taxed at source in their country of origin). 

If you are due to have instalments taken, the tax office should deduct these from the bank account you have provided details of on a previous tax return.

The tax rate applied is based on your last tax declaration, so for 2026 it is based on your 2025 declaration (relating to 2024 income). In spring 2026 you will submit your income return for 2025 and you will then be given a new rate that applies from September 2026 until the end of August 2027. 

The tax authorities will forward this rate to your employer/s or French pension bodies where appropriate and in this case there is nothing in particular that you have to do.

If your circumstances change significantly during the year, you can ask for your new situation to be taken into account and the rate to be changed so at-source payments are appropriate and there are no large amendments needed later on.

Tax-at-source on income – either deducted directly or paid indirectly via instalments – applies to many people including employed and self-employed workers, pensioners and landlords. People who have income lower than the tax threshold do not pay anything as they are given a 0% rate.

In our experience, at-source taxation appears to function well, without significant issues being reported.

Example: you declare your 2025 income in spring 2026. If the total tax that was taken at source in 2025 is found to be too high compared to your overall final tax liability for the year then you will receive a refund for the difference in August 2026. If you did not pay enough, you will have to pay the remainder during the last four months of 2026. 

*An exception to this applies to a minority of people who have very simple tax affairs and who can take advantage of an ‘automatic’ declaration system whereby they only have to check information sent from the tax office about their known incomes in the year and there is nothing to do if they have nothing to add.