Updates summary

09/04/26

2026 Income Tax guide published

13/04/26

Avis d’impôt

Your avis d’impôt sur le revenu will be available this year in your personal space between July 24 and 31. If you declare online you will be alerted with an email notifying you.

As of 2026, if you declared online last year (2025) you will not as a general rule receive a paper avis d’impôt in the post, whether or not you previously declared you wished to go zéro papier. Online-only is now the rule, unless you opt to keep receiving a paper one, which will be possible via your personal space during this year’s declaration process. If you want a paper one this year, you need to state this before June 15, 2026.

In future years it will remain possible to opt to go back to a paper avis, if you wish.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 1, 'Bands, credits... How France works out your tax'.

Chapter 1, 'What's new in 2026?'

Chapter 3, 'Who has to declare'

Chapter 4, 'Declaring online'

Chapter 12, 'Receiving your avis d'impôt'

Mobile phone declarations

Further improvements have been added for people who declare via mobile phone on the impots.gouv app.

This includes the possibility for people to send messages to their tax office via the app, as is already possible to do via the personal space at impots.gouv.fr. You can use your phone’s photos and screenshots and stored documents etc in your communications via this. The phone’s geolocalisation also allows the app to show you tax help contact points local to you.

From this year, another addition is the possibility of declaring the existence of foreign bank accounts you hold via the app, but it is not yet possible to complete other ‘annexe’ forms such as the 2047 foreign income form via the app. However, declarants who have declared such accounts in the past and want to carry the details over from a previous declaration should declare via the website rather than the app.

The app is also now able to allow for declarations by auto-entrepreneurs who opted for the prélèvement libératoire ongoing income tax method.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 1, 'What's new in 2026?'

Chapter 4, 'Declaring online'

Name change of personal space

The tax authorities say that the name change of the personal space on the tax site (now called 'mon espace Finances publiques') is in anticipation of people being able to carry out ever more tasks via this space. It is already possible, now, to consult and pay certain public service bills, for example.

Improvements to impots.gouv.fr

The search engine at impots.gouv.fr has been updated with integrated AI, so it will respond better even if you include typos or ‘everyday’ terms rather than technical tax terms. For example, if you type bébé, it will provide information about taxation for people with children. However, it is not a chatbot, so if you want specific personalised information, you need to contact a tax worker.

The DGFiP states it has also started to roll out to all tax workers new training modules and AI tools aimed at helping them communicate in simple everyday language.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 1, 'What's new in 2026?'

Two-factor authentification

As reported in this guide, two-factor authentification is now routinely used for access to your espace Finances Publiques. If you fail to correctly identify yourself, there may occasionally be situations where your account is blocked. In this case the tax authorities state that you need to wait about a week to receive a code by email to unblock it. If no code is received, call the tax office helpline on 0 809 401 401.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 1, 'What's new in 2026?'

Phone line help

The tax authorities state that the helpline at 0 809 401 401 will have longer opening hours this year and aims to hit new targets in the numbers of calls that are picked up. This acknowledged the important role played by phone help, especially for those who do not like to use the internet.

Following section updated:

Contact the tax office

Revamped tax services map

There is a new web page for finding a service that can help with your tax declarations, including branches of France Services or tax centres allowing for drop-in help: https://www.impots.gouv.fr/carte-interactive#/. It has also been made clearer as to the kinds of service on offer.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 5, 'How to pay, and the deadlines'

Choice of ordinary tax bands for investment income

Up until this year, a choice of the ordinary tax bands for your investment income (instead of the flat tax) was stated to be 'irrevocable' (at least for the year in question), once your declaration deadline had passed. As of incomes from 2026, this is no longer the case, meaning that even after you have declared, if you realise you did not make the best choice, you can ask the tax office to recalculate (within the usual time limits for making a réclamation). However, this will only take effect moving forward, ie. the choice of the bands for your 2025 income, in your 2026 declaration will remain 'irrevocable'.

Following section updated:

Chapter %: What is the flat tax?

Barême frais de carburant for frais réels

The amount you can claim for certain fuel expenses, if declaring frais réels (real expenses) has reduced. Note, this is different from if you are making use of the fixed calculation called the barême des frais kilométriques which takes account of various vehicule-related expenses. The barême des frais de carburant mostly relates to people who have a mixed-use vehicle, partly for personal use and partly work.

For example, for cars of 3 to 4 CV, the amount this year is €0.089/km for diesel (down from €0.094), €0.113/km for ordinary unleaded petrol (down from €0.119) and €0.072/km for LPG (down from €0.074).

See also: https://www.service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/actualites/A16343.

Tips remain tax exempt

A measure exempting tips from income tax and social charges is being continued until 2028. It relates to employees whose basic pay is up to 1.6 x the Smic minimum wage.

Automatic declarations

The DGFiP has reminded people not to simply declare via the 'automatic' (tacit) system if they moved house during the 2025 tax year, as this needs to be declared.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 1, 'French income tax: an overview'

High earners

If you are subject to the contribution différentielle sur les hauts revenus (CDHR) there is a new box at 2042 8HR/8HS which should show the amount that you already paid as an instalment at the end of 2025. This should be prefilled for you to check.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 5. '10 steps to the basic process for calculating tax for a resident'

Services in the home

As expected, this year, if you employed someone in the home via the Cesu system or paid an accredited home-help organisation for services, then the section to claim a tax credit for this requires additional information this time. You need to specify the name of the worker or firm/association/organisation and the kind of home help provided (from a drop-down list of 27).

The tax authorities state that the form will also ask for:

The nature of the provider: a salaried worker in the home, an association, a business, or a public or private organisationThe way in which the personal care service provider operates: direct employment by yourself of the worker, via an agency, provision of a worker (where a firm ‘lends’ an employee to someone else), or an accredited service provider.

Following sections updated:
Chapter 10, 'Tax credits and reductions'

Tax reductions for good causes

There is a new box at 2042 7UQ for inserting gifts to charities helping people in difficulty made between October 14 and December 31, 2026. Note that gifts to domestic violence charities are now combined with gifts for the traditional ‘difficulty’ categories (food, shelter, medical aid).

Box 7UO for gifts to help cyclone victims in Mayotte has moved from the main 2042 to the 2042 RICI.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 10, 'Tax credits and reductions'

Furnished letting

As explained in chapter 2, 'What's new in 2026?' and chapter 6, 'How to declare French rental income’ there are changes this year relating to micro-Bic ceilings and allowances for furnished holiday rentals.

If you have moved into the régime réel with regard to your 2025 income due to the lowering of the ceiling then you should make a ‘form 2031’ declaration in the ‘espace professionnel’ (as opposed to your personal espace Finances publiques) on impots.gouv.fr, before May 5.

People with non-professional furnished rental income declared under the régime réel should also carry forward the profit or loss declared in the 2031 onto box 5NA (and following boxes) of their personal income tax declaration.

The tax authorities give the following examples:

Unclassified holiday rentals: If your turnover was more than €15,000 in 2024 and 2025, you have entered the régime réel.

Classified holiday rentals: If your turnover was more than €77,700 in 2024 and 2025, you enter the régime réel.

There is an additional complication in a clash of social security and tax laws.

The latest social security rules (see tinyurl.com/micro-ent-meub) state that a person who carries out furnished rentals cannot be considered to be in self-employment – potentially as ‘micro-entrepreneurs’ – if they have turnover less than €23,000. At the same time, tax rules say the ceiling for the micro-Bic simple taxation system is now just €15,000 for unclassified furnished rentals.

It is therefore no longer technically possible to do unclassified furnished rentals as a micro-entrepreneur, including having the option of the versement forfaitaire libératoire monthly or three-monthly fixed income tax system.

However, some people did in fact pay such income tax sums in the course of 2025.

As a result, these payments will be accepted, as a transitional measure.

More detail is available on the latest furnished rental rules at on this official tax service bulletin: tinyurl.com/bofip-meubl.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 1, 'What's new in 2026?'

Income from online ‘platforms’

In some cases, this year income you received during the 2025 tax year from large online platforms such as Airbnb or eBay will be pre-filled in the relevant boxes from information passed on from the companies to the tax services.

However, this will not always be the case and it is your responsibility to declare such incomes where required. Note that if you received such incomes via foreign platforms in foreign currencies, you will need to convert the amounts to euros for declaration.

For some of these incomes known to the tax authorities you may also see a pop-up box informing you of the amounts known to them. This is for you to check. You may also be asked to select from a drop down menu the rubrique of the declaration in which you intend to declare these amounts.

Following sections updated:

Chapter 1, 'What's new in 2026?'

29/04/26

Addition of the 13. Questions and answers section

18/5

3916 foreign accounts form

In this year's online declarations, the 3916 form for declaring the existence of foreign bank accounts is now integrated into the main declaration route rather than being separated as an annexe. You should still check that when selecting your online Rubriques you have selected the section marked 'Comptes, contrats ou placements à l'étranger'. It will probably have been pre-selected if you declared foreign accounts last year.

The foreign accounts section has also been slightly simplified, and if you have nothing to change compared to last year there is nothing to do.

Several sections updated referring to this form as an annexe, as well as:

Chapter 10, 'Declaring overseas bank accounts and investment schemes'