Are you among millions of people debited for extra French tax today?

Millions of people in France will have their bank accounts debited today (Thursday, September 25) in relation to this spring’s income tax declaration. 

Those who have been found to have not paid enough tax on 2024 income (after the spring declarations were analysed) are charged the extra amount. 

The amount due should have been shown on the avis or tax notice you received this summer.

This will have been sent by post, as well as placed in your personal space on the French tax website.

Any direct debits will show the details ‘DIRECTION GENERALE DES FINANCES PUBLIQUE’ and ‘SOLDE IMPOT REVENUS 2024’

If the amount owed is less than €300, it is taken in one lump sum today. If it is more than this it is split between four equal payments across four dates - September 25 , October 27, November 27, and December 29.

Alternatively, advance payments were possible using cash, cheques, bank transfers and one-off online payments through the French tax website or application. Deadlines for all of these methods have passed.

Overall, 13.1 million households – out of around 41 million nationally – were required to pay additional tax on their 2024 income.

You should have already checked your bank details were up to date – the deadline to ensure they were correct was September 14.

Failure to provide the correct details is seen as refusal to pay tax and can result in penalties. 

More households need to pay compared to last year - but average amount is less

Compared to 2024, around 25% more households are being debited for extra income tax this year. 

The increase is largely due to wage increases in 2024 outstripping inflation (the latter affects income tax band increases).

At the same time however, the average amount households must pay in 2025 (€1,901) is lower than last year (€2,127). 

Earlier in the summer, a similar number of households benefitted from a tax refund for paying too much tax, with an average return of €1,017.

This is higher than in 2024 when the average payout was €918, but that year around 16 million households benefitted. 

For those employed in France, at-source rates for income tax were updated on September 1 based on information provided in spring (if they had not been manually updated before). 

It is possible to manually update the rate following a change of income through your personal space on the French tax website.