Does France give any benefits to children helping out parents in need?

Reader question: We moved to France as pensioners to be close to our son. We understand the tax system might offer our son tax breaks since he is helping us financially. Can we be included in his ‘fiscal household’? P.M.

To be considered part of the tax household as dependents and thus reduce the tax bill by adding extra tax ‘parts’, you need to be living under the same roof and have either the carte d’invalidité or the invalidité version of the carte mobilité-inclusion. Both of these relate to people with disabilities who have difficulty coping alone with some of the tasks of daily life.

Alternatively, there is tax relief for those helping close relatives in financial difficulty, if the aid (pension alimentaire) is proportionate to the needs of the recipient and means of the giver.

This could be money transfers or paying bills, in which case proof of payment should be retained in case of any queries by the tax office.

Beneficiaries declare such income in the pension section of their tax declaration in boxes 1CO and 2CO, and the payments made by your son would be declared by him in box 6GU, all these being on the main blue 2042 form/section.

Consequently, since you are taxed on the income that your son claims as a tax-deductible payment, between you all, the fiscal benefit amounts to the difference in the tax rates between you as parents and your son.

Related stories:

Moving to France from UK: Catch-22 issue for pensioners and visa S1s

€100 French inflation bonus: Foreign pension income not applicable

An overview of the French healthcare system in 2021