Completing the annual French tax declaration can be a complex task, but when declaring for a household with multiple people living inside it is often particularly confusing.
This is also the case when the household has one or more children attached to it.
There are several boxes that can be ticked to reduce the income tax a household pays. However, not all of these are well-known, meaning that in many cases people can forget to tick these boxes and lose out on deductions they are entitled to.
Below, we highlight some key boxes you can tick to reduce the amount of tax you pay.
Who is in your household?
Before starting, it is worth reminding yourself about France’s ‘parts’ system.
A household is made up of ‘parts’, and the more parts in a household the higher certain reductions are, including the tax-free amount.
Children usually count as a ‘half-part’, but from the third child in a household onwards (or if they are disabled) count as a full ‘part’.
Box ‘C’ in the tax return (form 2042) shows the dependents – verify the number of children in your household is correctly shown, and add any additional children the tax office is not aware of.
In addition, if you are a single parent you can check box ‘T’ in section (cadre) ‘B’, and will benefit from an additional tax allowance.
Note that if you spend at least five years raising a child as a single parent, you can tick box ‘L’ to benefit from an additional half-part for life in your return, if the child is now an adult (over 18).
Read more: Key points to remember in your French income tax declaration
Children up to the age of 18 are attached to your household, after which they are generally expected to make their own ‘foyer’ and submit a personal declaration.
However, they can be attached to the parental household up to age 21 on a voluntary basis – increasing to age 25 if they are a student – even if they physically do not live at the same address. Disabled children can also be attached to their parents' household regardless of their age.
If the child is unmarried/not in a civil partnership, they earn the same amount of ‘parts’ for the household as they did previously (either half or a full part depending on how many other children and if they are disabled, etc).
This information is handed over in box ‘D’ of the return.
If you give financial support to your adult children who are not attached to your household for tax purposes and do not have the resources to adequately support themselves, you can obtain a tax deduction of up to €6,794 per child. In certain cases where they are married or in a civil partnership and you are the only person supporting them, this allowable deduction doubles to €13,588.
Childcare costs
Childcare costs are also subject to France’s tax credit system.
If your child (less than 6 years old on January 1, 2024) was placed in a crèche that year, or had an external childminder, you can claim up to €1,750 back in tax credits for the expense.
The tax credit equals 50% of what you pay out for the service. For example, if you spend €2,000 on external childminder services, you receive €1,000 back as a tax credit.
For those who employed an at home childminder or babysitter, this rises to between €6,000 to €10,000 depending on the household make-up, and there are no maximum age limits.
These expenses are highlighted using boxes 7GA to 7GG on the separate RICI (réductions d'impôt et crédits d'impôt) tax credit form if the childcare took place outside your home, or box 7DB on the standard 2042 form for employment inside the home.
If declared online, tick the ‘dépenses ouvrant droit à réductions ou crédits d’impôt’ button to receive a version of the 2042 RICI form to complete digitally.
If completing a paper declaration, download and print the form out and send it with your main 2042 form.
School costs
If your children are of school age and enrolled in an educational program on December 31, 2024, automatic tax reductions for school expenses are applied.
These are €61 per child at collège, €153 for a child at lycée, and €183 for those in higher education.
Information is declared via boxes 7EA to 7EG of your 2042 RICI form.
Amounts are halved for children in shared custody, and the benefits do not apply for children on apprenticeships or who are paid as part of their studies.
Child support payments
In a case where one parent has full custody over the child/children and the other parent pays child support or alimony (classed in French simply as a maintenance payment or pension alimentaire), this has to be made clear on the tax form.
This applies to both court-ordered and voluntary payments.
In both cases, the reductions for the payee are applied in proportion to their tax rate, at the level of the highest marginal tax rate they pay.
When it comes to the payer of the support, they can deduct the amount paid from their taxable income using the 6GU box. If the amount paid was set judicially, it is deductible in full without any limit. In other cases, the amount disclosed and deducted must be reasonable and align to the needs of the child/children.
The payee needs to disclose the payments received and be taxed on them. This is done via boxes 1AO to 1DO and the payee can receive a reduction of 10% on it up to the amount of €4,399.
