What documents do I need to start my French income tax declaration?

Reader question: I am about to declare my French income for the first time. Which documents will I need to provide?

Filing for French income tax for the first time can be a daunting prospect, so to help smooth the process it helps to be prepared before you start.

Although you do not have to attach / send in documents proving your income figures with your declaration it is very helpful to have them to hand to fill in the form.

You also need to keep them in case any checks are undertaken by the tax authorities at a later date.

You need bank statements and any statements of investment income etc.

French tax offices often accept use of UK documents for the UK April-to-April tax year as long as they relate to a 12-month period ending in the French tax year in question.

If you have anything to declare from a French bank account this will be mentioned on an annual imprimé fiscal unique that you should receive from your bank (in some cases, especially for savings and shares accounts with online banks, this might not be physically sent to you but be available in a space online).

Savings accounts LDDSs, Livrets As, LEPs and Livrets Jeune, which are tax-free, do not need to be declared.

The same applies to some French benefits, such as allocations familiales, Aspa, allocation logement and allocation de rentrée scolaire.

Before starting, you may wish to spend time collating information and preparing it on a separate sheet in the right format for entry on the declaration, for example, converting any non-euro income.

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