THE end of February is notable in France as the deadline for the submission of your yearly accounts of taxable income.
You are required to declare all your earnings from the moment you arrive in France if your stay is uninterrupted.
You will also be liable to French income tax if you stay more than 182 days in France during one calendar year.
Or if France is the country you live in more than any other, if most of your wealth is based in France or else your main activity is in France.
Taxes are calculated based upon the details you have supplied in a form called la déclaration des impôts for the previous calendar year.
If you do not supply the form by the deadline you can face a fine based upon the amount you are paying, often 10 per cent.
France also has a reputation of being a high tax environment and it’s almost a national obsession to avoid paying your full dues.
However, if you take advice before leaving the UK from financial advisors with experience of France there can be some real benefits.
Naturally if you are found to be under declaring income the penalties are severe.
Once you have prepared your returns and sent them in you will receive notification of the amount you must pay.
It is possible to spread the payments into three instalments throughout the year or set up a monthly direct debit for 10 months.
Tax returns are processed by your local tax office, called le centre des impôts, and you must contact them to obtain your first tax returns form in time for the yearly deadline.
Once you are recorded in the system, the form will be sent automatically to your home.
Useful links:
For the French government tax website please click here…
On it I found a useful document in English that provides details on all ranges of tax from income taxes, to property taxes and local taxation.
To download, please click here… (updated 11/09/06)
Right-click on the above link and select ‘save target as’ or ‘save link as’ and select somewhere on your computer to save the file.
Once downloaded you can then double click on the file and start reading.
Update 13/05/08
Exchange rate for French income tax returns
Comments
33 responses to “Totting up your income tax”
The link on your site, referred to below does not work.
Useful links:
For the French government tax website please click here…
On it I found a useful document in English that provides details on all ranges of tax from income taxes, to property taxes and local taxation.
To download, please click here…
Right-click on the above link and select ‘save target as’ or ‘save link as’ and select somewhere on your computer to save the file.
Once downloaded you can then double click on the file and start reading.
Hi Susan
Thanks for pointing this out, our good friends in the tax office kindly moved the location of the file and failed to forward any old links to it.
I’ve updated the link and you should be able to read the document.
All the best
Craig
Useful tax information but it does not say what somone needs to do if in receipt of money (eg a pension) from the UK where they are already taxed. While I know that there is a reciprocal arrangement between the 2 countries to avoid double taxation do I still ghave to contact the French Authorities and if so whom?
Hi Allan
I am afraid you will have to contact the French authorities as they will need to register you within their own system.
If you try this page on the impots website:
http://www.impots.gouv.fr/portal/dgi/public/contacts?pageId=contacts
You will see a little way down a search facility that will point you to the nearest office.
Hope this helps
Craig
Hi,
how does the taxation system work if I earn my money with offshore companies. Do I have to declare money I bring into France as income if I live there more than 182 days/year? What implication does it have if I buy property in France?
Thanks
Hi Karl, many thanks for your comment. It will depend on where you are resident, if you spend the majority of your time in France then that’s where you will have to pay taxes, regardless of where the income comes from.
If you have particular circumstances it is most probably worth using the services of a financial adviser with experience of France as it is sometimes possible to set things up to reduce your tax bill, but I still think it would have to be properly declared.
All the best
Craig
Virtually every British citizen living full-time in France, claims that their home in France is a vacation home. They do not pay French income tax. They say there is no way they can be caught. Is this true and what happens if they are caught?
Hi No Name, quite a sweeping generalisation there I think. And let’s face it I wouldn’t have written a piece about French income tax if that was the case.
And considering the number of Brits who attend the events organised by the local tax authorities to help them with the admin and paperwork, there will be many chewing on the end of their pens when filling out the forms.
All the best, Craig
Craig,
Very useful articles on your site. I work and am contraced to work from home and am seriopusly considering moving family to France whilst still working for the UK Firm in France. I am currently researching all the implications etc.. but am having difficulty finding out the implications for my employers/myself – do you have any pointers? I am thinking along the line of Tax etc..
thanks in advance..
Charlie
Hi Charlie
Much will depend upon where you are considered resident, by the sounds of it it would be France.
I recently pointed to this article, which may help further:
http://www.sbncanews.com/2007/08/emigrating-to-f.html
All the best, Craig
Craig,
Useful links, thanks. I’ve just moved to France for work and wanted to do some ‘back of an envelope calculations’ on roughly how much I should be squirreling away each month. I’ve used the taxation rate tables in the links as an estimate but I’m sure I’ve seen (can’t remember where) something about allowances (10% and 20% up to certain limits) that can be deducted from taxable income. Is this true?
Hi Laurence
Many thanks for your message, but it is a bit difficult to know what allowances you might mean. They could relate to your business, but also if you have children, certain health conditions etc can impact on what you pay.
You may want to try the online form from the Finance Ministry, which provides an estimate of tax to be paid:
http://www3.finances.gouv.fr/calcul_impot/2007/simplifie/index.htm
Hope this helps, Craig
Hi there,
I am on the verge of buying a property in France and living there full-time. However, I am a self-employed tour manager working for various UK holiday companies, which means I spend most of my time travelling around Europe…If I work for UK companies and am travelling quite abit of the time, do I need to declare myself as a self-employed entity in France or the UK? If for France, can you give any information about being self-employed there…I’ve read some things and it sounds really daunting…Do you have any words of wisdom?
Hi Gemma, much will depend on where you are considered resident, so if your home is in France then that is where you will have to be registered.
It is possible to set up a company based in the UK, but work from France, this though will require professional advice to set up.
Also if you are a member of a professional association or similar it may be worth chatting with them to see if they have connections in France who could help.
Also depending on where you are looking to base yourself the local tax office may be able to help, for example, the office in the Dordogne is featured here:
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2006/05/helping_hand_of.html
All the best, Craig
Hi we have recently moved to France having left teaching early – we are not claiming our pensions and intend to live off the lump sum we have following the sale of our UK home. We own our french home outright and have therefore no mortgage. Currently our money is in a high interest account in the UK where we pay tax on it. Having read the article referred to above I can find no reference to paying income tax in our circumstances – are we liable for it or not? Hope you can help.
Hi Cathy and Dave,
You will have to register with the tax authorities covering your area and they will then work out the amount of income tax you will pay.
The double taxation treaty between the UK and France will mean you are not taxed twice, but it is important you are correctly registered.
If you click through to the foot of this page..
http://www.thisfrenchlife.com/thisfrenchlife/2006/05/helping_hand_of.html
..you will find a document about declaring income from outside France.
Proper advice should be sought really.
All the best, Craig
Hi there,
I worked at an English assistant (a position gained through the French Enbassy) a few years ago in Paris but never filled out any tax forms before I left France. Is there any way of finding out if I owe any money?
Hi Alison, it is difficult to tell if you should have paid anything in the first place as you may not have been considered resident in France.
Maybe it is worth contacting the Embassy again to see where you stand.
All the best, Craig
Hello,
I lived in France for a year and now am back living in the US. My question is: what are the consequences of not paying the French taxes I owe?
I work in Switzerland and moved from Switzerland to France in September this year, 2007; HOw do I get the forms and register in the French tax system, I have the form for the cross border claim so that I do not pay tax in both Countries but cannot find the general forms, and clues please?
Hi Craig, a question similar to Alison’s above. I was working as an English teacher on a working holiday visa in Paris for most of 2007, but never filled out any tax forms or such while there, nor did I register with the French authorities (my visa didn’t require a carte de sejour). Do I need to pay taxes on my income while I was there? Is income tax deducted automatically from paycheques in France?
Thanks for your response in advance, and for this information on your site!
Colin
Hi Colin
It is very difficult to tell where you stand without full details, but if you were working for a French based company then you would come under the tax jurisdiction of France.
I think it is something you may have to take up with the people you worked for, as it’s likely they will have made social security payments on your behalf, but income tax is something that individuals have to declare themselves.
Then again your type of visa may change all that!
There’s a useful page on the French Embassy in the US website at:
http://www.ambafrance-us.org/intheus/tax/fit.asp
Hope this helps
Craig
Hi Craig,
I am currently employed by a Luxembourg company and am required to travel overseas for a minimum of 183 days a year. My taxes are automatically deducted by my employer in luxembourg, as are my social security contributions, i benefit from private healthcare. I am from the UK and have recently purchased a house in the south of France, if this were to become my main residence would i have to pay additional income tax in France on my Luxembourg earnings? I will be in residence in France approximately 100 days a year, the remaining time 50-80 days would be split between the UK, vacations and additional work requirements overseas. Many Thanks Catherine
Craig Hi
I am currently in the process of completing on a property in France that will be my main residence. I a British citizen working a 28 day on /off rotation in Angola West Africa. I will fly to the UK my point of hire every 28 days and need to return to the UK to leave. I wil therefore at most be spending 144 days in France. I am payed out of singapore where i already deducted 15% Angolan tax . Wil i be required to pay French tax can you advise of a contact for futher information
Many thanks
I am a UK employer, about to employ a French guy, who will live and work in France for 99% of the year. He will have to declare his income and pay taxes on it, just as he would with a French employer. However, I am trying to fin out what social taxes would I (as his employer) be liable for and how would I pay them? (Note: there will be no legal business entity in France). Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.
Hi Mark, not too sure how that would work, but an email to the Invest in France Agency may help, please see:
http://www.invest-in-france.org/uk/en/
Craig
Hi Craig, in a post you refer “events organised by the local tax authorities to help them with the admin and paperwork” – please could you tell me how to find out about these events. I asked my local tax office and they gave me a “gallic shrug” – I am SO lost in the tax system and desperately need guidance. Thanks in advance
Hi Craig
My husband works in UK and lives in UK at our family home for three weeks of the month. He visits my daughter and I here in France for one week of the month. He isn’t registered for health care. My daughter and I are on my E106, which expires in Sept 09. As my husband is not resident here in France, does he still have to declare his earnings to the French Authorities and does he have to pay taxes here? Thanks
Hi Dawn, it would most probably be worth getting proper advice, but if your husband is considered resident in the UK that’s where he would pay income tax etc.
All the best, Craig
Dear Craig
Currently we are working in Switzerland and living in France. Last year we cashed in part of our swiss pension and transferred this amount to part pay off our mortgage with our French bank. In doing so we had to register this the local tax authority. However we are now not sure how and if we need to declare this again on our tax return and where this needs to be added. Clearly we do not want simple add this purely taxable income as this is going to rocket our tax liabilities by a significant distance.
Thanks
Dear Craig,
I’m an Phd student in France for the first year. But i’m payed by laboratory of my university, but that they declared me an salary, but it is kind of standard salary for “allocataire de recherche”. So i really don’t know if i have to declare and pay for income tax or no. Moreover i have some French friends who are also phd students and they are payed by some companies connected with government and university, but they didn’t declare and pay any tax. So could you please tell me which situation i am and what i should do?
Many thanks for your time and your help.
Best
I am researching the tax position of people who move to France with a pension from the UK. Can anyone tell me how much income an individual can have before they have to begin to pay income tax and what percentage of tax is applied to incomes under 20,000 euros. An up to date link to information in English would be much appreciated.
I live in france with my family and my daughter attends the locl school. we moved in june 2010. when we moved i was working in cameroon and paid all taxes there. france and cameroon have a double taxation treaty. i have not declared anything to the french tax system, as they have not contacted me. i have paid my fonciere but have received no requests for information regards income. is the onus on me to contact them or should i rely on the treaty? tempted to say nothing but dont want to get stung later.