Guide to Declaring Income Tax in France: Step-by-Step Procedure

Table of Contents

Description

What is it?

Income tax declaration is a legal requirement in which you inform the French tax authorities about your worldwide income, providing details about your earning sources, deductions, and taxes already paid. This encompasses earnings from stocks, foreign income, and earnings from working in multiple countries within a single tax year.

Who needs it?

Anyone who resides in France, earns income, and meets certain income thresholds is required to declare their income, regardless of whether the income is domestically or internationally generated.

Procedure

  1. Start by gathering all the relevant records of your income during the tax year - pay slips, bank statements, investment or trading records, etc. create a comprehensive overview of your earnings and expenditures.

  2. The French Tax Authority offer an online system for tax declaration (Impots.gouv.fr ) which is the recommended method for declaring your taxes. Sign up or login to the portal.

  3. Fill in the required details about your income, deductions, and taxes paid - both in France and internationally.

  4. For income generated through stocks, declare the capital gains or losses in your declaration in the appropriate form, which is usually Form 208 (In other cases you may need Form 2074-MV for occasional investment income or Form 2074-CMV for multiple securities transactions).

  5. For foreign income, you must declare it and then claim the tax treaty’s benefits if a bilateral tax treaty exists between France and the respective country.

  6. If you’ve worked in two countries within a single tax year, you must declare the income from both countries. The tax will be calculated based on where you were tax resident at the end of the tax year.

  7. Submit your declaration and keep a copy of it along with all supporting documents for a minimum of 3 years.

Required Documents

  • Proof of income (Pay slips, bank statements, invoices, etc.)
  • Stock trading records
  • Foreign income details
  • Details of taxes already paid
  • Proof of residence

Providers that can do it for you

(We are currently curating the best providers. If you are or know a provider, please contact us or edit the page directly)

ProviderWebsiteTimelinesCost

Additional details

In France, income tax is levied on the total income of the fiscal household, which includes income from work (wages, salaries, pensions, and annuities), income from personal property (income from movable property, rental income, etc.), and profit from professional/non-professional activities. The tax return you fill out will be reviewed, and a tax notice will be sent to you outlining your tax situation.

Contribute

Improve this article by using the contact form or editing it through our open-source GitHub repository: tramitit/guides