Besides enjoying the many bank holidays this May, the ONE thing on your to-do list is to file your 2024 French tax return - Impôt sur le revenu. And yes, if you were a resident in France in 2024, you need to file your income tax by the end of May 2025.
1 - Are you a tax resident in France?
If you have a long-stay visa or carte de séjour, you have to declare your income in France. This will be a very handy document to have when renewing your visa. If you've earned a salary, rental income, dividends or been self-employed in France in 2024, you have to file taxes in France.
If you moved to France during the year, you will declare your income from the day you became a resident (visa starting date) and you will also file taxes back home. Most countries have a dual taxation agreement to avoid paying taxes twice.
Non-residents with a property in France rented as a holiday home, gite or Airbnb, have to declare this income in France and not back home. You will file taxes as a non-resident and only declare this rental income.
2 - What is the 2024 income tax deadline in France
The French income tax season goes from the 1st of January to the 31st of December. And we file our taxes the following May. Yes, I know it's confusing. We talk about the 2024 income tax, but it's declared in May 2025.
Here are the income tax deadlines in France for 2024:
- 21st May 2025 at midnight: Paper tax return.
- 22nd May 2025 at midnight: Departments 01 to 19 and non-residents.
- 29th May 2025 at midnight: Departments 20 to 54.
- 5th June 2025 at midnight: Departments 55 to 974/976.
And the 2024 French income tax timescale:
- 10th April 2025: Online tax return opens.
- 18th July 2025: You start receiving your income tax attestation “avis d’impot” if you’ve declared online.
- August-December 2025: Online tax return correction service opens.
- 24th September 2025: You start paying your income tax (unless you’ve opted for impôt libératoire).
3 - Do I declare my French income tax online or by paper
The bad news is that as a new expat in France, or rather new resident in France, you will have to file your first tax return by post. Oh yes! The reason is that the tax office doesn't know about you. Even if you’ve been self-employed…. It’s as if the business tax office doesn’t share information with the personal tax office.
As you don't have a personal income tax number yet, called a TIN number - Tax Identification Number (actually called NIF number in French for Numéro d'Identification Fiscale). This number will be created for you by next September. In the meantime, you'll have to go and download the right income tax forms, fill them in and post them back to your local tax office.
It sounds like a game of Snakes and Ladders or finding your way through a maze, but this article will help you go through these hurdles.
4 - Download the 2024 French income tax forms
Turn your printer on and stash the paper tray, as there are quite a few forms, many with 4 to 8 pages long. But for most of them, you'll only fill in a few cells. Don't print all the forms. Select the appropriate ones based on your personal situation.
Form for your 2024 French income tax declaration:
- Form 2042 - Your personal details: name, date of birth, address, single/married or PACsed (civil union)/widowed, number of children) + change of address.
- Form 2042-C - Revenu complémentaires : salary, pension, capital gain.
- Form 2042-C-PRO - Micro entrepreneur turnover.
- Form 2042 RICI - Tax reductions or tax credits: donations to non-profit associations, services à domiciles.
- Form 2047 - Income earned and taxed abroad: rental income abroad, dividends paid abroad, etc. Double-taxation agreement = tax credit.
- Form 3916 to declare your accounts held abroad - Bank accounts owned abroad: personal or business accounts, payment gateways (PayPal, Stripe, Payoneer)or neo-banks (N26, Revolut). File one form per account or gateway.
Where to find other forms:
5 - Getting help to file your 2024 French tax return
There are 3 ways to get help to complete your 2024 income tax return in France. Start by printing your forms and collecting proofs of your various sources of income (salary, pension, dividends, self-employment, and rental income).
- Book an appointment with an accountant. The average cost is likely to be between 350€ to 500€ based on the complexity of your situation. Send me an email, if you want an introduction to my favourite accountant.
- Book an appointment with your local tax office, Impôts, also called Trésor Public or SIP for Service Impôts Particuliers. They offer free appointments for the whole month of May. You can book an appointment online or check the opening times and turn up early with your paperwork forms and proofs of income. They are extremely helpful.
- For Micro Entrepreneurs, this topic is covered in Manage Your Micro Entrepreneur course with how-to videos for paper forms and the online declaration
6 - Declaring Micro Entrepreneur income
Complete these 2 tasks before starting your 2024 tax return:
- Did I opt for the income tax at source called “impot liberatoire”? In doubts, check your registration papers or your last turnover declaration. If you still can’t tell, log in your micro entrepreneur urssaf account and check your profile. Mon Compte/ Mes Informations Personnelles or Mes Paramétres under Détail de mon compte auto-entrepreneur / Prélèvement libératoire de l'impôt sur le revenu “oui/non”.
- Download a copy of your “Attestation Fiscale” from your micro entrepreneur URSSAF account. Under Mes Documents/ Mes Attestations / Attestation Fiscale Annuelle .
Remember that you have to declare your turnover cashed in 2024 - Don’t apply ANY rebate. And remember that the amount you declared to URSSAF needs to be the same as what you will declare to Impôts.
A - Micro Entrepreneur with versement libératoire / impôt libératoire
You have opted to pay your income tax at source. Every month, you paid an extra percentage of your turnover to URSSAF towards your income tax. If you look at your last turnover declaration, you’ll see an extra 2.2% for a profession liberale, 1.7% for an artisan or 1% for activité commerciale.
You won’t be taxed again, but you STILL need to complete a tax return. This tax return includes your overall household income and might also include your other half’s salary, rental income, dividends, etc.
Take your 2024 turnover and add this number to the suitable cell:
- Go to page 1 of Form 2042 C PRO
- 5TA = Sale of goods, shops, food trucks, ecommerce.
- 5TB = Manual services, artisans and gites. E.g conciergerie services, carpenter, gîtes.
- 5TE = Professions liberales relating to URSSAF. E.g. consultant, coach, programmer.
B - Micro Entrepreneur under regime micro ( = not opted for impot liberatoire)
You did not pay your income tax at source. In doubts, check your registration papers or your last turnover declaration. If you still can’t tell, log in your micro entrepreneur urssaf account and check your profile. Mon Compte/ Mes Informations Personnelles or Mes Paramétres under Détail de mon compte auto-entrepreneur / Prélèvement libératoire de l'impôt sur le revenu “NON”
Commerçants / Artisans - Buy to resell, gites, manual services.
- Go to page 3 of Form 2042 C PRO
- Go to the section called “Revenus Industriels et Commerciaux Professionnels - Régime micro BIC “
- 5KO for the sale of goods. E.g. shop, food truck.
- 5KP for manual services, artisans and gites. E.g conciergerie services, carpenter, gîtes.
Profession liberales / coaches & consultants
- Go to page 6 of Form 2042 C PRO
- Go to the section called “ Revenue Non Commerciaux Professionnels - micro BNC
- 5 HQ of form 2042 C Pro, for professions liberales relating to URSSAF. E.g. consultant, coach, programmer.
7 - Who do I send my French tax return to?
Anyone filing their French tax return for the first time has to return it by post with “la Poste”. The stamp date will be used to check if you missed the declaration deadline. Although I’ve never heard of anyone being fined for a late declaration.
You can find the address of your local tax office by typing “SIP + name of your town/village in France” in your favourite search engine. Or use http://www.demarchesadministratives.fr and type "SIP + your village". SIP stands for Service Impots Particuliers
For non-French residents, send your forms to SIP in Noisy-le-Grand.
- SIP Non-residents, 10 rue du Centre, TSA 10010, 93 465 Noisy-Le-Grand Cedex
- Phone +33 1 72 95 20 42- Monday to Friday 9 am to 4 pm French time.
Voilà, c’est tout. This is one of the rare occasions when you'll see me use the French expression “Bon courage”!
