France’s €100 worker fuel support payment: How and when do I apply?
Ten million people are reported eligible for this one-off state aid which replaces the universal fuel discounts in place at petrol stations for most of last year
We look at how the French government’s new fuel support payment will work
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Applications for France’s new targeted fuel support payment are to open later this month. We look at how the process works and who is eligible.
This aid is replacing the government’s fuel discount, which applied to all drivers at petrol stations across the country between April and December 2022.
The new help will take the form of a one-off €100 payment which will be paid to workers who fall into the first five income bands and who need to use their vehicle for work or to get to work. This is reported to equate to half of workers.
Who can benefit?
The aid will be paid to 10 million workers in France who had a revenu fiscal de référence (taxable income) of less than €14,700 in 2021.
These people must need to use their vehicle for work or to get to work. It applies to all vehicles including motorbikes.
If there are two people on low incomes in a household who both need their car to go to work, they can both receive the payment.
How do you apply?
Applications can be made online through a form made available on the impots.gouv.fr website. The form in question has not yet been launched but will be in place between January 16 and February 28,, which is the window for applications to be made.
You will need:
How will the payment be made?
Recipients will be paid directly into the bank account they have registered with the tax authorities.
Payments will begin to be made in the following weeks but the exact date is not yet known.
Why the figure of €100?
By the end of last year, the government’s fuel discount had been reduced from 30 cents per litre in September and October to 10 cents per litre in November and December.
Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has said that the €100 payment represents a continued 10-cent-per-litre discount for people who do 12,000km in their vehicle each year.
How much will this cost the state?
The payment will be made by the Direction générale des finances publiques and will cost the government around €1billion, Ms Borne has said.
The government fuel discount cost the state €8billion – “the equivalent of the justice ministry budget,” Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal said – before it expired on December 31.
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