You have filed your French tax return. What happens next?
You can expect to receive a statement in late July or early August that will tell you whether you have tax to pay for 2022
A view of the impots.gouv.fr French tax website
HJBC/Shutterstock
The final deadline to submit your income declarations in France passed last Thursday (June 8). Now all the paperwork is in, what happens next?
French authorities are now calculating income taxes for each household, taking into account how much has already been taken from you at source.
When these calculations are complete, you will likely find yourself in one of three scenarios:
- Tax to pay in the autumn
- No tax to pay
- Refund due to too much tax already paid
If you declared online, then at the end of the process you will already have received an automatic estimate of what tax will be payable (or not), however this will be confirmed officially on your avis d’impôt tax assessment statement sent out this summer, which you will be able to access at slightly different times depending on your situation.
However, the vast majority of tax-paying households will be able to see their tax assessments online between July 26 and August 4. If you have requested a paper copy, this will arrive between July 24 and August 30.
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Calendar
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Tax assessment available online
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Paper tax assessment sent in the post
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You already paid too much tax
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Between July 26 and August 4, 2023
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Between July 24 and August 25, 2023
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You have no extra tax to pay
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Between August 1 and August 30, 2023
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You have tax to pay
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Between July 28 and August 4, 2023
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Between July 28 and August 22, 2023
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Read more: Grants, savings, tax: how will your finances change in France in 2023?
No additional tax to pay
If you paid the correct amount, nothing will happen. You just need to keep the tax assessment document for your records.
Tax to pay
If you have tax to pay for 2022, the outstanding amount will feature on your tax assessment statement. It will also include the date or dates on which payment will be taken from your bank account, as long as you have given these details to the tax system.
If you have less than €300 to pay, it will be taken in one go in September. If you have more than €300 outstanding, the sum will be divided into four payments and staggered between September and December. If, despite this, you do not think you can pay your outstanding amount in one go, you can contact the tax authorities and request a different way of splitting the payments.
The French tax authorities have yet to say when exactly in September the sums will be taken from your account, but in 2022 it was taken on September 26.
If for some reason the tax authorities do not have your up-to-date bank details so as to take payments in this way, it is also possible to pay sums owed in a direct online payment via your online personal tax space, as well as (if the amount is less than €300) via cheque, cash or bank card at the tax office, or at a tabac which offers the paiement de proximité service.
Read also: How do tax inspections work in France, are foreigners more at risk?
You overpaid
If you have already paid too much tax for 2022 income, you will be reimbursed the excess amount in July or August. In 2022, the payments were made between July 21 and August 1.
If the tax authorities have your bank details, they will add the outstanding sum to your bank account, or they will send a cheque to your home address.
This might happen, for example, because you paid estimated instalments for certain incomes based on 2021 income but you had less coming in during 2002, or because your 2022 income declaration included claims for new tax credits.
Tax-at-source rate
The tax assessment will also tell you what your prélèvement à la source (tax-at-source) rate is, which is recalculated each year using the information submitted in your tax declaration.
This percentage refers to the amount that will be taken directly each month from your incomes such as a French salary, pension or jobseeker’s allowance. It is also used to work out provisional instalments to be taken for incomes as rents from property, or pensions from overseas.
Mandatory property declaration
Meanwhile, property owners in France have until June 30 to complete the mandatory Biens immobiliers property declaration form, which the tax authorities are also asking for this year.
All owners of residential property must complete the form, including residents in France, those who own property via an SCI, non-residents who own a second home, and those who rent their property out.
The form, which can be found via the Espace particulier space on the French tax site (or through the Espace professionnel for SCI property owners) in the Gérer vos biens immobiliers section, has to be completed online or over the phone to the tax authorities (on 0809 401 401 if currently in France).
For most people, the form is just a simple confirmation of data on the property/ies already held by the tax authorities.
Although there is a deadline of June 30, the tax authorities have said they will be lenient with regard to the legal penalty for non-completion of €150 per property, as it is the first year this declaration has been required.
They also stated that even if you spot a possible error in the information listed about a property it is better to still submit the declaration by the deadline, with the key information as to how the property is used. You should also inform them of the issue you have noticed, but this can be checked and resolved at a later date.
You can find a list of several key articles on the declaration here or otherwise search our website for updates with the term biens immobiliers.
The Connexion has also answered a number of reader questions on the subject which you can find below.
