Is it aways possible to correct an error in French tax income declaration?

Reader Question: Does the droit à l’erreur apply to all forms of income – I think that I declared some BNC revenue as Bic by mistake in my income declaration.

Droit à l’erreur applies to tax declarations generally, and refers to the possibility of sorting out mistakes without incurring a fine, if the tax office is satisfied it was a genuine error, so yes, it could apply here where some work income was declared in the wrong box, which likely resulted in an incorrect calculation of the expenses deduction allowed.

Where it applies, you do, of course, have to pay any additional tax that is payable after the correct declaration and you might be asked to pay some interest on this for late declaration, at 0.2%/month (or 0.1% if you own up spontaneously).

It relates to forgetting certain kinds of income or making a mistake in some figures, but does not apply if you made no declaration at all, or where the tax office suspects something was not declared deliberately.

Read more: Key errors foreigners may make with French tax declarations

It is most likely to apply where it is not something that you have done in the past before and where there is no reason to assume intentional tax evasion/fraud was involved.

You can correct your declaration at any time until December 4 by going into your account at impots.gouv.fr and clicking Accéder à la correction en ligne.

 Read more: How to correct your 2024 French tax declaration