11 million in France to receive this email from tax officials - what to do if you get it

France’s income tax declarations open this Thursday (April 10), with people having between six and eight weeks to make their declarations. 

Read more: These are the 2025 income tax declaration deadlines, by department in France

While it is a time where scammers look to target taxpayers with fraudulent emails, the authorities do send legitimate messages at this time. 

One such authentic email is to be sent to around 11 million taxpayers, and should arrive in email inboxes over the coming days. 

‘Automatic declaration’ of income information

This email informs people who are eligible for ‘automatic declaration’ of their tax return that information on their income has been pre-filled by the tax authorities, who already believe they have all the necessary details. 

This process has been in place since 2020, helping the tax authorities speed up declarations (and help people avoid missing the deadline) by simplifying the process.

It only applies to people with simple tax situations, whose incomes are only kinds that the French authorities can tax at source, such as French salaries and pensions, and is not applicable, for example, to people with any foreign income, self-employment income or rental income. 

It also only applies to people who, in last year’s tax return, declared only incomes that were already known to the tax office and prefilled in their forms. 

People are invited to double check that the information included is correct and if so, there is nothing further for them to do. 

This is done by logging onto your personal space on the French tax site, then clicking the ‘Vérifier les données de ma déclaration’ button

However, if there have been any changes to your situation – such as a new address, new family information such as marriage or pacs, new kinds of income or new expenses giving rise to tax credits etc – you will need to manually complete a declaration in the usual way.

This can still be done online through your personal space on the French tax website. 

People who have no internet access and complete their declarations via a physical paper form will receive the same information via a letter in the post.

Again however, if the information is not right, they must complete a declaration and send it before the deadline. 

Note that the birth or adoption of a child in the 2024 tax year does not prevent automatic declarations as long as this was notified to the tax authorities at the time.

In cases where failure to notify the authorities of a change leads to the person’s tax bill being too low, a 10% penalty will be applied to the final bill by the authorities, states the French Finance Ministry.