Before you start

You are a French tax resident under Art. 4 B CGI — your foyer (home/family) or principal stay (>183 days) is in France, or France is your centre of economic interests
A French tax number (numéro fiscal): first-year arrivals usually file a paper Form 2042 or request the number, then create a personal space on impots.gouv.fr
Your worldwide income figures for the calendar year (Jan-Dec) in EUR: French and foreign salary, freelance turnover, dividends, rental and capital gains

Step-by-step

1
Confirm residency and get a tax number
Determine residency under Art. 4 B CGI (foyer, 183-day stay, or centre of economic interests) — this is independent of your visa. As a first-year arrival you have no online account yet: file a paper déclaration des revenus (Form 2042, plus 2042-C and 2047 for foreign income) at your local Service des Impôts des Particuliers, or use the 'I don't have a tax number' request on impots.gouv.fr. You then receive a numéro fiscal to create your espace particulier.
In personWho: New resident (salaried or self-employed)Account/number issued within a few weeks; do it in your first filing seasonFree
2
Check the régime des impatriés (salaried hires only)
If you were tax-resident OUTSIDE France for the 5 calendar years before taking up a role with a French employer, Art. 155 B CGI can exempt your prime d'impatriation (real amount, or a flat 30% of net pay by option), the share of pay for workdays performed abroad, and 50% of certain foreign-source dividends, interest and capital gains. It runs to 31 December of the 8th year after you start. Declare the exempt amounts on Form 2042-C. Locally hired or self-employed people generally don't qualify.
Via employerWho: Employee/manager recruited from abroad + employer payrollSet at hiring; claimed each year on the returnFree (worth thousands in tax saved)
3
Let PAYE run, then verify your prélèvement à la source rate
Since 2019 tax is withheld at source: salary by your employer, freelance/rental income via monthly or quarterly acomptes debited by the DGFiP. Check your taux de prélèvement in your espace particulier and update it after any income change (new job, partner, child) so you aren't over- or under-withheld. PAYE is only an advance — it does NOT replace the annual return.
OnlineWho: All residents; employer withholds for salariesMonthly; adjust the rate anytime onlineWithholding only (no separate fee)
4
File the annual return (déclaration des revenus)
Each spring declare the prior calendar year online at impots.gouv.fr (mandatory once you have an account; staggered May-June deadlines by département, Paris/75 in the late-May/early-June wave). Report worldwide income; tax is computed by the quotient familial (income split across household parts, each run through the brackets). The avis d'impôt issued in summer reconciles what PAYE already took — refund or balance due. Self-employed people also declare turnover to URSSAF under the micro-entrepreneur regime.
OnlineWho: All French tax residentsFiling window April-June; avis d'impôt in summer (~July-Aug)Free to file

Documents you’ll need

Numéro fiscal (tax number) and impots.gouv.fr login, or passport + proof of Paris address for the first paper filing
French payslips and the employer's year-end récapitulatif; foreign income statements converted to EUR (Form 2047)
For impatriés: employment contract/assignment letter showing the prime d'impatriation and recruitment from abroad
Bank statements for dividends, interest, capital gains and any foreign accounts (declared on Form 3916 — omitting them is heavily penalised)
For freelancers: SIRET / micro-entrepreneur registration and monthly/quarterly URSSAF turnover declarations

Things most newcomers don’t know

The 2026 brackets (on 2025 income) were re-indexed +0.9%: 0% to €11,600 per part, then 11% to €29,579, 30% to €84,577, 41% to €181,917, 45% above. Because of the quotient familial, a couple gets 2 parts and each child adds a half-part, so a household's income is split before the rates bite.

People anchor on a single 0%/45% number and forget the per-part split and yearly indexation, badly mis-estimating their bill.

Source: service-public.gouv.fr (Loi de finances 2026, promulgated 19 Feb 2026)

The régime des impatriés is the single biggest expat lever and is claimed on YOUR return, not granted automatically — exempting the impatriation bonus (or a flat 30% of net pay), foreign-workday pay, and 50% of foreign-source passive income for up to 8 years.

Many eligible new hires never tick the box and overpay for years; the 5-years-non-resident condition and the local-hire exclusion are easy to miss. The Aug-2025 BOFiP update even admits people who applied from abroad to a French job offer.

Source: impots.gouv.fr / BOFiP BOI-RSA-GEO-40-10-10 (updated 11 Aug 2025), Art. 155 B CGI

Remote freelancers usually register as micro-entrepreneur via URSSAF: flat social contributions on turnover (roughly 21.2% for BIC services, ~24.6% for BNC liberal professions, ~12.3% for goods), valid up to €77,700 (services) / €188,700 (goods).

The micro regime looks cheap until you realise charges hit gross turnover with no expense deduction; high-cost businesses are often better off under the régime réel.

Source: URSSAF / entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr (micro-entrepreneur 2025)

Common mistakes to avoid

Thinking PAYE withholding ends your obligations — you must still file the annual return, and a missing or late déclaration triggers penalties even if tax was withheld
Assuming a residence permit or work visa sets your tax residency — residency is decided by Art. 4 B CGI (foyer, 183 days, economic centre), so you can be a French tax resident from day one
Not declaring foreign bank accounts and life-insurance contracts (Form 3916) — non-declaration carries fixed fines per account and extends the audit window
US citizens forgetting they STILL file a US return and FBAR/FATCA reports; the US–France treaty largely prevents double taxation but does not remove US filing duties
Overlooking the 17.2% social charges on investment/rental income and the €1.3M IFI real-estate wealth tax, which can dwarf the income-tax line for property owners

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.