Income Tax Time

Paying your tax through PAYE in the UK mostly shields you from having to deal with the Inland Revenue and you forget what the end of year keruffle is like - if you ever noticed. Here in France, of course, everyone needs to fill in their tax forms and submit them on-time. Fortunately the French system works on calendar years rather than the archaic April 5/6th; this makes it much easier to categorise everything.

Usually we have until the end of May to file our paperwork; this year the date has been pushed back because of the pandemic and now the final dates are sometime in June. A few years back everyone was expected to complete their return online though if this is your first year or you have no Internet, you still make a manual statement, on paper to the office in Confolens or wherever. In summary, for 2020 the final dates are:

• Online: Depts 01-19: June 4th (Charente & Charente Maritime)
• Online: Depts 20-54: June 8th (Dordogne)
• Online: Depts: 55+ June 11th (Duex-Sevres, Vienne & Haute-Vienne)

• Paper: June 12th

If you miss your date you may be penalised with a fine.

To access your personal space on the impots.gouv.fr website, you need a 13 digit "tax number" which changes every year. Our helpful correspondent, Isabelle Want, has prepared a guide (PDF) on how to get this number. If you already created your personal space last year, you can also ask to receive your number by email.

Click on "Receive your tax number by email"

Isabelle has also published a presentation on How to Declare Your Tax Online (PDF) and a review of Income Tax Forms for 2020 (PDF) - both very helpful if you want to file your own returns or even just for information. Filing your own tax return is not that difficult but you do need to be organised in collecting details of all your income - in euros!

Isabelle also publishes a monthly newsletter which you can get delivered to your inbox; as well as a copy of her article published in Etcetera magazine, she includes timely information, recipes and lots more. You can sign up for the next newsleter, browse past issues or read other practical information on living in France on the agency website.

Thanks Isabelle!