France: personal tax guide

Residence starts with your actual life and work

France taxes residents on worldwide income, subject to treaty allocation and relief. Domestic connections include the household home, the principal place of stay where relevant, a main professional activity in France, or the centre of economic interests. A family home or business connection can matter even below 183 days.

Analyse each spouse and each treaty separately. A foreign residence card or tax certificate is evidence; it does not remove French domestic connections. Keep a dated record of homes, family location, workdays and decision-making before assigning an arrival or departure date.

Salary and ordinary income: identify the tax year

The published 2026 assessment scale below applies to 2025 income. It is not a claim that the final scale for income earned during 2026 has already been enacted for the 2027 assessment. Taxable income is not gross salary: deductions, household parts and limits on family relief affect the computation.

For illustration, a single person with one tax part and €50,000 taxable income has €8,103.99 of scale tax before rounding, credits or other levies: €17,979 × 11% plus €20,421 × 30%. The marginal rate on the last euro is 30%; the whole €50,000 is not taxed at 30%. High-income additional charges need a separate calculation.

Investment income changed in 2026

The ordinary combined flat charge for many dividends, interest and securities gains is now 31.4%: 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social levies. Applying an old blanket 30% figure can understate the cost. The alternative progressive-scale election generally operates across eligible income and gains for the year, rather than allowing each item to be selected independently.

The 18.6% rate is not universal. Specified insurance and older savings products retain different social-levy treatment, and the effective date depends on the category and collection mechanism. A portfolio review must identify the product, payment or disposal date, acquisition history, foreign tax and social-insurance position before quoting a net return.

Asset cost basis on arrival

No general arrival-day market-value reset for purchased securities: Article 150-0 D starts from effective acquisition cost, subject to specific adjustments and applicable relief.

• Scope is ordinarily purchased securities under Article 150-0 D, not every asset class. Specific adjustments, treaty provisions and eligible impatriate relief require separate assessment.

Arrival does not automatically reset securities cost

Article 150-0 D starts from the effective acquisition price for securities bought for value, with separate rules for assets acquired without payment and other adjustments. Merely moving to France is not a general election to replace that cost with arrival-day market value.

Illustration of the default issue: shares bought for €100,000, worth €300,000 on arrival and later sold for €350,000 can have a €250,000 starting gain, not only the €50,000 increase since the move. This is before any applicable special rule, treaty relief, eligible impatriate exemption or foreign exit-tax interaction. Preserve both original cost evidence and a defensible arrival valuation; they answer different questions.

Two different new-resident reliefs

The impatriate employment regime can apply to qualifying employees or assimilated executives recruited or assigned from abroad after five preceding calendar years of nonresidence. Qualifying premium and foreign-work relief have conditions and caps; specified foreign passive income and gains can receive a 50% exemption. The regime runs through 31 December of the eighth calendar year following the start of duties. It does not exempt every new resident’s foreign income.

Real-estate wealth tax has a separate arrival provision. An eligible person who was nonresident for the preceding five calendar years is generally limited to French-situated taxable real estate through 31 December of the fifth year following arrival. This is an IFI rule, not an income-tax holiday or a securities cost reset.

Real-estate wealth and foreign entities

IFI applies when net taxable real-estate wealth exceeds €1.3 million, assessed with the relevant ownership, debt and exemption rules. Indirect holdings can count. Ordinary residents must consider foreign real estate as well as French property, unless an arrival provision or treaty changes the result.

Article 123 bis can attribute income from a privileged-tax foreign entity in which an individual has at least 10% of the relevant rights and whose assets are mainly financial. Trust and related-interest rules can complicate the ownership test. The privileged-regime comparison asks whether foreign tax is at least 40% lower than the comparable French charge; a country’s advertised headline rate alone is insufficient. Statutory safeguards and exemptions require their own analysis.

Exit tax: residence history, holdings and payment are separate

The ordinary unrealised-share-gain limb examines residence in France for at least six of the preceding ten years and holdings worth more than €800,000, or rights to at least 50% of a company’s profits. Deferred gains and related claims require separate review. The threshold refers to qualifying holdings, not cash or every asset owned.

Payment deferral and ultimate relief are different. Destination and cooperation conditions determine whether deferral is automatic or needs a request and security. For qualifying unrealised gains, the normal retention period for relief is two years, extended to five where the relevant portfolio exceeds €2.57 million. Disposals and other events can change the result. Keep the prescribed follow-up filings; do not assume departure makes the liability disappear.

Employee social contributions: separate the bases

The table lists selected ordinary private-sector employee components for 2026. The social-security ceiling is €4,005 monthly or €48,060 annually; prorating and cumulative payroll adjustments may apply. These figures are not a universal take-home-pay formula.

Complementary pension, executive contributions, collective health cover and special employment categories must also be calculated. Income-tax withholding is separate. A cross-border assignment may remain insured in another system under coordination rules, so establish coverage before applying French payroll percentages.

Annual reporting continues beyond payroll

Foreign accounts and specified foreign insurance or digital-asset accounts can require form 3916–3916 bis reporting. The return should reconcile investment statements, foreign tax, acquisition cost and the applicable currency conversion; paying tax abroad does not by itself remove French disclosure.

In the departure year, distinguish resident-period worldwide income from French-source income after departure, including the potential 2042-NR schedule. Retain the evidence supporting the change of residence and make the bank’s tax self-certification consistent with it. A payroll deduction or a change of postal address does not complete these workstreams.