News Digest: 2025 Tax Bands Announced & UK-French Driving Licence Extension

It’s been confirmed that in 2025, France’s income tax bands (les tranches de l’impôt sur le revenu) will be raised in line with inflation. The changes see each band raised by 1.9%, and the tax-free allowance raised to €11,509 (previously €11,294).

The new tax bands are as follows and will apply to income declared in 2025 (in other words, income earned in 2024):

• Up to €11,509: 0% tax rate
• From €11,510 to €29,344: 11% tax rate
• From €29,345 to €83,906: 30% tax rate
• From €83,907 to 180,471: 41% tax rate
• More than €180,471: 45% tax rate

There’s some rare good news for households in France – for once, you might actually see a reduction in your monthly bills! After steady increases over the past years, electricity prices in France are set to drop in January. The reduction is largely due to the falling energy prices but has also been impacted by the return of several of France’s nuclear power plants (previously out of action due to ongoing maintenance).

The changes in electricity tariffs will apply to those on regulated tariffs – an estimated 80% of households in France – and should see your bills drop by about 10% annually.

After repeated reports of delays for Brits swapping their driving licences for a French one, the French authorities have announced an increase to the time in which you can file your application. Anyone who has a UK driving licence issued after January 1st 2021, is required to swap it within 12 months of moving to France, but anyone with a driving licence issued before this date is only required to exchange their licence when the licence or photocard is set to expire (whichever comes first). You may also be asked to exchange your licence by the police if you have committed a driving offence or if your licence is lost or stolen.

Up until now, applications to exchange such licences were only open from six months prior to the expiration of your licence – any attempt to apply before this was automatically rejected by the online system. With wait times averaging eight months or more, this left many people worried about driving with an expired licence (note that you can drive in France while awaiting your new French licence, but only when you’ve been issued an Attestation de depôt de permis de conduire). Taking this into account, ANTS have now announced that applications will be open from 12 months before the expiration of your licence. The average wait time currently seems to be around 8 months or more,  so we highly recommend that you file your application as soon as possible.

Read my step-by-step guide to exchanging your UK licence for a French one.

Back by popular demand, we’re back next week with another free webinar devoted to retiring and moving to France. I’ll be joined by Fabien Pelissier of FAB French Insurance and French Consul Eric Donjon to bring you the latest news and advice on French visas and residency. We’ll be covering key topics such as the changing landscapes of the French visa application process, how to secure long-term residency in France, and how to get into the French healthcare system.

Sign up now and prepare your questions, as I’ll be putting as many of them as possible to our experts. See you there!

Retiring and Moving to France: Visa, Residency & Health Insurance

Thursday 10th October
4pm UK / 5pm France / 11am USA (EDT)