Filling in Your 2024 French Tax Return: The BASICS (Step-by-Step)

The main tax return ‘Form 2042’, also titled ‘Déclaration principale’ (online) and ‘Déclaration des revenus 2022′ (paper form), must be filled in by everyone resident in France, as well as non-residents with French income (see our guide Second Home Owners: Do I Need to File a French Tax Return?), even if you have no income to declare or are not liable to pay any taxes. In 2024, you will be declaring your income from the previous year, 2023.

If it’s your very first time filling in a French tax return, you will need to submit a paper form, which you can download here. Everyone else will need to file their annual tax return online.

You can access the digital version of Form 2042 by logging into your account on the government tax website at impots.gouv.fr.

If you haven’t already set up your online account, find out How to Get a French Numero Fiscal & Open Your Online Tax Account.

Step 1 / Étape 1

The first few pages of your online tax return will ask you to confirm your basic personal information, including your name, address, and date of birth. This is also the moment to declare any change of status, such as a marriage/PACS, divorce, or a death if you haven’t already. Be sure to verify that all the information is correct before you move on.

Step 2 / Étape 2

The ‘déclaration par un mandataire ou un tiers de confiance’ is for those filling in the tax return on behalf of someone else.

The ‘renseignements personnels’ section concerns your fiscal household – this is where you will declare the birth of a child or any children under your charge, as well as your ‘situation familiale’ (whether you are single, married, PACSed, etc)

Step 3 / Étape 3

The ‘Revenus et charges’ section is the bulk of the tax return and is where you will enter information regarding both your French and worldwide income, whether from work, pensions, property rentals, investments, or other.

Rubriques & annexes

Here are some of the most common required by expats and property owners in France:

2042K – is for declaring your French salary

2042C PRO is for declaring income as a micro-entrepreneur and for furnished property rentals.

2042C is for declaring foreign investments and capital gains.

2042-IFI is for declaring French wealth tax.

2047 is for declaring income from foreign sources, including UK government pension and rental income where tax has already been paid in the UK.

2044 is for declaring income from property rentals under the réel system.

3916-3016-BIS is for declaring overseas bank accounts and life insurance policies

2086 is for declaring crypto-currency investments.

Declaring your income

Once you’ve selected the forms you need, you will then move through several pages of forms, where you will be asked to declare your all your different income sources, relevant charges and deductions, and ‘divers’ (miscellaneous) revenue sources. Remember that you should be declaring all worldwide income on your French tax form, so if there’s something you know you have missed, make sure to search for the relevant form.

If you have foreign bank accounts to declare, make sure you also check the box ‘8UU’ under ‘Divers’. You will then be prompted to enter the number of accounts and fill in a separate form for each account. You’ll be asked for the account number, address, the date of opening and closing (if relevant) of the account. The boxes marked with an * are essential, so don’t leave any blank spaces – if you don’t know the exact opening date of the account, do your best to estimate the year that it was opened – you won’t be required to provide proof of this.

If you’ve forgotten to declare an account in previous years, it’s imperative to declare it as soon as possible – fines are more-often-than-not waived when individuals come forward of their own account. If you are worried that you haven’t declared it on previous forms, the best course of action is to send a message to the tax office or add a note to your declaration stating this mistake and asking them to please update the information accordingly (more on this below).

Read our full article French Tax FAQ: Do I Need to Declare Foreign Bank Accounts & Life Insurance Policies?

Step 4 / Étape 4

The final step is to sign your tax return and send off your declaration. At this stage, you will be able to view all your declared income from various sources under the ‘déclaration de revenus’ section, followed by an estimation of your income tax total (Estimation de vote impôt net après crédits d’impôt) and the outstanding amount that you will need to pay (Montant restant à payer). You can also confirm or change the payment details by adding your bank RIB.

Be sure to double-check that all the information is correct and that you are happy with the income tax calculations before clicking ‘signer ma declaration‘.

If you have any concerns or additional information that you want to add to your tax return, it’s a good idea to add a note to alert tax officers to your query. Examples of this might be when you’re declaring an overseas bank account that you’ve previously forgotten to declare and therefore wish to update previous tax returns (and hopefully get out of a fine!), or advising the tax office of the currency exchange calculations you used to reach the foreign income totals declared on your form. On the paper form, there is normally an ‘information’ section for this, but when declaring online, it’s best to use the online messaging service to relay any important notes.

For help with any of the forms, you can consult the ‘fiches pratiques’ linked to throughout the process. Or, for more personalised questions, use the message service within your personal space – advisers are on hand to help, and the response time is normally very quick.

Whether you are moving to France, own French property, or have business interests, assets, or investments in France—FrenchEntrée is here to help with all your tax questions. Our Essential Reading articles are designed to give you an overview of the basics, from income tax and social charges to wealth tax and property taxes. However, tax laws and rates are always subject to change, and international tax liabilities can be especially complicated, so if in doubt, we always advise discussing your personal situation with one of our recommended financial or tax advisors.

Disclaimer: This guide is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice regarding any aspect of your tax planning or tax liabilities in France. FrenchEntrée cannot be held responsible for the consequences of decisions or actions you may choose to take in connection with French tax declarations or tax liabilities.