Spring has sprung here in France, and that means it’s officially tax season. We arrived last year, so we’re now required to tackle one of the last big tasks of settling: the French tax return.
With our American filing out of the way, we recently dove into a whole new world and tax system. While we haven’t yet received our tax bill to tie the whole experience together, this is how we approached our first tax filing in France.
Tax disclaimer: This information is provided for general educational purposes only. Tax outcomes vary based on income type, residency status, and individual circumstances. This is not tax advice. For personalized guidance, consult a qualified tax professional.
France’s Tax Season
Tax season 2025 officially kicked off in France on April 9th, 2026, but in true French fashion, many of the forms were not available until the 20th.
The due date for the tax returns varies by department, but paper returns for first-time filers are due early, on May 19th.
The Paper Tax Filing
One of the biggest complications for the first filing in France: it must be done on paper. Only after the first filing will you receive your tax number and be able to submit electronically.
Luckily, there are no calculations to perform on a French tax return. It’s a simple exercise of putting the proper income into the correct box.
Le Numéro Fiscal
Similar to a Social Security number in the US, each French tax filer uses a fiscal number to identify themselves. This number is different from the Sécurité Sociale you’ll receive along with the Carte Vitale.
We heard conflicting information on whether this number is needed before the first French tax filing. We ended up submitting Form 2043-SD, estimating our yearly income, to receive our fiscal numbers.
In typical French fashion, we had not received our numbers by the start of tax season, four months later. We had to reach out to our local tax office to receive the numbers and go into the office to have our online portal activated.
We did this all in the hopes of filing online and skipping the first paper file, but to no avail. The online portal wouldn’t even let us access the tax software, and we had to submit a paper tax return anyway.
How We Reported Our Income
Disclaimer: We are not tax professionals. This is meant to be informative and is not tax advice!
As American expats, our tax situation ended up being surprisingly simple. In 2025, we had four sources of income: interest, dividends, capital gains, and retirement account distributions, all originating in the US. The only difficult piece to the French tax filing is deciphering which of the many boxes and forms to put this income into.
We submitted one tax return together, with both of our names on all forms, because we are married and living at the same address.
The Exchange Rate
First, we calculated the USD:Euro exchange rate for the year. We used the Bank of France official rate for Dec 31, 2024 and Dec 31, 2025 averaged together to calculate that $1 = €0.9034 and €1 = $1.107.
Form 2047 – Déclaration des revenus encaissés à l’étranger
As all of our income originated in the US, this was our primary form for reporting our American income. We had to make extra room in section 6 for the four types of income, but the total reported here and in box 8TK of Form 2042 is crucial.
Retirement Income
We reported our retirement income from our 401k withdrawal in box 1, section 12, under Pensions, Retraites. We added “Pensions” to box 6, specifying they originated in États-Unis.
Dividends
We reported our dividends, all from US-domiciled funds, in box 2, line 210, 221, and 223. We added “Dividendes” to box 6, specifying they originated in États-Unis.
Interest
We reported our US interest in box 2, line 240, 251, and 252. We added “Intérêts” to box 6, specifying they originated in États-Unis.
Capital Gains (Plus-Values)
We reported our capital gains, all from US-domiciled funds which pay dividends, in box 3 line 30, under plus-values avant abattement. We added “Plus-values” to box 6, specifying they originated in États-Unis.
Form 2042 – Déclaration des revenus
France’s Form 2042 is the primary form that everyone will submit, similar to the US’s Form 1040. Next to many of the boxes on Form 2047, the box to also report the income on Form 2042 is listed.
We reported our retirement income on lines 1AL and 1BL, our dividends on line 2TS, and our interest on line 2TR. Our capital gains were reported on the supplemental Form 2042-C, on line 3VG.
We reported the total from Form 2047 Section 6 on line 8TK, and checked box 8UU to indicate we had also attached Form 3916.
US-France Tax Treaty
Under the information section of Form 2042, we wrote that we were both US citizens and referred to Article 24 Section 1B of the US-France Tax Treaty.
This section of the tax treaty is why we’re filing our income under Revenus ouvrant droit à un crédit d’impôt égal à l’impôt français and not Revenus ouvrant droit à un crédit d’impôt égal à l’impôt payé à l’étranger.
We would highly recommend any Americans doing their own French taxes to read this section (in French), despite how dense and confusing it can be. We’ve included a translation of Article 24, Section 1A and 1B at the end of this article for reference.
Form 3916 – Déclaration par un résident d’un compte ouvert hors de France
The crux of any American filing their taxes in France: each and every foreign financial account must be declared. We had over 40! Our local tax office advised us to only fill out one form and attach a sheet with all the accounts listed. It still took us hours to hunt down all the information.
This article has more information on how to fill out the form and what accounts should be reported.
The French Tax Dossier
In addition to filling out the above forms, we also had to submit a stack of paperwork for our first filing. It is France after all. We included a copy of:
- Our passports
- Our marriage license
- Our bank information (RIB)
- Proof of address
So… How Much Do I Owe?
French taxes work differently from American ones. The tax payer (you) doesn’t do any of the calculations, but simply submits all the information for the tax office to calculate it themselves.
Tax bills are expected to be sent out in August, with PUMA charges (we’re still waiting to learn about the new changes) going out in November or December.
We expect to owe €0 in income tax as all of our income should be covered by un crédit d’impôt égal à l’impôt français, a credit equal to French taxes. We’ll keep this article updated with the actual bill we receive.
The Local Fisc Office
While figuring all of this out, we went into our local tax office in Annecy to ask questions. They were incredibly helpful, and we left feeling confident in our form-filling abilities.
We’d strongly advise anyone working on their taxes for the first time to plan a trip into their local tax office before submitting. Hopefully, the above information provides a strong base for a rough draft, which the advisor can help polish into a final version.
The US-France Tax Treaty
Below, we’ve included a Google translation of the relevant part of the US-France tax treaty, Article 24, Section 1A and 1B. The official French version of the treaty is more complete than the English version and has more relevant details.
Article 24
With regard to France, double taxation is eliminated as follows.
Section 1a
Income arising in the United States, which is taxable or taxable only in the United States in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, shall be taken into account for the calculation of French tax when its recipient is a resident of France and is not exempt from corporation tax under French domestic law. In this case, US tax is not deductible from this income, but the recipient is entitled to a tax credit against French tax. This tax credit is equal to:
(i) for income not mentioned in paragraphs (ii) and (iii), the amount of French tax corresponding to this income;
(ii) for income referred to in Article 14 (Self-employment), the amount of French tax corresponding to this income. However, for the income referred to in paragraph 4 of Article 14, this tax credit may not result in an exemption exceeding the limit set in that paragraph 4;
iii) for the income referred to in Article 10 (Dividends), Article 11 (Interest), paragraph 1 of Article 13 (Capital Gains), Article 16 (Directors’ Fees) and Article 17 (Artists and Athletes), the amount of tax paid in the United States in accordance with the provisions of the Convention; however, this tax credit may not exceed the amount of French tax corresponding to that income.
Section 1b
Where the recipient of the income is an individual who is both a resident of France and a citizen of the United States, the tax credit provided for in (a) (i) is also granted for:
(i) income consisting of dividends paid by a company that is a resident of the United States, or interest arising from the United States within the meaning of paragraph 5 of Article 11 (Interest) or royalties arising from the United States within the meaning of paragraph 4 of Article 12 (Royalties), of which that individual is the beneficial owner and which are paid by:
(a) the United States, one of its political subdivisions, or one of its local authorities; or
bb) a person incorporated under the laws of a Member State of the
United States or the District of Columbia, whose principal class of shares or units are traded extensively and regularly on a regulated stock market
as defined in paragraph 7(d) of Article 30 (Limitation of the Benefits of the Convention); or
cc) a company that is a resident of the United States, provided that less than 10 percent of the voting rights in that company are held, directly or
indirectly, by the resident of France during the entire portion of that company’s fiscal year prior to the date of payment of the income to its beneficiary, and during the previous fiscal year (if any), and provided that less than 50 percent of those voting rights are held – directly or indirectly – by residents of France during the same period; or
dd) a resident of the United States whose gross income for the preceding tax period (if any) consisted, directly or indirectly, of income not arising in the United States;
ii) capital gains from the disposition of property generating the income referred to in i; however, this disposition is taken into account for determining the threshold for taxation applicable to capital gains on securities in France;
iii) profits or gains from transactions on a public options or futures market located in the United States;
iv) income that would be exempt from U.S. tax under Section 20 (Teachers and Researchers) or Section 21 (Students and Trainees) if the individual were not a citizen of the United States; and
v) alimony and annuities arising in the United States.
The provisions of this section (b) apply only if the resident of France who is a citizen of the United States proves that they have fulfilled their obligations relating to federal income tax in the United States, and after
receipt by the French tax authorities of any certificate required by the competent French authority, or upon application for a refund of tax paid submitted to the French tax authorities and accompanied by any certificate required by the competent French authority.
Questions? Comments? We’d love to hear from you in the comment section, or feel free to write us directly. We’ll do our best, but we’re not tax professionals!
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