Filing an income tax return when your spouse/partner lives abroad

Tax residence in France is determined for each member of the household.

You may have mixed residency status, which is when within a married couple or civil partnership:

• One taxpayer lives in France and the other abroad

• One taxpayer is an employee of the central government, a regional/local government or the hospital civil service working abroad who is taxed as a resident (Article 4 B-2 of the General Tax Code) and the other lives abroad

Even if you are married or in a civil partnership, it is possible for you to be considered a tax resident of France and your spouse/partner to be a non-resident

In this case:

• If you are married or in a civil partnership under a separation-of-property regime and you are living separately, you must each file a tax return: the resident must file with the tax office associated with their primary residence, and the non-resident must file with the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents. That means two separate returns, with each of you taxed accordingly as a resident or non-resident.

Note: The year after they move away from France, the newly non-resident spouse will need to file their return with the tax office associated with their former primary residence in France. They will need to indicate whether they still receive income from French sources that is taxable in France under the applicable international tax treaty.

If this is your situation, the tax office handling your return will be the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents. Your tax file will automatically be forwarded to them the year after your departure; you don’t need to do anything other than indicate you have left France and whether you have income from French sources.

For more information, see “How should I file my income tax return if I move abroad?”.

• If you are married or in a civil partnership under a joint property regime and one of you is a tax resident of France and the other is not under the terms of a tax treaty, you must declare:

  • all the income of the spouse or partner resident in France, and of the children or dependants residing in France

  • the income from French sources of the non-resident spouse or partner, provided that this income is taxable by France under the terms of the tax treaty

Note: Income from foreign sources of the non-resident individual is excluded from the tax base and is not included when applying the so-called “effective tax rate” rule. Non-resident members of the tax household are included for income splitting purposes.

Even if one of you lives abroad, it is possible for both of you to be considered tax residents of France

This is the case if:

• your spouse/partner is an employee of the central government, a regional/local government or the hospital civil service working abroad who is taxed as a resident (Article 4 B-2 of the General Tax Code)

• you reside in France

In this case, you are both taxable in France for all your income, including pay received for activity abroad.

If you are married or in a civil partnership under a joint property regime, you will need to file a joint tax return with the tax office associated with your primary residence in France.

If you are married or in a civil partnership under a separation-of-property regime, you must each file your own tax return:

• The spouse/partner working abroad will file with the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents

• The spouse/partner residing in France will file with the tax office associated with your residence in France

UPDATED DINR PART on AUGUST 20, 2021