How should I file my income tax return if I move abroad ?

Persons who are residents of France for tax purposes are taxed on their French and foreign income. Persons not domiciled in France are taxable only on their income from French sources.

This means that filing conditions will be different depending on whether you are considered a resident or non-resident for tax purposes.

Filing returns online is now mandatory for all users whose main home has an Internet access. However, if you are unable to file returns online, paper returns can be downloaded from the impots.gouv.fr website.

Determining residence for tax purposes

Residence for tax purposes in France is determined for each member of a household.

You are considered to have transferred your tax domicile abroad if your home is outside France, including in an overseas territory or community (the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, French Polynesia, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna, Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélémy or New Caledonia).

Nevertheless, in certain cases, even if you live abroad, domestic law stipulates scenarios in which your residence for tax purposes will be considered to be in France.

During the year of departure, from 1 January to the departure date, the taxpayer is resident of France for tax purposes. After the departure date, depending on his/her circumstances, he/she will be deemed to be a resident or non-resident of France (refer to the special cases below).

Your income tax return

If you left France in Year Y, your last tax office will continue to handle your file until it comes time to process your tax return in Year Y+1 for income earned in Year Y.

When you file your income tax return in Year Y+1 concerning your income from Year Y, you will state your new address outside France in this return.

If you have French earnings taxable in France after your departure under international tax treaties, the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents (SIPNR) will become your new tax office with respect to income tax. Your file will be automatically transferred to that department.

If you have taxable income in France prior to and following your departure

You need to complete two returns:

- no. 2042 (your usual income tax return) for all income earned between 1 January and your date of
departure. If, during this period, you earned income abroad, this income should be declared using return no. 2047, and indicated on return no. 2042.

- no. 2042-NR (which you can select in the appendix section when you file online or by
downloading it from our www.impots.gouv.fr website) is only for French income taxable in France that you earned between your date of departure and 31 December of the year of your departure.

If you no longer have French earnings taxable in France

You need to expressly state this in the “Other information” (Renseignements complémentaires) box of your income tax return. Your file will remain with your last tax office.

Special cases

If you are a central government employee, local government employee or hospital civil service employee who has been posted abroad

In these three cases

As a central government employee posted abroad, you are nevertheless deemed as being resident of France for tax purposes (unless there are specific tax arrangements in the country of residence) and your tax liability is unlimited, and covers your earnings worldwide, both in France and abroad, in that capacity.

In this case, you tax affairs will nevertheless be managed by the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents (SIPNR), unless your spouse/partner (married or in a civil partnership under a joint property regime) remains in France.

If your household remains in France, you are liable for tax in France on all your earnings, including income for your work abroad and you should file your income tax return with the tax department with jurisdiction over your main residence in France.

On the other hand, if your household is outside of France and you are, in the country where you work, liable for personal income tax on all of your earnings, the wages for your work abroad are not liable for taxes in France.

Only your other French earnings (e.g. rental income) will be taxed by the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents, subject to international tax treaties.

If you are a couple with mixed residency status: one of you is resident for tax purposes abroad and the other in France

This will be the case if you live abroad but your household has remained in France.

This will also apply if you are a central government employee, local government employee or hospital civil service employee posted abroad and deemed to be resident of France for tax purposes, with your household being abroad.

In this case, if you are married or in a civil partnership under a separation-of-property regime and you are living separately, each of you must file an income tax return with the tax office with jurisdiction over your main residence (for the resident) and with the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents (for the non-resident).

In respect of the year he/she moves away from France, the spouse (or civil partner) who has become a non-resident must file an income tax return with the tax office with jurisdiction over his/her former main residence and must indicate whether he/she continues to receive income from French sources that is taxable in France under the terms of an international tax treaty. In this case alone, the competent tax office will be the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents.

If one of you is a French resident for tax purposes and the other is not under the terms of a tax treaty, and if you are married or in a civil partnership under a joint property regime, you must declare all the income of the spouse or partner resident in France, and of the children or dependants residing in France for tax purposes and the income from French sources of the non-resident spouse or partner, provided that the tax treaty grants France the right to tax this income.

The competent tax department is the one with jurisdiction over your main residence in France.

If you work for an international organisation or a European institution

Your wages are generally liable for a tax that is withheld by the organisation that pays you so to find out more, please contact its human resources department.

If you live outside France and have other French earnings taxable in France, subject to provisions in international tax treaties, you are taxable according to the rules applicable to non-residents and your tax affairs are managed by the Individual Tax Department for Non-Residents.

Exception: If you are a European civil servant and were a resident of France during your initial assignment at a European institution, your residence for tax purposes remains in France and you are taxed under the resident tax regime.

However, if you were not a resident of France during your initial assignment at a European institution, your residence for tax purposes is outside of France. In this case, if you have other French earnings, you will be taxed under the non-resident tax regime.

UPDATED DINR PART on 15 MAY 2020