French tax guide for new residents: first-year checklist

This guide sets out what to collect before your first French tax return, including income records, foreign-account details and the treaty documents relevant to your position.

Before the first filing season, confirm your tax-residence position and contact the tax office about your registration and access to online services. A first return is not necessarily made on paper, but missing account details should be addressed early. This checklist helps assemble the income, account and treaty information needed for the return.

Before you have a tax number

Documents to gather: proof of your residency date (lease or deed, employment contract start date, school registration for children); every payslip and pension statement for the full calendar year, French and foreign.
Who to contact: the tax office covering your address, to open your file and obtain your tax number; this is the step that has to happen before online filing becomes possible.
Question to ask: "can I file on paper this year while my number is processed, and what is the deadline for that paper filing specifically?" Paper deadlines are typically earlier than the online ones.

Income, accounts and contracts to review

Foreign income: retain statements and evidence of tax already paid. Identify the French category and treaty treatment for each amount.
Foreign accounts: list accounts opened, held, used or closed during the relevant year, then check which are reportable and any exceptions.
Foreign insurance and capitalisation policies: record the provider, policy details and dates for the separate reporting review.
Foreign digital-asset accounts: identify the platform and account information so that the applicable declaration can be established.

The first-year balancing payment and the second-year instalments

If income arrives from abroad in your first year, nothing is typically withheld at source in France on it, unlike a French salary. That means the balancing payment for your first year can land in the same period as the instalments for the following year. Ask your employer’s payroll contact, or the tax office directly, how much tax is already being deducted from your pay before it reaches you, and budget for both payments arriving close together rather than assuming the first year is cash-flow neutral.

The folder to keep from day one

One file, five sections: residency evidence, French income, foreign income, foreign accounts and contracts, and correspondence with the tax office. Add to it as the year goes, dated, rather than reconstructing it the following spring.

This guide is a preparation checklist, not a filing service: form numbers, deadlines and thresholds change every year and are not reproduced here. French tax residence under Article 4 B and Reporting foreign accounts, policies and trusts in France set out the underlying rules; this guide does not replace them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the very first thing I should do for French tax purposes?

Document your residency date with real evidence (a lease, an employment contract, a school registration) before anything else. Every other step, including opening your tax file and choosing which income falls under French rules, depends on that date being supportable rather than approximate.

I don’t have a French tax number yet. Can I still file on time?

Contact the tax office early to establish your registration and the filing method available. A paper return may be required if online access cannot be arranged, with its own deadline. Do not wait for an account to appear automatically before asking how to file.

Do I need to list a foreign account I opened years ago and never use?

An unused account can still be reportable. Include it in the inventory, even with no income or balance, then check the applicable rule and exceptions. Keeping the inventory complete avoids deciding from memory at filing time.

ÉTHIQUE ET PATRIMOINE, a French simplified joint-stock company (SAS), registered office at 41 rue Saint-Ferdinand, 75017 Paris, France, Paris Trade Register no. 803 414 796, VAT no. FR 40 803 414 796, registered with ORIAS under number no. 24001817 (www.orias.fr) — Financial investment adviser (CIF) no. 18002418, member of ANACOFI-CIF, a professional association approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and Anacofi-Courtage for its brokerage activity. Presence: Paris, Montpellier, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai and Dubai.

Prepare my first French return

Book a call

Written by Stéphane Molère, President of Éthique et Patrimoine — page last reviewed on 2026-09-15 — reference date for the rules: 2026-09-07.