Tax in France: no favourable regime, but a system that helps families
France has no little tax paradise for newcomers — the only favourable regime is for employees brought in by a French company. What there is: a system that counts per household, five brackets from 0 to 45%, a treaty that assigns your occupational pension to France without a threshold, and a first return that only comes the year after your arrival — usually on paper.
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There is no tax advantage for people who move to France on their own. The one favourable regime is for employees whom a French company brings in from abroad. Unlike Portugal, France has never had a little tax paradise for newcomers. So there is no myth to puncture either.
What there is to know changes your planning on four points:
- who counts;
- when the first return comes;
- what the treaty does with your pension;
- why the one favourable regime that does exist is almost certainly not for you.
The one favourable regime is not for you
France has the régime des impatriés, the scheme for employees brought in from abroad. It is a temporary exemption for whoever is recruited from abroad by a company established in France. Think of a transfer within a group, or a hire from abroad.
The tax authority explicitly excludes the rest: whoever comes to France on their own initiative to work there falls outside it. A pensioner, a self-employed person, someone who keeps working remotely for a Dutch employer: none of them qualifies.
So do not move "for the tax", because that reason does not exist in France. Fortunately what does apply is simply a normal European system, with one peculiarity that works out well for families.
The household counts, not the individual
The Netherlands taxes individuals. France taxes the foyer fiscal: the household, on one return.
Income is divided by the number of parts (shares):
- a couple counts as two;
- the first and second child each count as a half;
- the third child counts as a whole.
The rate runs through the brackets separately for each part. Service-Public's scale for the 2026 return looks like this:
| Taxable income per part | Rate |
|---|---|
| up to € 11,600 | 0% |
| € 11,601 – € 29,579 | 11% |
| € 29,580 – € 84,577 | 30% |
| € 84,578 – € 181,917 | 41% |
| above € 181,917 | 45% |
The effect: a family with one main income often pays noticeably less in France than the same family in the Netherlands. The income is arithmetically spread over the household.
Service-Public works it out:
- A single person with € 30,000 taxable pays € 2,104, a little over 7% of their income.
- A couple with two children and € 60,000 first divides that amount by three parts, and so starts at € 20,000 per part.
The advantage of children is capped, though, by the plafonnement du quotient familial. So at high incomes it flattens out.
What does the treaty do with your pension and your AOW?
The tax treaty of 1973 is shorter on pensions than most other treaties. Article 18 says that pensions "in respect of past employment" are taxable only in the country where you live. Without a threshold, and without the exceptions the Portuguese treaty does have.
Your occupational pension is therefore taxed in France, and that does not happen by itself. Without an exemption declaration your fund withholds Dutch wage tax, and you effectively pay twice.
Article 19 holds the exception: a pension from government service, the ABP part (the pension from the fund for government and education), the Netherlands may tax.
And your AOW is not a pension from employment. It falls under article 22, other income, likewise in your country of residence.
The return that only comes next year
France has no tax moment on arrival. You file your first French return in the spring after your year of arrival. It covers the months you lived there, from your arrival date to 31 December.
The tax authority is precise about the form. Whoever files in France for the first time "has no access to the online return". You then hand in form 2042 on paper at the tax office of your new place of residence, with the annexes:
- for foreign income (2047);
- for let property (2044).
Did you already have a numéro fiscal, for example because you picked it up at the tax office after arrival? Then you can use it to create an account on impots.gouv.fr and file online even the first time. That is on another page of the same tax authority.
No invitation comes: you report yourself.
And for that same year you file your last Dutch return with the M form. Two returns for one year is normal. The treaty governs who may tax what.
If you do buy a house, a second duty is added. Since the abolition of the taxe d'habitation on main residences every owner must state in their online space how they use their property — the déclaration d'occupation — at every change, and whoever has never done so before 1 July 2026. As a tenant you pay neither that tax nor the taxe foncière: the owner bears that.
The conversation that belongs before departure
How the treaty works out for you is personal. Think of your pension, your own home, your box 3 assets (such as savings and investments) or remote work. A few choices are expensive or impossible to repair afterwards.
One good conversation with a tax adviser who knows both countries, before you move: that is the whole lesson. For France it is no different from any other destination.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 2 of 5 of the journey, step 2.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to France or go straight to step 2.3 in the open roadmap.
What this means for your numbers →
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Légifrance — article 197 CGI, the brackets for 2025 income — legifrance.gouv.fr
- impots.gouv.fr — the foyer fiscal and the parts per family member — impots.gouv.fr
- impots.gouv.fr — the régime des impatriés, and who falls outside it — impots.gouv.fr
- Treaty database — tax treaty Netherlands–France (1973): article 18 (pensions), 19 (government service) and 22 (other income) — wetten.overheid.nl
- Service-Public — the income tax scale: the five brackets per part — service-public.gouv.fr
- impots.gouv.fr — new in France: the first return in the year after arrival, on paper at the office of your place of residence — impots.gouv.fr
- impots.gouv.fr — the first return: online with an account and your numéro fiscal, otherwise on paper — impots.gouv.fr
- impots.gouv.fr — the déclaration d'occupation for owners, before 1 July 2026 — impots.gouv.fr
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