Tax in France: no favourable regime, but a system that helps families

Unlike Portugal, France has never had a little tax paradise for newcomers — so there's no myth to puncture either. What there is to know changes your planning on three points: who counts, when the first return comes, and why the one favourable regime that exists is almost certainly not for you.

The one favourable regime isn't for you

France has the régime des impatriés: a temporary exemption for whoever is recruited from abroad by a company established in France — a transfer within a group, or a recruitment 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 don't move "for the tax" — that reason doesn't 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. The income is divided by the number of parts: a couple counts for two, the first and second child for half each, the third child for a whole one. On each part the rate runs separately through the brackets.

The effect: a family with one main income often pays noticeably less in France than the same family in the Netherlands, because the income is arithmetically spread over the household. The brackets themselves (for 2025 income): 0% up to € 11,600 per part, then 11%, 30%, 41% and 45% above € 181,917 per part.

The return that only comes next year

France has no payroll-return moment on arrival: you file your first French return in the spring after your year of arrival, for the months you lived there. Put that in your diary, because no invitation comes — you report yourself to the tax authority. And for that same year you file your last return in the Netherlands with the M form. Two returns for one year is normal; the tax treaty of 1973 regulates who may tax what, so that you don't pay twice.

Good to know for your housing costs: the taxe d'habitation on main residences was abolished in 2023, and the taxe foncière is an owner's tax — as a tenant you don't pay it.

The conversation that belongs before departure

How the treaty works out for you — pension, your own home, box 3 assets, working remotely — is personal, and 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's the whole lesson, and with France it's no different from any other destination.