How to correct your 2023 French tax declaration
The deadline is approaching to correct mistakes on the 2023 tax declaration - here's how the correction process works and why you might need it.
In 2018, the French gained the 'right to make mistakes' in admin tasks, essentially allowing people who had made an honest mistake on a form to correct it at a later date without risking sanctions.
In tax terms, this means that people have six months after it is filed to correct errors or add missing information on their annual income tax declaration.
This week is the deadline to make corrections.
When
The final deadline is midnight on Wednesday, December 6th, 2023.
Who
This is for people who have already filed their 2023 declaration back in May or June (depending on where you live). The annual income tax declaration is compulsory for anyone who lives in France, even if you have no income here.
The deadline for 2023 declarations has now passed, and they cannot be filed late - if you realise that you should have filed a declaration but didn't, contact your local tax office.
What
The correction service allows you to both correct information that is wrong or out of date, or to add information that you missed off.
The important thing is that the information was correct on the date you filed the declaration (May or June 2023) - there is no need to alter the declaration if things have changed since then.
There are some personal details that you cannot change such as your address or marital state, but you can alter or add the amounts declared.
One thing that frequently catches out foreigners in France is the need to declare all non-French bank accounts, even if they are dormant or have no money in them. You do not need to declare the amounts in the accounts, but you must list all bank accounts held in your name (including joint accounts) outside of France.
Failure to declare non-French accounts can lead to a fine of up to €10,000 per account that you did not declare (the average fine levied is €3,000 per account).
READ ALSO How to declare non-French bank accounts
If you didn't realise you needed to do this, you can add it to your declaration now, in the section for foreign earnings and investment.
How
The correction is done online, on your impots.gouv.fr account - log in to your personal account and navigate to Accédez à la correction en ligne (access online correction).
That will take you to your completed declaration, and you can alter whatever is needed.
Property tax declaration
The correction service is only available for the annual income tax declaration - not the one-off property tax declaration, since property tax bills based on the declaration have already been sent out. More details on that here.
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In 2018, the French gained the 'right to make mistakes' in admin tasks, essentially allowing people who had made an honest mistake on a form to correct it at a later date without risking sanctions.
In tax terms, this means that people have six months after it is filed to correct errors or add missing information on their annual income tax declaration.
This week is the deadline to make corrections.
When
The final deadline is midnight on Wednesday, December 6th, 2023.
Who
This is for people who have already filed their 2023 declaration back in May or June (depending on where you live). The annual income tax declaration is compulsory for anyone who lives in France, even if you have no income here.
The deadline for 2023 declarations has now passed, and they cannot be filed late - if you realise that you should have filed a declaration but didn't, contact your local tax office.
What
The correction service allows you to both correct information that is wrong or out of date, or to add information that you missed off.
The important thing is that the information was correct on the date you filed the declaration (May or June 2023) - there is no need to alter the declaration if things have changed since then.
There are some personal details that you cannot change such as your address or marital state, but you can alter or add the amounts declared.
One thing that frequently catches out foreigners in France is the need to declare all non-French bank accounts, even if they are dormant or have no money in them. You do not need to declare the amounts in the accounts, but you must list all bank accounts held in your name (including joint accounts) outside of France.
Failure to declare non-French accounts can lead to a fine of up to €10,000 per account that you did not declare (the average fine levied is €3,000 per account).
READ ALSO How to declare non-French bank accounts
If you didn't realise you needed to do this, you can add it to your declaration now, in the section for foreign earnings and investment.
How
The correction is done online, on your impots.gouv.fr account - log in to your personal account and navigate to Accédez à la correction en ligne (access online correction).
That will take you to your completed declaration, and you can alter whatever is needed.
Property tax declaration
The correction service is only available for the annual income tax declaration - not the one-off property tax declaration, since property tax bills based on the declaration have already been sent out. More details on that here.
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