French tax notices will arrive soon - what to check 

Households across France will soon receive their official notices relating to this spring’s income declaration, an important stage in the income tax process. 

It contains a lot of useful information, if you know your way around the document. 

Deadlines for the spring declaration (for 2025 income) are now long passed – although those who missed original deadlines are still required to declare – and tax authorities have used this information to make final calculations for that financial year. 

These calculations are contained in the tax notice (avis) sent to households across the country. 

Everyone who needed to file an income declaration in the spring (those who have their main residency in France or have declarable income derived from French sources) should receive an avis.

When will notices arrive?

Your avis will arrive between July 24 - 31 if you completed this spring’s declaration online. 

A digital version will be available in your personal log-in space (espace Finances publiques on the French tax site) and you will also receive an email informing you that the document has arrived.

From this year, online declarants automatically receive only an online avis, but were able to request a paper version if they wished. The deadline to request a hard copy of this year’s avis was June 15, but declarants can opt-in to receive future versions this way.

For those who completed paper declarations, a physical version of the document should arrive in the post between July 23 and August 28.

The tax authorities note that in exceptional circumstances an avis may not arrive until later.

If the arrival of your notice is delayed, the tax authorities will contact you to provide a revised schedule for refunds or additional payments.

If you do not receive your avis by the deadlines given above, you can contact the tax authorities to raise a query about it.

Do this either through the secure messaging service in your personal log-in space on the French tax site, call them on 0 809 401 401 (if in France) or visit your local tax office. 

What does the notice contain? 

The avis contains all the necessary information relating to your spring declaration.

It is a finalised version of the preliminary statement (avis de situation déclarative), which may have been provided in your personal log-in space if you completed your declaration online.

However, some information on the preliminary avis may be different to the final version, and it is this upcoming summer document that is the definitive notice.

It will be headed as being 2026's avis, on income from 2025.

Key information on page 1

On the left-hand side of the first page, the document contains information about the declarant, including address and numéro fiscal (tax number).  It also provides tax office contact information.

The centre of the first page has essential information on your income tax status this year. It will show if you have any additional tax to pay, are due to receive a refund, or if neither of these apply (ie. because you have already paid just the right amount of tax). 

Refunds will be paid either into a bank account linked to your account on the French tax site or via posted cheque (if bank information for the household has not been given online), between July 23 and July 31. This means for some that refund amounts will be sent before the avis arrives. 

For those with more tax still to pay, payment schedules, which will be shown, are based on the level of this. 

Amounts of up €300 have a payment deadline of September 25. If the authorities have your bank details, they can collect this automatically via prélèvement (direct debit).

Amounts over this are split into four equal payments on the following dates: September 25, October 26, November 25, and December 28 (also via direct debit).

If you do not have automatic payments enabled or the authorities do not have your bank information there are alternate methods to pay.

These include bank transfer, using an authorised tabac, or online through the impots.gouv.fr website or mobile app.

Cheques remain a possible payment method for individuals, including for income tax payments. Since March 2026 professionals have been unable to use cheques to pay taxes.

Further information about refunds and additional payments can be seen in our article here. 

The page also shows your household Revenu fiscal de référence (RFR), an important tax number as well as the number of ‘parts’ in your household. 

This information is used to define eligibility for several aids, often those aimed at low-income households, and your avis is the easiest place to find this information.

Your RFR is also used to check eligibility for the taxe foncière (property tax) exoneration for over-75s, which is based on household income. This should be applied automatically by authorities, but your avis will be vital as a means of proof if you believe you are entitled to the exoneration but are not benefitting from it.

Checking other sections

The other pages of the document contain information on how the authorities reached their final calculations, based on household income, deductions, tax credits, etc. 

If your tax appears to you unexpectedly high then this is where you can work out what it is due to.

The top of the second page, notably, includes the detail of the work and pension income you declared and your 10% deduction against these (if applicable), with the net assessable total in the column to the right. This is then followed by details of other kinds of income you declared (for example, investment dividends or interest - revenus de capitaux mobiliers - or unfurnished rentals - revenus fonciers). 

The total of assessable revenus (revenu imposable), notably after deduction of any deductible amounts of the CSG social charge, is shown below.

Beneath this is information on  tax reductions and credits you were entitled to. For example, if you have US pension income or UK government pension income (from work for the public sector), or UK or US rental income, you should see that a tax credit was awarded to cancel out French tax on these. 

Under this you will see the impôt net figure - your net income tax after credits and reductions. 

Figures are also given showing amounts you have already paid in tax-at-source and instalments, and any solde (remainder) that must still be paid.

There is then a section for the prélèvements sociaux (social charges). 

If your income includes kinds of income that should not be subject to the social charges, such as US pensions or UK government pensions, check here that the social charge figure (if any, for example because you had other kinds of income subject to these) does not appear unduly large.

If you notice anomalies you believe may be due to tax office error, you should contact your tax office, with the quickest method being using the secure messaging service in your online account. Click Je signale une erreur sur le calcul de mon impôt. 

Keeping your avis

The document should be kept for at least three years after the financial year it relates to (for example, this summer's notice should be kept until December 2028) states government site Service Public.

The three-year period corresponds to the tax authorities' right to reassess taxes, but this is increased to ten years in case of fraud.

Note that digital versions of the document remain available on the French tax site, but having a back-up (either printed or saved onto a USB stick) is also useful in case of any issue.

Further updates available

It could be that while consulting the avis, you realise you made an error or omission in your declaration. 

The ability to make changes to your initial spring declaration ended on June 25. 

However, a corrections service will reopen on July 29, lasting until December 2026 (the exact deadline is yet to be announced).

In this case, you will have a later, corrected avis sent out to you to account for these changes, if it alters the tax you need to pay or your RFR. 

If you have trouble paying additional tax required by the avis, read our article here for options.