Many households should see their tax bill decrease.
Spring is slowly rearing its head and, with it, comes the delicate tax season. In a few weeks – the dates are not yet official – all French people will have to complete the usual income tax return to find out whether or not they owe money to the State. A moment dreaded by most taxpayers, even if less than one in two households owe income tax. Only 18 of the 40 million taxpayers have to pay it.
For many French people, declaring their taxes in 2024 should be “good” news, as improbable as it may seem. The reason is quite simple: compared to 2023, the bill will become lighter. Many households are expected to pay less money to the taxman than last year. In fact, the amounts of the various tax brackets were increased by 4.8% on 1er January, to take inflation into account. If your salary has not increased or little between 2022 and 2023 (we declare 2023 income in spring 2024), this could be “beneficial” for you.
Two examples to better understand. Mr. Dupont earned €2,000 net per month in 2022. He therefore declared €24,000 in income during the 2023 declaration and paid €1,454 to the tax authorities. In 2023, it has not been increased. He will therefore declare €24,000 in income again in spring 2024. As the scales have increased, he will only pay €1,397 in taxes. If he only had a 2% increase, he will pay €1,450 in taxes.
Using our table, you can find out if you will pay the same or less taxes this year. The people concerned are those who have had no increase or, perhaps, minimal increases. These estimates were established by taking into account only income linked to salary, for a single person.
According to a study from the recruitment firm Robert Half published during the summer of 2023, 45% of women and 35% of men declared that they had not received any increase in the first months of the year. As these generally only take place at the start of the year, salaries have not necessarily changed further at the end of 2023. Up to 40% of employees could therefore be affected by a drop in taxes, resulting from a non-increase in their income.
However, and it is important to emphasize this, paying less taxes -generally- means a reduction in purchasing power. If certain tax exemption schemes exist to lower the bill without affecting the standard of living, for the majority, this amounts to a setback which forces them to tighten their belts a little more.