Like every summer, the taxman will open his online service to correct income declaration. But this year, a discreetly modified rule changes the situation for taxpayers. And not in the right direction.
Each year, many of them realize, often too late, an error in their income declaration: forgotten income, non -deducted alimony, a badly checked box. Nothing insurmountable, we thought, since the tax administration provides an online correction service between the end of July and the beginning of December. A tool appreciated for its simplicity. At least, so far.
As of July 30, 2025, this service – called telecorrection – remains accessible, but becomes much more restrictive. The Ministry of the Economy discreetly refocused it on a single type of correction: those that increase tax. If you were wrong with your disadvantage, no problem, you can correct online. But if the error has played in favor of the tax authorities, the digital option will not be of any use to you. You will have to embark on a longer, more formal, more complicated and often more uncertain procedure.
This development is based on a decision of the Council of State, rendered in the spring. It specifies that only the corrections leading to an increase in the amount due can be made simply online. The others – those that could lead to a refund to the advantage of taxpayers – must now be the subject of a contentious complaint. A separate administrative approach, which the taxman can refuse, even if you are in your right.
In practice, this means that adding a forgotten income or rectifying an unjustified deduction will remain simple. But if you wish to correct an excess of income such as a omitted charge, a forgotten deduction or an unused exemption, you will have to make a written complaint, provide supporting documents, wait for the tax response … and sometimes even seize the administrative court if the tax administration responds negatively. Suffice to say that a simple forgetfulness can now turn into a real obstacle course.
The paradox of this reform is that it complicates the life of the most scrupulous taxpayers, those who would like to correct their mistakes in time. The online correction service will no longer help them if they have been declared more than necessary, by excess of prudence or simple inattention. This trip may discourage spontaneous regularization and strengthen mistrust towards an administrative machine perceived as less and less conciliatory.
The tax notices will come from July 24. And some taxpayers will discover, at that time, that correcting an error has become much more complicated than before. It will only be just a matter of clicks, but a matter of patience – and sometimes of legal perseverance.