Reporting a marriage, PACS, birth, separation or death to the French tax office

Step by step

1. Report the event within 60 days. In your online tax account, open “Gérer mon prélèvement à la source” then “Signaler un changement”. Give the date of the event and, for a marriage or PACS, your partner's name, date of birth and tax number. Each person needs their own tax number: if you do not have one, ask your local tax office.
2. Describe the new household and its income. The service asks for the number of dependants, any attached members, an estimate of the new household's income for the current year and the bank details to use. After a separation or a death, only give your own income (and that of your dependants).
3. Accept the new rate. A new rate is worked out at once, and you choose whether to accept it. Once accepted, it is sent to your employer, pension fund or France Travail, which apply it within 2 months at most. If you pay instalments (self-employment, rental income), their amount changes too.
4. Marriage or PACS: one joint return, or two that year. The following spring you normally file a single return with both your incomes for the whole year. For the year of the marriage or PACS only, you can choose two separate returns; this option does not exist when you go from a PACS to a marriage. The income tax simulator helps you compare both options.
5. Birth or adoption: the extra share counts for the whole year. A child born or adopted during the year gives you an extra half-share or share for the whole year, even if they arrived in December. Make sure they appear among your dependants in your tax return.
6. Divorce or separation: one return each for the whole year. In the year you separate, each of you files alone for your income and charges for the whole year, whatever the date. For a married couple, simply living apart is not enough: you must be in divorce proceedings with permission to live apart, or married under separate property and no longer living together, or one of you must have left home with separate income. If you already reported the separation online, you just confirm it; otherwise answer “Oui” to the question about the year's events at the start of your return. The tax for your years together remains owed by both of you.
7. Death of a spouse: two returns. In the year of the death, the surviving spouse files, from their own account, a joint return from 1 January to the date of death, then an individual return from the date of death to 31 December. All of the deceased person's income goes on the first one; the survivor keeps the same number of shares on the second.

Documents to prepare

• The exact date of the event and the document that records it (marriage certificate, PACS agreement, birth certificate, divorce ruling, death certificate)
• Each partner's tax number
• An estimate of the new household's income for the current year
• The new household's bank details
• The list of dependants and attached adult children

Pitfalls to avoid

• Reporting online does not replace the tax return: the event must be confirmed the following spring.
• Separate returns are only possible in the year of the marriage or PACS: after that, a joint return is required.
• Several changes in the same year (marriage then divorce, for example) cannot be filed online: you need a paper return, and your situation on 31 December is what counts.
• The impots.gouv mobile app cannot be used to file after a marriage, PACS or divorce: use the website.
• After a separation, only give your new address in your next return if you want to keep it confidential: otherwise it appears on shared documents.