Changing your withholding tax rate in France: lower, higher, individual or neutral rate

Step by step

1. Estimate your income for the current year. The service asks for your household's net taxable income and deductions (maintenance, retirement savings plan payments) for the whole current year. Add up what you have already received and what you will receive, including all types of income. The site's withholding rate tool gives you a rough idea of the new rate.
2. Open “Gérer mon prélèvement à la source”. Log in to your online tax account and open the “Prélèvement à la source” menu. The home screen shows your current rate; “Consulter vos taux” shows the next rate and when it applies, “Consulter l'historique de vos actions” your past requests.
3. Income down or up: update your rate. Click the “Actualiser suite à une hausse ou une baisse de vos revenus” button (update after a rise or fall in income), confirm your family situation and dependants, then enter your estimate; for a decrease, the service also asks for last year's income (prefilled after 1 September). A lower rate is only granted if the recalculated withholding is more than 5% below what you would pay without a change; raising it is always allowed. The service shows the new rate, and you confirm it or not.
4. As a couple: choose between individual and household rates. Since 1 September 2025, each member of a married or PACS couple has an individual rate by default, reflecting their own income (salary, pensions, self-employed income); shared income, such as rent, stays at the household rate. The couple's total tax does not change, only how it is split. To go back to a single rate, use the “Opter pour le taux foyer de votre prélèvement à la source” box in the same section.
5. Neutral rate: keep your rate from your employer. You can ask for your employer to apply a non-personalised rate, based on your salary alone, for example if you have other significant income. If it is lower than your personal rate, you pay the difference to the tax office every month; if it is higher, the excess is only refunded after next year's return.
6. Check the confirmation and your payslips. An email confirms your request, and the rate is sent automatically to your employer, pension fund or France Travail, which applies it within 1 to 3 months. Check the withholding tax line on your next payslips.
7. Do it again at year end if needed. An adjusted rate ends on 31 December: on 1 January, the rate from your latest return comes back. If your income stays different the following year, repeat the process from the end of November. For an increase requested early in the year, the rate from your return replaces it from September if it is higher.

Documents to prepare

• Your latest payslips (taxable pay and tax already withheld)
• Evidence of your income to come: new contract, contract amendment, France Travail notification, pension statement
• The amount of your expected deductible charges (maintenance, retirement savings plan)
• Your latest tax notice and your impots.gouv.fr login details

Pitfalls to avoid

• An estimate that is too low only postpones the tax to the following summer's balance, and an excessive or wrong reduction can be penalised.
• The adjusted rate expires on 31 December: unless you act again from the end of November, the rate from your latest return comes back in January.
• The neutral rate does not lower your tax: if your real rate is higher, you pay the difference yourself every month.
• A marriage, PACS, birth or separation is reported with “Signaler un changement” (report a change) within 60 days, not with an income update.
• Waiting delays everything: the new rate can take up to 3 months to apply, so ask as soon as you know about the change.