No French tax return for several years: what the rules say

Official texts describe no separate procedure for several missed years. The ordinary penalties for a late return (déclaration de revenus) apply: a surcharge (majoration) of 10, 20, 40 or 80%, plus interest (intérêts de retard) of 0.20% a month. The tax office can reassess until the end of the 3rd year after the income year, or the 10th where undeclared foreign accounts exceeded €50,000 or fraud is suspected.

What applies to each missed year

Item	Rule	Source
Surcharge with no mise en demeure	10% of the tax; for income tax, under art. 1758 A CGI	service-public F34175; BOFiP BOI-CF-INF-10-20-10
Return filed within 30 days of a mise en demeure	20%	service-public F34175
Still no return 30 days after a mise en demeure	40%	service-public F34175; BOFiP BOI-CF-INF-10-20-10
Undeclared work (activité occulte)	80%, with no mise en demeure needed	service-public F34175; BOFiP BOI-CF-INF-10-20-10
Interest (intérêts de retard)	0.20% a month, from 1 July of the year after the income year to the end of the month in which the return is filed	service-public F34175; BOFiP BOI-CF-INF-10-10-20
Standard reassessment period (délai de reprise)	Until the end of the 3rd year after the year the tax relates to	BOFiP BOI-CF-PGR-10-20
Accounts abroad not declared	Until 31 December N+10, if the balances exceeded €50,000 at any time in the year	BOFiP BOI-CF-PGR-10-50
Suspected tax fraud, including undeclared activity	Until the end of the 10th year after the year for which the tax is due	service-public F417

The surcharge (majoration)

According to service-public, the surcharge is 10% for a late return, 20% if the return is filed within 30 days of a formal reminder from the tax office (mise en demeure), 40% if it is still missing 30 days after the reminder was received, and 80% if undeclared work (activité occulte) is uncovered. It is calculated on the full amount of tax, without subtracting instalments (acomptes) or sums already deducted (prélèvements).

BOFiP adds that the 10% surcharge in art. 1728 CGI does not apply to income tax returns, which come under art. 1758 A CGI instead. The undeclared-work rule covers business, professional and farm income (BIC, BNC, BA) and corporation tax. It does not cover employment income, rental income from property (revenus fonciers), investment income (revenus de capitaux mobiliers) or capital gains (plus-values).

Interest (intérêts de retard)

Interest is charged at 0.20% of the tax a month, or 2.4% a year. For income tax, BOFiP says it runs from 1 July of the year after the year the tax relates to, until the last day of the month in which the return is filed. Anything already paid, such as tax deducted under prélèvement à la source, is taken off before interest is worked out. Interest is charged in addition to the surcharge, not instead of it.

How far back the tax office can go (délai de reprise)

The general rule (art. L169 LPF) is that the tax office can correct the tax until the end of the 3rd year after the year it relates to.

This period becomes 10 years where foreign assets that had to be declared were not, in particular accounts abroad (art. 1649 A CGI) and life insurance policies taken out abroad (art. 1649 AA CGI). In that case the tax office can reassess the return for year N until 31 December N+10, but only for income connected with what was not declared. For accounts there is a threshold: the longer period applies if the combined credit balances of the accounts abroad went above €50,000 at any time during the year the return was due for. The country where the account is held does not matter.

Service-public (F417) gives a second case where the period runs to the end of the 10th year after the year for which the tax is due: when the taxpayer is suspected of tax fraud (fraude fiscale), including undeclared activity (activité occulte) or fraudulent conduct (agissement frauduleux).

Filing a return for a past year

Service-public says that a return can still be completed after the end of the filing season: online in the personal account (espace personnel) while online filing remains open, or on a paper form.

Without a letter from the tax office showing a tax number (numéro fiscal), the online account can only be set up after an identity check. On its page about a first return, service-public directs people to their local service des impôts des particuliers (SIP), in person or by post, giving their surname, first names, date and place of birth and postal address, with a copy of an identity document. Once the check is done, a letter arrives, and the account is created using the tax number and date of birth. Where filing online is not possible, a paper return is used.

Where to ask

Service-public points to the local SIP, through the secure messaging service (messagerie sécurisée) in the personal account or in person, and to the tax information line (Service d'information des impôts) on 0809 401 401, Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 19:00, except public holidays.

What this article does not cover

• A step-by-step way of catching up on several years. No official guidance for this situation was found on service-public or in BOFiP; the article only covers the penalties and time limits that apply to each return.
• Halving the interest. Art. 1727 V CGI reduces interest by 50% when a taxpayer acting in good faith voluntarily files a corrected return (déclaration rectificative). The texts do not say whether this also applies to a late return filed for the first time, so the article makes no such claim.
• The wording of the CGI and LPF articles. Article numbers are given as service-public and BOFiP cite them; the articles themselves were not checked on Légifrance for this piece.
• Residence. Whether a French return was required at all for a given year depends on where the tax home was, which is a separate subject.

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This material is for general information and does not replace individual advice.