Some taxpayers can avoid this tedious task.
Not having to file your tax return: many French people dream of it, the General Directorate of Public Finance allows it for around 11 million people. But you should not imagine that the tax administration exempts you from giving them information about your income. It simply saves part of the population from completing the tedious annual form. A valuable time saver.
Taxpayers who are eligible are selected automatically, based on their last tax return. It is therefore impossible to ask the tax authorities yourself to avoid having to complete the document. People authorized to avoid this administrative task are contacted directly by e-mail or by post.
This has been or will be sent by the DGFiP. Be careful not to throw it away too quickly. Its subject: “Impots.gouv.fr: come and consult your “automatic” declaration!” (the phrase is almost similar for mail). If you receive such a message, you can avoid filing taxes altogether this year. Or almost.
In fact, this means that the administration has spotted you because your income comes exclusively from work, retirement, social minimums or even bank investments. And, above all, you do not benefit from any tax reduction or tax credit, and your family situation has not changed compared to last year. For example, a retiree who only receives his pensions will have no change compared to last year, just like an employee or a couple without children who only have their salaries as income. In these cases, the administration directly records the financial information about you sent by your employer, the pension fund or any other organization that pays you money.
If all (online) tax declarations are now pre-filled, those who benefit from automatic declaration can “forget” the deadline since the tax authorities will validate the declaration themselves. However, it is necessary to verify the amounts entered automatically and to declare any change of which the tax authorities have not been informed. Because if an error has occurred, it is the taxpayer who will be held responsible for the error and financial penalties may be applied.