Filing taxes during a working holiday in France (Canadians + others)

Taxes can be confusing, regardless of where you’re from and where you are. Fortunately, a few of us on the pvtistes team have done a working holiday in France and we are sharing our knowledge and experience with you in this guide.

First things first

Anyone who worked in France in the tax year and is 18 years or older must declare taxes (official source).

For your first tax season in France, you must fill out your declaration on paper. Since you do not have a French fiscal number yet, you cannot file taxes online.

As of your second tax season (should you somehow extend your stay in France), you are able to file your taxes online. There is also an app called impots.gouv that you can download.

Steps for filing by paper

1. Go to this official website for the tax forms.

2. If you worked as a regular salaried employee (this applies to most people), you will download and print the 2042 form: Déclaration de revenus. Make sure you select the correct tax year’s form.

3. Pages 1 and 2 are about personal information and civil status. Read everything carefully and complete both pages.

4. Page 3 is where you will need to fill out your earnings, namely in box 1AJ. As a salaried employee, you would have received monthly pay stubs throughout your employment period. Look at the last pay stub you got in the tax year and find the cumulative annual taxable net income (something like montant net imposable, cumulatif annuel). Enter this in box 1AJ. Because this figure is cumulative, you don’t need to add any monthly amounts manually – your employer has done it for you.

5. Other boxes (on page 3 and beyond) are less common for WHV holders, but fill them out if any other sources of income apply to you.

6. Check to see if any other less common forms apply to you. For example, if you also worked as a freelancer in France (auto-entrepreneur), you would also need to fill out form 2042-C-PRO.

Once your declaration form is completed, also prepare photocopies of your passport, Working Holiday Visa, rental agreement or other approved form of proof of address, and RIB (relevé d’identité bancaire, bank account coordinates).

Either drop off your file at the nearest public finance office or mail it to them by post.

Congratulations, you’ve just filed your taxes in France!

Steps for filing online

If you have already filed taxes in France before and therefore already have a numéro fiscal, you can file online instead of by paper. To do so, login or create an account using your 13-digit fiscal number. This number can be found on your avis d’impôt from previous years.

Once logged in, you will see that a lot of your information is already pre-filled. Manually correct anything that needs to be changed and hit submit!

FAQ