Introduction

All individuals living in France must pay income taxes in France. It is levied on all income generated by that individual in the year. There are some exemptions for people who are designated "low earners" and for various other reasons which can lower the tax burden of an individual.


Brackets

As with many other European countries, France has a progressive tax system in which your income is taxed in a series of progressive brackets depending on how much your gross annual salary is. The percentage deducted from your salary increases as you enter higher brackets, thus there is a diminishing return as you increase your salary.

The 2019 income brackets are as follows:

Income BracketRate
€0 until €9,7100%
€9,711 until €26,81814%
€26,819 until €7189830%
€71899 until €152,26041%
€152,260 and beyond45%

To be clear, this means that any more money you earn passed the top bracket will be taxed at 45%, that is, if you get €1,000 extra per year, you will only receive €550 more after paying your taxes.


Surcharge

For especially high earners, there is an additional tax charged at a flate rate on all earners above a certain amount. This charge is actually charged in addition to your income tax. It is charged on a progressive tax bracket system just like the income tax brackets.

The brackets for this are as follows:

Income BracketRate
€250,001 until €500,0003%
€500,001 and beyond4%

Social Charges

All residents of France are also obligated to pay social charges. These social charges are for various socialised services such as healthcare and pensions. You can not opt out of these charges. They are charged as an additional tax on your salary.

The various charges that you have to pay and their relevant percentage of your gross salary are as follows:

Social ChargeRate
CSG (Contribution sociale généralisée)7.5%
CRDS (Contribution au remboursement de la dette sociale)0.5%