Taxes 2025

Lone parent: Don't forget to check box T on the tax return

Publié le 15 avril 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Box T of the tax return can bring significant benefits to single parents, including an additional half share. Single parent, don't forget to check it off! Service-Public.fr provides you with an overview of the information you should know.

Box T: For whom?

Box T ‘single parents’ refers to persons living alone with at least one dependent child or a person with disabilities living under his/her roof. This information is to be completed in Step 2 of your "Personal Information" online return or in Box B of Form 2042 for the paper return.

Warning  

If you are a cohabiting partner, you cannot declare yourself a “lone parent”, the administration considering that the care of the children is done in pairs.

When is your situation taken into account?

The family situation is assessed on December 31 of the year of the change of situation (breakdown of CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS, separation, divorce), i.e. your situation on December 31, 2024 for your 2024 income to be reported in 2025. You do not have to justify your situation, it will be done automatically, but only to report these changes to the tax administration.

The benefits you receive by checking the T box

Profits are based on the number of tax shares you can declare, which affect your family quotient. The number of shares affects the amount of tax: the larger the shares, the lower the tax. Box T allows an additional half-share. Whereas for a couple, the first child represents half a share, for a single parent, the child will represent a full share.

The scale of shares for single parents is as follows:

  • Single parent with 1 dependent child: 2 tax shares.
  • Single parent with 2 dependent children: 2.5 tax shares.
  • Single parent with 3 dependent children: 3.5 tax shares.

From 3e child, each child counts for 1 share.

FYI  

The tax benefit provided by the two half-shares granted for the first of the dependent children (or persons) is limited to €4,224.

Please note

The tax benefit is divided by 2 in the case of alternating residence between the two parents. Everyone will be able to claim to be a "lone parent" and the benefits will be distributed as follows: + 0.25 additional share for a single child and + 0.5 share for two or more children.

Box L for parents whose child has left the tax home

If you lived alone on the 1er January 2024 (or December 31, 2024 in the case of divorce/separation/breakdown of Civil partnerships in 2024), check the box in box L "Situations that qualify for an additional half-share - Single, divorced, separated, widowed" on your 2024 income tax return. This box L allows you to keep a half tax share for life even if your child no longer lives under your roof. The conditions are that it is no longer attached to your tax home, that you have raised it for at least 5 years and that you live alone, without any dependants. The duration of 5 years may be continuous or discontinuous. It must be affected for at least 1 child.

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