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Income tax

How to adapt your withholding tax rate?

Publié le 06 septembre 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Like every year, in September, your withholding tax rate is updated based on your spring tax return. If your financial situation has changed since the beginning of 2024, you can now adjust the rate upwards or downwards. This will save you from having to pay a balance next year, or instead pay too much tax for 1 year before being refunded in the summer of 2025.

This year, if you have to pay an income tax balance, it is taken directly from your bank account:

all at once on september 26, 2024 if the amount is not more than € 300;
in 4 monthly installments on 26 september, 25 october, 25 november and 27 december 2024 if the balance due to you is more than 300 €.

When you have an amount to pay as an income tax balance, this can include:

you have benefited from a excessive tax credit or reduction advance in january 2024 ;
you did not update your withholding tax rate, even though your revenues had increased.

Like every year, the 1^er in september, your withholding tax rate is automatically reassessed based on the income reported for 2023.

If the level of your income has changed since the beginning of 2024 or your personal situation has changed (marriage, civil partnerships, birth, retirement...), you can now request that your withholding tax be changed.

The goal is not to have to pay additional taxes later; or, rather, not to make monthly advances too much tax to pay back until next summer.

How to adjust your withholding tax rate?

Your withholding tax rate is determined by the tax authority. You can request a change to this rate throughout the year, including when you file your tax return. You must go to your personal space on impots.gouv.fr, in the "manage my direct debit" area. You can then:

report an increase or decrease in revenue (menu “update my withholding tax due to an increase or a decrease in income”);
report a change in situation, including a marriage, birth, divorce or death of your spouse ("report a change in family status" menu).

If you want to change your withholding tax rate because of an increase or decrease in your income, you must specify your net taxable income and expenses as you estimate them for this year 2024. To calculate your net tax income from your gross income, you can use the tax administration calculator.

In this context, the new rate is taken into account within 1 to 3 months, and applies until 31 December 2024. You must apply for a new change at the end of the year, starting at the end of November 2024, if your revenues are expected to remain reduced or higher after the 1^er January 2025.

Warning

You can only request a reduction in your withholding tax rate if there is a difference of more than 5% between the following amounts:

the levy at the rate modulated downwards;
the levy at your current rate.

In other words, in order for your application to be accepted, your estimate must result in a reduction in your levies for the year of more than 5 % compared to the amount due in the absence of modulation of your withholding tax rate.

Please note

Within your personal space on Impacts.gouv.fr, you can also:

request the application of an individualized levy rate, to account for income gaps between you and your spouse (when you are married or have passed, you make a joint declaration with your spouse and you have by default the same tax rate);
request a non-custom picking rate not to pass your rate on to your employer, which will apply a neutral rate (in most cases, the neutral rate is higher than your custom rate).