Since last Thursday, the annual tax declaration period has been officially closed for all French people. It indeed ended for the last area still concerned, the departments numbered from 55 to 974/976, on June 8 at 11:59 p.m. Heads up, missed your territory’s deadline? Do not panic, it is not too late to complete your declaration, but penalties are possible.
To limit their amount, overdue taxpayers should hurry to go to their personal space on the impots.gouv.fr website, where the declaration service remains open until June 28. After this date, only a paper declaration, via form number 2042, is possible. On the other hand, for the more than 10 million tax households eligible for automatic declaration, “the absence of declaration filing is worth declaration”, notes the tax authorities. If they have no modification to make on their pre-filled declaration, they therefore do not risk any sanction.
For others, time is money. Because the longer you wait to complete your declaration after the deadline, the greater the late penalties can be. If you declare before receiving the formal notice from the tax authorities, your tax could be increased by 10%. Then the amount could increase to 20% in the event of a deposit within 30 days of the formal notice and even 40% if the 30-day period has expired. The financial penalty can also rise to 80% “if the administration discovers that you are carrying out an occult activity (undeclared work or illicit activity), without the need to send you a formal notice”, explains the tax authorities. This increase is accompanied by late payment interest, amounting to 0.20% of the tax due per month of delay (i.e. 2.4% per year).
Note that it is possible to escape these sanctions, provided you are in good faith. A request for “gracious remission” can indeed be sent to the tax authorities, which can relate to all or part of the penalties due. Certain elements may constitute “favorable grounds for the admissibility of the request”, indicates Bercy, citing “a shift in the tax payment period”, “an unforeseeable loss of income (unemployment)” or even “exceptional circumstances (death of spouse, separation, invalidity) or having caused abnormally high expenses (illness)”. The request must be sent to your tax center (SIP) or to the treasury issuing the payment advice, specifies the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Another scenario may also arise: you have completed your declaration on time but you realize too late that you have forgotten something or made a mistake. If you realize this before the closing date of the online declaration service, June 28, you can make the corrections without penalty. On the other hand, after this date, it will be necessary to wait for the opening of the online correction service, available from August 2 to December 7. In this case, late payment interest may be applied if the correction leads to an increase in the tax due. If it is the tax authorities who realize your error, you also risk an increase in your tax of at least 10%. For households that still complete a paper declaration, the correction is also possible, either by sending a letter to their tax office, or by filing a new tax return.
