French General Tax Code
In forceThe rules of 1 and 2 of I of article 197 are applicable for the calculation of income tax due by persons who, not having their tax domicile in France:
a. Receive income from a French source; in this case, the tax may not be less than an amount calculated by applying a rate of 20% to the fraction of net taxable income less than or equal to the upper limit of the second bracket of the income tax scale and a rate of 30% to the fraction above this limit ; these rates of 20% and 30% are reduced to 14.4% and 20% respectively for income sourced in the overseas departments; however, where the taxpayer can justify that the rate of French tax on all his income from French or foreign sources would be lower than these minimum rates, this rate is applicable to his income from French sources. In this case, taxpayers whose tax residence is in a Member State of the European Union or in a State with which France has signed an administrative assistance agreement to combat tax fraud and evasion or a mutual assistance agreement for tax collection may, pending the production of supporting documents, attach to their income tax return a declaration on their honour of the accuracy of the information provided;
b. By way of derogation from article 164 A, for the calculation of the rate of French tax on all worldwide income provided for in a of this article, the alimony payments provided for in 2° of II of article 156 are allowed as a deduction under the same conditions and limits, when these payments are taxable in the hands of their beneficiary in France and when their taking into account is not likely to reduce the tax owed by the taxpayer in his State of residence.
