French General Tax Code
In force1. Each taxpayer is liable to income tax on the basis of both his personal profits and income and those of his children and persons considered to be his dependants within the meaning of the articles 196 et 196 A bis. Income received by children deemed to be equally dependent on either of their parents is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, deemed to be shared equally between the parents.
Unless the provisions of 4 and the second paragraph of 5 are applied, married persons are subject to joint taxation for income received by each of them and that of their children and dependents mentioned in the first paragraph; this taxation is established in the names of the spouses.
Partners bound by a civil solidarity pact defined in Article 515-1 of the Civil Code are subject to joint taxation for the income referred to in the first paragraph. Tax is assessed in both their names.
2. The taxpayer may claim separate taxation for his children, where they derive income from their work or from assets independent of his own.
3. Any adult under the age of twenty-one, or under the age of twenty-five where they are still studying, or, whatever their age, where they are doing military service or have a disability, may opt, within the declaration period and subject to the provisions of the fourth paragraph of 2° of II of article 156, between:
1° Taxation of his or her income under the conditions of ordinary law;
2° Attachment to the tax household to which he or she belonged before coming of age, if the taxpayer to whom he or she is attached accepts this attachment and includes in his or her taxable income the income received during the entire year by this person; attachment may be requested, in respect of the years following the year in which he or she comes of age, from one or other of the parents where these are taxed separately.
If the person requesting attachment is married, the option results in the attachment of household income to the income of one or both of the parents of one of the spouses.
3° Attachment to the tax household that took him/her in after he/she became an orphan, if the taxpayer to whom he/she is attached accepts this attachment and includes in his/her taxable income the income received during the entire year by this person.
4. Spouses are taxed separately:
a. Where they are separated from property and do not live under the same roof;
b. Where, being in the process of legal separation or divorce, they have been authorised to have separate residences;
c. Where, in the event of either spouse abandoning the marital home, each has a separate income.
5. Married persons and partners bound by a civil solidarity pact are subject to joint taxation for the income available to them during the year of the marriage or the conclusion of the pact.
Spouses and partners bound by a civil solidarity pact may, however, opt for separate taxation of the income available to each of them personally during the year of the marriage or the conclusion of the pact, as well as the share of joint income due to them. In the absence of proof of this share, this joint income is divided equally between the spouses or partners linked by a civil solidarity pact. This option is exercised irrevocably within the deadlines set for filing the initial tax return mentioned in article 170. It is not applicable when partners bound by a civil solidarity pact, concluded in respect of a previous year, marry each other.
6. Each of the spouses, partners, former spouses or former partners bound by a civil solidarity pact is personally taxable for the income available to him/her during the year of fulfilment of one of the conditions of the 4, divorce or dissolution of the pact, as well as for the share of the joint income due to him/her. In the absence of proof of this share, this joint income is shared in two equal parts between the spouses, partners, former spouses or former partners linked by a civil solidarity pact.
Joint income is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, deemed to be shared in two equal parts between the spouses or partners linked by a civil solidarity pact.
7. Repealed
8. In the event of the death of one of the spouses or partners bound by a civil solidarity pact, the tax relating to profits and income not yet taxed is established in the name of the spouses or partners. The surviving spouse or partner is personally taxable for the period following the death.
