Paying french income taxes after leaving the country

January 13, 2015 5:06 AM

I've been working in France for the past year and am leaving permanently in one week. I've been churning through all the various administrative tasks but I'm a bit confused about tax. I know that this year I will need to pay my taxes for 2014. The question is, do I need to inform the government that I am leaving, or do I need do anything else before I leave? How do I organise paying my taxes from Australia?

Advice online says that you should alert your centre des impots, but this is the first time I've paid tax in France - I imagine that until the tax is calculated for the year (april ish) they won't have any idea who I am. I plan to put a redirect on my mail for 6 months, so I will receive anything they send to my own address.
Some specific questions, then:
1) do I need to inform anyone that I am leaving?
2) Is it possible to use the online system to pay my taxes if I'm overseas and have never paid taxes before?
3) When is the whole tax paying process finished for the year?

posted by neatsocks to Work & Money (1 answer total)

Yes, do call your centre des impôts: they've always been the most helpful civil servants out there, and your case isn't so rare that they won't be able to help you.

1) no idea, but it probably depends on whether you were self-employed or an employee.

2) I've never paid my taxes offline, so yes.

3) the "déclaration" is in April-May, iirc, and payment is due in September. If you call them now, you can likely have them run a simulation and set up a payment plan, which will let you pay from January to October.

Don't forget you'll also have local taxes to pay, if you were renting a place on January 1st.
posted by snakeling at 6:42 AM on January 13, 2015