Tax residency in France 2026: the domicile criteria and the income tax scale

France has no day threshold in the domestic texts we read, and that is the first thing to take in. The impots.gouv.fr page on French tax residents does not use the number 183, nor does the official tax doctrine, the BOFiP. Article 4 B of the General Tax Code, in the version in force since 16 February 2025, does not contain it either, though we could only consult that text through a reading tool. Tax domicile rests on three criteria that do not add up, because one is enough. You are domiciled in France if your home is there or, failing that, your main place of stay; if you carry on a professional activity there, unless it is secondary; or if the centre of your economic interests is there. These tests apply to each person in the household. A French resident is taxable on French and foreign income, subject to treaties, while a non-resident is taxable on French-source income only. Where a tax treaty applies, its definition of a resident takes priority over domestic law.

The 2026 income tax scale: 0% to 45%, per share

2026 scale, applied to 2025 income, per family-quotient share.

This is the 2026 scale, set by the 2026 Finance Act, and it applies to income earned in 2025. It works on the family quotient: net taxable income is divided by the household’s number of shares, the scale is applied to that figure, and the result is multiplied back by the shares. The Service-public.gouv.fr example is a single person with €30,000 of net taxable income, who owes €2,103.99 before credits: an average rate of 7.01% and a marginal rate of 30%. A childless couple on €60,000 has the same €30,000 per share and the same average rate, and owes €4,207.98.

The benefit of children is capped, at €1,807 per half-share in those examples. A couple with one child on €90,000 therefore pays €11,400.98, against €9,759.97 without the cap. Single parents have a higher cap, of €4,262 for the first child in the same examples.

Investment income takes another route. According to impots.gouv.fr, it bears a compulsory 31.4% levy when received: 12.8% towards income tax and 18.6% in social levies. On the return, a flat 12.8% applies, unless you tick box 2OP to put all of that income, and gains on securities, under the scale instead.

What each domicile test really asks

Home or, failing that, main place of stay

Your home is where you normally live, habitually and permanently, with a spouse or civil partner, possibly with children, or alone. The BOFiP adds that it stays your home even if your work keeps you elsewhere temporarily or for most of the year, as long as your family goes on living there and you all gather there. This is the point that surprises people most: you can spend most of the year abroad and remain domiciled in France.

The main place of stay only matters where there is no home. It comes from your actual presence, and it does not matter that you live in a hotel. This is where the BOFiP gives its marker: as a general rule, people staying in France for more than six months in a given year are regarded as having their main place of stay there. It goes straight on to say that this duration is “not an absolute criterion”.

The BOFiP also sets this rule aside for the year you arrive or leave, since other articles of the Code govern that year. Our page on tax when leaving France covers the filing mechanics.

Professional activity, unless secondary

According to impots.gouv.fr, you carry on an activity in France as your main one if you spend the most effective time on it there. The BOFiP says an employee is domiciled where they actually and regularly work. Where several activities coexist, the one taking the most time counts, even if it does not bring in the most money; failing that, the one giving the largest share of worldwide income. Article 4 B adds a presumption for certain company heads: those of a company with its seat in France and annual French turnover above €250 million are presumed to have their main activity there, unless they prove otherwise.

Centre of economic interests

This is where your main investments are, where your business has its seat, where you manage your assets, or where you draw most of your income. Impots.gouv.fr gives the simplest test: a person whose French-source income exceeds their foreign-source income has the centre of their economic interests in France. A case cited in the BOFiP shows how much income weighs. An owner of 166 hectares and a large residence in France, who drew most of his income from over 1,400 hectares in Algeria and Morocco, was not treated as having this centre in France.

Why a counter, if there is no threshold?

Because presence is still evidence, even with no legal line. The main place of stay comes from your actual presence, the cases in the BOFiP reason in days and months, and the residence article of tax treaties uses habitual abode among its tests. A counter cannot give a French verdict, and this one does not: it shows your days per calendar year and never says “resident” or “non-resident”. The default trips above, January to March and July to August, show a year split across two periods, where the number alone settles nothing. To get an answer, ask these questions, in the order of the text:

1. Do your spouse, civil partner or children habitually live in France? If so, your home is probably there, even if you are often away.
2. With no home in France, is it the place you mainly stay, more than any other country?
3. Do you spend the most working time in France, on an activity that is not secondary there?
4. Does your French-source income exceed your foreign income, or are your main investments and business there?

A single yes can be enough to make you domiciled in France. If another country claims you too, the next step is the treaty, which decides, and the dual tax residency guide explains the usual order. To keep a record of your presence through the year, the Taxlag app can help; this counter stays free.

When a tax treaty steps in

Impots.gouv.fr says the concept of resident in a treaty always takes priority over tax domicile under domestic law. The residence article in principle uses four successive tests: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, then nationality. A permanent home is any dwelling at your disposal and reserved for your use, including a furnished room or a borrowed flat. These tests can differ between treaties, and with no treaty each country’s domestic law applies.

Couples split across borders have a position of their own. Each person is assessed separately: one can be a French resident and the other not, and the tax then reaches only the non-resident spouse’s French income, with filing duties that depend on the marriage regime.

What stays unsettled or unverified here

Three reservations. We read article 4 B on Légifrance through an automated reading tool, which returned its paragraphs 1 and 2, and not from a copy downloaded as is. The text shows a version in force since 16 February 2025, from Law 2025-127, and a passage about people regarded as non-resident under a treaty. How it fits with article 19, paragraph 2, of the France-UAE treaty is not settled in what we read: see the UAE page. We have not read the Paris administrative court of appeal ruling of 5 November 2025, and we say nothing about it. Finally, we found no official rule on counting a part-day in France. The BOFiP version we read is dated 28 July 2016 and may not reflect later changes.