COF

I've heard in the past that income tax in France is really high, similar to Scandinavia but just having had a look at the rates, it doesn't look that high.

You can earn 26,000 Euro in France and only be taxed at 14%, then you add your 8% social security contribution and that's only a tax rate of 22%. Earning a similar amount in the UK you'd be taxed at 30-31%.

It seems middle income earners are quite highly taxed though, if you earn between 26,000 and 69,000 Euro you get taxed at 30%, so plus SS contributions that would be 38%.

However, on the other hand I gather that the French equivilent of council tax is significantly lower than in the UK.

So when you add everything up is tax in France significantly higher than the UK or are you looking at similar rates of tax?

Ka Ora!

The biggest plus to France is offsetting your children against your income tax one child is 1/2 a person in the eyes of "impots". If you have two children then thats an extra persons allowance you get, Also if only one member of the family works when you pay your tax both adults and the children allowances are added. So a Single person with no children pays more tax than a family of four with only one working adult.

G-J-B

I've found it to be swings and roundabouts. Income tax is really low having PACsed and with a kid, but cotisation is HIGH - sort of works out the same in the end. Buying property in France involves paying lots of tax to the state, but yearly fees nearly always works out quite a lot cheaper than the equivalent council tax. France also has a wealth tax, though I think they're phasing it out and replacing it with something else (?), whereby you're taxed on your world income, and will probably, ultimately end up more costly for those who are wealthy or have a lot of assets.

Herman

Absolutely right. My wife does not work and we have 2 kids. My employer also does everything it can to minimize tax for its expats through pension contributions and all sorts of other schemes. Overall my French tax bill last year was only about 5% of my gross income compared to around 30% if I was in the UK. I pay UK national insurance rather than French social security due to my temporary expat status which again is lower. Lower tax and social security have proved to be the biggest perks attached to my expat contract in Paris and I was clueless about these before I arrived, so its a nice bonus.

Ka Ora!

It's a shame you cant do it in the UK, But the government will never change to that system because they would loose shed loads of cash. Which is why they also introduced PAYE. The French method allows you to run your household like a small enterprise. I know my OH's hairdresser travels 60km each way to work and she offsets her gazoil against her income tax.

dennerlymum

I was able to offset almost 40% of my taxable income against the need for a car at work (as a tefl teacher I have to have a car to move from client to client) as a result we paid é% tax last year!

Herman

UK used to have married couples allowance which could be shared equally or transferred entirely to the working spouse. Gordon binned it though as one of his many many stealth taxes.