TLDR: For the year of your departure, you must declare taxable income according to its nature and the period concerned. The following year, you file return no. 2042, supplemented where applicable by no. 2042-C, as well as, if necessary, no. 2042-NR for certain French-source income received after your departure. Specific obligations may apply to capital gains and taxable receivables.
Who is concerned
You are concerned if you are tax domiciled in France and transfer your domicile abroad. The same rules apply if you give up all accommodation in France.
The available sources do not define here all the criteria used to determine your tax domicile. They concern the transfer of that domicile outside France.
Which income to declare in the year of departure
For the year of your departure, you must declare:
- the income you had received up to the date of your departure;
- certain income acquired before your departure, even if you did not yet have it at your disposal;
- the relevant profits made since the end of the last tax year;
- income for which taxation has been deferred.
If your transfer takes place during the year, you are taxable in France up to the date of your departure. For that year, the number of days during which you were taxable in France on all your income should be taken into account.
Which returns to file the following year
The year following that of your departure, you must file an overall return no. 2042 containing all income received before your departure. You must attach, if necessary, return no. 2042-C.
If, after your departure, you received French-source income covered by this formal requirement, you must also file, where applicable, the supplementary return no. 2042-NR.
Forms no. 2042, no. 2042-C and no. 2042-NR are available on the impots.gouv.fr website, on the “Form search” page. The available sources indicate the filing year, but do not make it possible to specify here a general calendar date or a single filing method.
Capital gains and taxable receivables
If you are concerned by capital gains or taxable receivables under paragraphs I and II of Article 167 bis of the CGI, you must declare them on the return referred to in Article 170 of the CGI.
This return is filed in the year following that of the transfer, within the period provided for in Article 175 of the CGI. The available sources do not specify a general calendar date.
For unrealised capital gains, you must declare the capital gains, the corresponding tax amount and the information necessary to calculate that tax. Specific return no. 2074-ET is mentioned for calculating unrealised capital gains, under the conditions provided for by the applicable doctrine.