TLDR: The year you transfer your tax residence to/from France requires specific declarations for income earned or accrued before/after the date of residence change.
Who Must Declare and Which Income to Include
If you transfer your tax residence abroad during the year, you must declare all income you received up to the date of departure, including business or agricultural profits realized since the last taxed fiscal year. This also includes income already accrued but not yet received before departure, as well as income subject to deferred taxation, such as latent capital gains on intangible movable assets. These rules apply exclusively to the year of transfer.
If you establish your tax residence in France during the year, you must declare only the income received from the date of settlement in French territory. Again, this obligation applies solely to the year of transfer.
Declaration Procedure: Forms and Recipients
For those transferring their residence abroad, the year following the transfer requires submitting two separate declarations: the main declaration (form 2042) for all income received before departure and the supplementary declaration (form 2042-NR) for any French-source income received after departure.
Those returning to France must submit their declaration to the non-residents tax service if they received French-source income before the transfer. Otherwise, the declaration should be submitted to the relevant public finance center for the new residence.
Latent Capital Gains and Return to France
When transferring abroad, latent capital gains on intangible movable assets are taxed immediately upon leaving France. However, if the taxpayer returns to France and retains the assets in their portfolio, they may request a tax reduction or refund of the tax already paid. This relief realigns the taxpayer’s tax situation to what it was before departure, as if they had never left France.
The request must be submitted via forms 2042 and 2074-ET the year following the return. This mechanism applies only to capital gains taxed at the time of transfer abroad.
Flat-Rate Income
For flat-rate income, such as that from professional activities or rentals, the declaration must be proportional to the period between January 1 and the actual departure date from France. The calculation is time-based, without considering the entire calendar year.
Forms and Submission
Official forms (2042, 2042-NR, and 2074-ET for capital gains) are available online on impots.gouv.fr in the forms section.