There is no time to lose. Taxpayers who wish to maintain their withholding tax rate, as of January 1, 2025 – a rate that they themselves updated this fall – must carry out the manipulation on the tax website. And this, before this Friday, December 6, confirmed the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) to The Tribune.
Without reaction from them, “from January 1 of the following year (2025, Editor’s note), it is the rate calculated at the end of (the) last income tax return (2024, Editor’s note) which will apply”underlines the tax administration. Namely, the rate determined at the end of the reporting period this spring on income received in 2023.
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Therefore, to maintain (or even lower) your withholding tax rate on January 1st, go to the impots.gouv.fr website, then in the tab “Manage my withholding tax” and, finally, in the window “Update following an increase or decrease in income”.
At the end of the year, the tax administration sends a letter to taxpayers who have changed their rate during the year.
In practice, the taxpayer is required to specify all of the estimated household income for the year 2025 (salaries, retirement pensions, alimony, property income, etc.) as well as the deductible expenses (actual expenses, payment on PER , etc.). Enough to allow Bercy to recalculate the withholding tax rate.
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Difference of 5% minimum
But be careful, for a downward change in the tax rate to be effective, the fall in the taxpayer's income must cause “a reduction (in) withholding taxes for the year of 5% compared to those normally due in the absence of a request for modulation”insists Bercy. A rule which, remember, was relaxed in the finance law for 2023: previously, the difference required by Bercy amounted to 10%.
Concretely, at the end of the operation, a confirmation email “acknowledging receipt of the modification made” is sent to the taxpayer. And it is also possible to verify that Bercy has taken the request into account. To do this, you must go to the section “consult the history of your actions”and check the date of application of the next updated rate in “consult your rates”.
Don't panic for the forgetful: even after December 6, it will still be possible to make a modification in your personal space. “The withholding tax rate can be modified throughout the year », recalls Olivier Villois, general secretary of the CGT Public Finances at The Tribune. A fortiori, in the event of a change in family situation (birth, death, marriage, divorce, PACS, etc.).
The only constraint, “the change in the rate is transmitted to the organizations (employers, pension funds, Pôle emploi, etc.) for consideration within 1 to 3 months”warns the unionist. A period of time which can result in too high a withholding tax. In this case, Bercy reimburses taxpayers the following year, during the summer.
