France begins the year 2025 without a budget. After the adoption of a motion of censure on December 4 by the National Assembly, the resignation of the tenant of Matignon, Michel Barnier, put a stop to work on the finance law. The latter could therefore not be adopted by Parliament before the end of the year. Consequently, the income tax scale was not adjusted for inflation on January 1st. And this, while the measure, traditionally renewed from one year to the next, was provided for in the budget (art.2) to prevent the rise in prices from increasing the tax bill for households.
At the beginning of January, this non-revaluation of the IR scale is not without concern for tax households. Could this lack of budget lead to an increase in their withholding tax rate? And in particular, from the end of the month, on the pay slip? And thus cause, for example, a drop in income for employees or retirees. On this point, the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) responded very clearly in a FAQ published on its website: “The PAS rates applied in January 2025 remain unchanged”she reassures.
“The PAS rates are only updated each year in September, at the end of the taxation of income during the summer, taking into account both the income declarations of users and of all new tax features of the year, including the updating of the scale »recalls the tax administration.
The absence of revaluation on January 1 therefore has no consequences. And, good news, this status quo also applies to advance payments taken from the income of self-employed workers, and from the property income of property owners or from alimony paid by divorced people. As a reminder, households who have opted for the monthly direct debit will be taken directly from their bank account on January 15. This will be February 15 in the case of quarterly collection.
A penalizing neutral rate
Only problem for taxpayers who have opted for the neutral rate of tax at source “so that the overall situation of their tax household is not known to their collector (employer, pension fund, etc.)”specifies Bercy. These will be temporarily penalized by the non-revaluation of the IR scale. Because the neutral rate is applied according to a grid which is usually revalued in January. “That won’t be the case this year”indicates the tax authorities. Households will therefore have to wait for the adoption of the finance law. “When the new grid is published, collectors will have two months to apply it”warns the administration.
Furthermore, some taxpayers are seeing their personal situation change at the start of the year. Arrival of a child, salary increase… Without finance law, it is always possible to request the calculation of a new withholding tax rate on impots.gouv.fr, then in the “Manage my” tab. withholding tax”. But be careful, as long as the budget is not adopted, these homes “will have a new withholding tax rate calculated taking into account the income tax scale currently in force”.
Namely, the 2024 scale applied to income collected in 2023. And they risk, ultimately, paying a little more tax than if the scale had been revalued on January 1. While, in this case, “the scale voted in the finance law is usually taken into account from the start of the year”reminds Bercy.
The scale will be well indexed in 2025
But, on the positive side, these inconveniences should be corrected by the adoption of the finance law. In an interview with La Tribune Sundaythe new Minister of the Economy, Eric Lombard, promised that there will be “a budget which will include an indexation of the scale » and that “French people who do not pay income tax today will not pay any tomorrow”.
Interviewed at the beginning of December by The TribuneAlexandre Maitrot de la Motte, professor of public law at Paris-Est Créteil University, specified that households penalized by a late revaluation of the scale this year could, for example, be reimbursed retrospectively, in particular via “a tax credit”.
