The progressive tax scale is normally revalued each year in order to neutralize the effects of inflation on the tax level of taxpayers. The limits of its brackets are indexed to the increase in consumer prices of the previous year, which makes it possible not to overtax households whose income has increased at the same rate and to reduce the bill for those whose income n have not increased. But this year, we still don’t know if this revaluation will take place!
Indexing pending
The Barnier government’s finance law had planned to index the scale of 2% for the calculation of the 2025 tax on 2024 income, but its censorship by the National Assembly prevented the promulgation of the text. The finance law that the Bayrou government hopes to have adopted by the end of February will take up this indexation, but it could in turn be censored in the coming weeks.
If this catastrophic scenario comes true, it is then the 2024 tax scale which risks being renewed in 2025, as provided for in the “special law” passed at the end of 2024 to authorize the State to continue to collect taxes in 2025. In other words, your 2024 income will be taxed under the same conditions as that of 2023. According to Bercy, this freezing of the scale would lead to a tax increase for 18 million households and would make 380,000 additional low-income households taxable. In reality, if the scale is not indexed, all French people will suffer a tax increase this year.
Your income has stagnated in 2024
If your 2024 income has not increased compared to that of 2023, if it is identical in amount, you will not suffer any tax increase with a frozen scale, you will pay as much in 2025 as in 2024. But you will pay more than if the scale had been increased by 2%, which will result in you having to pay a disguised increase.
Example Single without children, you received €40,000 in salary in 2024, as in 2023. With a frozen scale, your taxes will amount to €4,086 in 2025, the same amount as those in 2024. With an increased scale of 2 %, they will drop to €3,952. The freeze would therefore lead to an increase in your taxes of €134 this year (+ 3.4%).
Your income has decreased in 2024
If your 2024 income is lower than that of 2023, your taxes will decrease in 2025, whether the scale is frozen or not. But the reduction obtained will be less with a frozen scale, which will again result in a disguised increase.
Example Married without children, you received €44,000 in salary in 2024, €1,000 less than in 2023 (€45,000). With a frozen scale, your taxes will amount to €1,274 in 2025, or €143 less than those of 2024 (€1,417). With a scale increased by 2%, they will fall to €1,173, or €244 less than those of 2024. The freeze would therefore lead to an increase in your taxes of €101 this year (+ 8.6%).
-Good to know If the scale is frozen, the thresholds and limits associated with it will also be frozen. The tax cut for low-tax households and the cap on the family quotient for wealthy households in force in 2024 will apply as is in 2025, without 2% indexation. Likewise, the deduction ceilings for certain expenses (alimony paid to an adult child in need, for example) will be identical to those of last year.
Your income has increased in 2024
If your 2024 income is higher than that of 2023, your taxes will increase in 2025, whether the scale is frozen or not. But your tax increase will be greater with a frozen scale.
Example Married with a dependent child, you received €65,000 in salary in 2024, €5,000 more than in 2023 (€60,000). With a frozen scale, your taxes will amount to €3,329 in 2025, or €657 more than those of 2024 (€2,672). With a scale increased by 2%, they will fall to €3,267, or €595 more than those of 2024. The freeze would therefore lead to an additional increase in your taxes of €62 this year (+ 10.4%).
If you were not taxable in 2024, because your 2023 income was below the tax threshold, you risk becoming so in 2025 with a frozen scale. This will be the case if you benefited from an increase in income in 2024 which puts you above the tax threshold.
Example Single without children, you received €18,900 in salary in 2024, €400 more than in 2023 (€18,500). With a frozen scale, your taxes will amount to €41 in 2025 while you were not taxable in 2024. With a scale increased by 2%, you will remain non-taxable in 2025. The freeze would therefore push you into the tax and it would deprive you of 10% of your salary increase.
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