Do not panic! Logically, everything is pre-filled. But don’t forget to check that box 2CK is duly completed: this is the tax paid at source on your bank interest or other investment income. Like the withholding tax deducted in 2021 from your earned income, this box must be completed on your tax return for the tax authorities to deduct this tax installment from the amount to be paid.
Two questions to know if you are concerned or not by the 2CK box. The first: did you receive any dividends or interest from taxed savings products in 2021? The second: have you taken the step of requesting the tax exemption? If you answer yes and then no, then look at line 2CK of the tax return. Let’s summarize, without confusing you: box 2CK must show an amount if you receive bank interest and income tax has been deducted at source.
Bank tax memo. Since the entry into force of the flat tax, your investment income is all subject to the same levy: 30% including 17.2% of social security contributions and 12.8% income tax. The flat tax is levied at source: thus for 100 euros of annual interest in 2021 on your tax-paying banking products, 30 euros were deducted from you at the end of December 2021 (17.20 euros in social security contributions and 12.80 euros in income tax). For income tax, this flat-rate deduction is then adjusted during the 2022 declaration.
The 2CK box is pre-filled
Box 2CK is used to inform what has already been taken from the source. No less than 10 million tax households fill it out every year! Logically, this amount is prefilled: you don’t have to do anything, just check that the numbers are correct.
To help you find your way around, your bank and any other institution where you hold investments should send you a single tax form (IFU), where it summarizes the information sent to the tax authorities. The same figures should therefore, in theory, be found on your bank account statement, on the IFU and on your pre-filled declaration.
Taxes: this little-known document that speeds up your tax return
An example. For 200 euros of fixed income investment products (1) and 100 euros of income from company shares or shares, the tax authorities directly levied 25.60 euros on interest and 12.80 euros on dividends. On the declaration, these amounts are recalled on line 2CK: Flat-rate final payment already paid. The 2CK box must then indicate 38 euros.
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If you have ever claimed an exemption from the levy in 2020 – procedure forgotten by many taxpayers (2) – the line remains empty.
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A tax credit lost in case of forgetfulness
The amount entered in box 2CK will appear, in the summary at the end of the declaration, under the formula Fixed levy credit on dividends and interest 2021. Why credit? Because the flat tax deducted at source is a down payment deducted at source on your investment income. The Public Treasury calculates your taxable income by integrating the gross interest and dividends received in 2021. But, as you have already paid part of the taxthis amount is subtracted from your tax payable in 2022. And, in the event that the deposit exceeds the amount due, the balance will be returned to you by the tax authorities.
If you ever leave this box blank while you have been deducted at source on your annual interest or your dividends, you will then pay the flat tax of 12.80% twice: the source in 2021 and in your tax balance in 2022. Again, don’t panic: the case of forgetting the 2CK box is necessarily linked to a transmission error between your bank and the Public Treasury. Present on the IFU, this amount is automatically pre-filled in box 2CK, unless the bank has omitted it in its IFU. Paying the flat tax in duplicate for the 2CK line is therefore extremely rare.
Exemption from Livret A, LEP, LDD…
A reminder: income from regulated savings products, the best known of which are Livret A, LEP, LDD, CEL and Livret Jeune, are not subject to tax. Interest is therefore not subject to tax. The logic is the same for old Housing Savings Plans (PEL) up to their 12th birthday.
The Equity Savings Plan (PEA) also offers a tax exemption, subject to conditions. Dividends from shares received in this context have therefore not been declared.
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(1) Included in the category of fixed income investments are bank books, term accounts, housing savings plans over 12 years old, bond products and government loans, etc. (2) Concerning the exemption from the installment on interest or dividends for 2021, the request had to be sent in the fall of 2020, or at the time of the opening of the product, in order for it to be considered. For interest, the exemption concerns single persons whose reference tax income (RFR) is less than 25,000 euros, and 50,000 euros in the event of joint taxation.