In principle, everyone of legal age completes their own income tax return. However, if your children are currently 26 years old or younger, they can in certain cases be attached to your tax household. You must then declare all or part of their 2023 income.
Have your children reached the age of 18 and are therefore adults? They are not obliged to complete their own income tax return now. If you wish, and with their agreement, you can continue to count them among your dependent children. In this case we are talking about tax connection.
Up to what age can you attach them for tax purposes?
An adult child can be attached, whatever their professional and family situation, as long as they have under 21 years old on January 1 of the year concerned by the income declaration. Watch out for the calendar puzzle! This 2024 declaration relates to 2023 income. Children born in 2002, 2003 or 2004 and those who celebrated their 21st, 20th or 19th birthday in 2023 can therefore be included in all cases. This spring, when you complete your declaration, these eligible children are eligible even if they have already reached the age of 22 because they were born at the beginning of the year.
If your child turned 18 in 2023
You have the choice! By default, a child born in the year 2005 is categorized by the tax authorities among your dependents in 2023. Your young adult is therefore probably pre-filled in the Unmarried children under 18 years old line. It allows you to benefit from the family quotient system.
However, if they wish, your child can complete their first declaration. In this case, two possibilities. The first, cut the year in two: you declare the income received until the age of 18, and your child declares separately the income received after reaching the age of majority. Second possibility: he declares its own income for the entire year 2023 (be careful, in this case you do not benefit from a share or half-share).
If your child continues studieshe can request the attachment of your tax household as long as he has under 25 years of age on January 1 of the year concerned (January 1, 2023). Students born in 1998 or subsequent years can therefore be included. They are thus, on the day of the declaration, in the year of their 26 years. To request attachment, students must be able to justify the continuation of their studies, for example via a student cardon January 1 or December 31 of the year 2023.
Note: the fact of whether or not to stay with your parents n / A no impact on the tax connection. Disabled children can also be included, regardless of their age. Furthermore, if the attached children are married or in a civil partnership, the attachment is global: it includes your child, his or her spouse and their possible children.
Taxes: who can I attach (or not) to my declaration?
Where to declare the connection?
To request the tax attachment of your adult children, you must enter the number of adult children attached on your income tax return. box J (unmarried child) or box N (child husband or civil partnership). Boxes located in box D for the paper declaration (framework for adult or married children in 2023), step 2 (your family situation) for the online declaration. You must also specify the identity of the attached children.
To know: the attachment is not automatically renewed. You must therefore request it, each year, via the annual income declaration.
Attachment request letter template
Every child must sign an attachment requeston plain paper, on the following model:
I undersign [nom, prnom, adresse, profession ou qualit, date et lieu de naissance] requests to be attached to the tax household of [mes parents, ma mre, mon pre]. Date and signature.
Do not attach this letter to your declaration: you must only keep it so that you can present it to the tax authorities in the event of an audit.
Attachment and separation
When the parents, separated or divorced, are taxed separately, the parent who does not benefit from the connection can deduct alimony from their income. Be careful, however, in the particular case of alternating residence: the tax authorities specify that the income of the attached child must be shared between both parents.
Where to declare the income of attached children?
You must declare all income received by the attached children by adding them in the boxes 1CJ, 1DJ, etc., and possibly 1CP and following in the event of unemployment, the section Your income, salaries, wages (step 3). Please note: unlike your income and that of your potential spouse, the income of dependent children is not pre-filled!
Please note, this new item must be completed so that your adult children avoid the 2024 housing tax
Is it necessary to declare all the income of the attached children?
If the attached adult child has entered working life (and was therefore 21 years old or younger in 2023), you must declare all of their wages or other income in box 1CJ.
If your related child is studenton the other hand, part or all of his remuneration may be exempt. This is the case for a grant granted by the State or by local authorities based on social criteria: the entire amount received is exempt and must therefore not be declared!
For the student jobsthe tax authorities provide a exemption thresholdfix three times the monthly amount of the SMIC.
For this 2024 declaration, the 2023 salaries drawn from jobs carried out in parallel with studies do not have to be declared if they are below 5204euros. Beyond this, the portion of the remuneration exceeding this threshold must be entered on the tax household’s income declaration.
For students who have completed paid internshipsthe bonus received for the year 2023 is exone within the limit of 20815 euros. This exemption threshold also applies to apprentices with an apprenticeship contract. Conversely, there is no exemption for a professionalization or qualification contract: all income received through this means must therefore be declared.
Furthermore, if your attached children continue their studies, you can benefit from a tax reduction, amounting to 183 euros per child student. To do this, you must indicate the box 7EF the number of children in higher education (7EG in the case of alternating residence), the tax reductions and credits section.
Do you really want to attach your children to your tax home?