The tax authorities have more than 40 million tax households in France. According to INSEE, more than one in two French households is a couple, with or without children. From September 2025, the DGFiP will therefore automatically make a switch for 20 million couples subject to joint taxation: an individualized withholding rate…
It is incomprehensible that it is not the individualized rate that automatically applies. This quote dates from the end of 2018, a few weeks after the big bang of withholding income tax at source. Who? The lawyer Valence Borgia, co-founder of the Women’s Foundation. Why is she rebelling like this? Because since 2019 and the application of withholding tax on your salaries, retirement pensions, allowances or property income, if you are in a relationship, it is one and the same rate (the poorly named personalized rate) which applies to the two adults in the tax household.
This personalized rate, the feminist newsletter that talks about money Cash Plan do not hesitate to denounce it without mincing words: a common rate calculated from the average income of the couple… which therefore allows most married or civil partnership men to make savings at the expense of their spouse.. Bing. Let’s talk cash, actually. Here is a concrete example.
Example. Today, when you keep the same rate
Justine earns 2000 euros net per month, and Mickal 3000 euros. Without children, this married couple paid 3,569 euros in income tax in 2023. Most of this tax is deducted at source, from their salaries, at the rate of 5.9%. Or 118 euros taken each month from Justine’s salary (so 1882 euros net salary after source tax). And 178 euros on Mickal’s pay slip (2822 euros net after tax). This 5.9% withholding at source is their household rateTHE custom rate applied by default.
Personalized or individualized rates, what’s the difference?
Since the withholding at source came into force, couples have been able to choose the individualized rate of withholding at source. We still need to be aware of it obviously. But all the same, half a million households have chosen to change their option in 2022, for example.
What’s the difference between the two? The calculation of income tax does not change. The cumulative monthly direct debit does not change either. But the deduction rates are calculated separately in order to distribute the effort within the couple in proportion to each person’s income. Let’s talk about cash, again, with the same example.
Example. If you choose two individualized rates (the future default choice in September 2025)
Let’s take the example of Justine, 2000 euros net per month, and Mickal, 3000 euros. What tax if their withholding rates adapted to their respective income? The official DGFiP simulator announces a individual rate of 7.4% for Mickalwhich would bring the monthly deduction to 222 euros (therefore 2778 euros of net salary after tax at source), and an individualized rate of 3.7% for Justineor 74 euros deducted at source from his pay slip (so 1926 euros net salary after tax).
Whether you choose the personalized household rate or the individualized rate, the tax authorities collect the same amount every month. But this amount is distributed more proportionally with the individualized rate, in the event of a pronounced income gap between the couple.
In 8 out of 10 couples, the woman has the lowest income
Problem… In 78% of cases, it is the woman who has the lowest income within the couple, protests Renaissance MP Marie-Pierre Rixain in comment on a bill she tabled a year ago, the National Assembly, on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, March 8. Its measurement is simple: reverse the default choice for couples. Instead of having the same default rate within the couple, those who do not claim anything will have individualized rates applied by default.
Marie-Pierre Rixain: It was I who suggested waiting until 2025. This measure is not so consensual that…
In the meantime, his measure received the blessing of the Prime Minister of the time, Elisabeth Borne. Then was taken up as an amendment in the 2024 budget. And adopted. Withholding rates are updated every September 1st. So… the new feature will apply from September 2024? No, in September 2025. Why? In the amendment, the need to communicate and a technical deadline are mentioned.
It was me who suggested waiting until 2025, says Marie-Pierre Rixain, interviewed by MoneyVox. This measure is not as consensual as it was… During the debates in committee, we had contradictory demonstrations from the oppositions, rather alongside LR and RN. We touch on patriarchal values, which have their roots over centuries. The problem was therefore not only technical.
INTERVIEW. Income tax: with the new default rate, the man will have to convince his partner
From a technical point of view, in fact, everything is already on track. The individualization of withholding tax rates at source will be fully operational in September 2025 on 2024 income, confirms the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP). And a communication campaign is planned, in the meantime: information will be provided at the end of 2024 on the subject. Marie-Pierre Rixain hopes that this delay will make it possible to obtain some form of support from the tax households concerned.
If the man earns more, he will have to convince his partner to both be deducted each month at the same rate
And the MP hopes that this tax equality measure will pave the way for more economic equality. And, above all, that this novelty will facilitate a peaceful discussion within the couple on money issues: If the man earns more, he will have to convince his partner to both be deducted each month at the same rate [s’il tient conserver le taux unique au sein du foyer]. We are going to have a reverse negotiation! Today we are in the midst of economic democratization within couples. So, yes, I hope this can lead to more discussion. Let’s talk cash, even as a couple.
How to anticipate the new 2025 by individualizing your rate today?
No need to wait for the tax authorities to do so by default in September 2025. You can now switch from the personalized household rate, the current default choice, to the individualized rate. Half a million households already make this switch each year on impots.gouv.fr!
Go to the manage my direct debit at source section in your particular space. Then check the button (circled in red, below) in the frame individualize your withholding rate at source, the Public Treasury indicating to you in the same framework what are the individualized rates of the two members of the couple. Then confirm. There you go. Your relationship is saved. Without waiting for 2025.
Screenshots of impots.gouv.fr
Income tax: how to change the tax rate taken at source, on your salary or your pension