Taxes: unpleasant surprise for 13 million French people

Thirteen million households will have to pay a tax arrears next September, averaging €2,000. The number of households affected has increased since last year. How can this increase be explained?
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Pierre Lostenlen discovered the bad news of the summer on the tax website . "I just received my 2025 tax bill on my 2024 income and I have just learned, unfortunately, that I have a remaining charge of 306 euros," explained the consultant.
Each month, he was deducted €152.72 directly from his salary, an amount calculated based on his tax rate, which remained unchanged from last year. But his income, however, increased. "In 2024, I did a bit of rental on a well-known platform in France, around €2,000 a year for about thirty nights, which put me in a higher tax bracket," he explained.
Like him, 13.1 million tax households have a remaining tax due this year: €1,901 on average. This applies to those whose tax situation has changed in 2024, following a divorce, for example, or the departure of a dependent child, but also to people whose salary has increased. And there were many of them in 2024. Income tax scales have increased by around 2-3%. It follows that, if we have a salary increase of 5, 6, or 7% and we haven't anticipated it beforehand, we find ourselves not having had enough deducted from our pay slip and therefore having to pay an additional amount for the 2024 tax," explained Olivier Villois, national secretary of the CGT for public finances.
To avoid unpleasant surprises in the event of a change in income or family situation, you can adjust your withholding tax rate directly on the tax website.
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