A tax return sheet. (drawing) – PHILIPPE HUGUEN / AFP
French households will be able to start from this Thursday to file their income tax return, obligatorily online for most of them, and with some novelties resulting from measures taken within the framework of the health and economic crisis. The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire and that of Public Accounts Olivier Dussopt will officially launch this 2021 campaign during a press conference early Thursday afternoon.
Households who cannot report online, and therefore still complete a paper return, will have until May 20 to return it. For those who report their income online, the deadline is May 26 to June 8, depending on the department of residence. For the second year, around 12 million tax households whose situation does not require rectification will not need to declare their income, their declaration being generated automatically by the administration. They won’t have to send it back if they don’t have any changes to make.
Exceptional year, exceptional declarations
After an exceptional year 2020, marked by the Covid-19 epidemic, certain measures taken by the government during the management of the health crisis will have an impact on this 2021 declaration. Professional expenses incurred for teleworking are exempt up to a limit. of 550 euros per year. In addition, the exceptional purchasing power bonus, known as the Macron bonus, paid by companies to certain employees in 2020 is exempt from income tax (up to 1,000 euros).
The same goes for the Covid premium, paid by certain administrations, in particular public health establishments, as well as by private health establishments or the social sector (up to 1,500 euros). Income from overtime worked during the period of the state of health emergency from March 16 to July 10, 2020, is also exempt up to 7,500 euros. The government has also increased the tax reduction granted in the event of donations to an association to help the most deprived. It increases to 75% of the amount of the donation, with a ceiling of 1,000 euros.