The law allows taxpayers to deduct certain expenses from their taxable income. These deductible expenses, exhaustively listed by law, are as follows:
- overall deficits from previous years;
- CSG deductible on income from assets;
A fraction of the CSG paid is deductible from taxable income. This fraction is set at 6.8%
- pension contributions (PERP, Préfon and others and voluntary payments on a PER);
Taxpayers may deduct from their overall income the contributions paid to the PER (portion representing voluntary payments), PERP, to the Préfon, CGOS, MRFP schemes and to the supplementary pension schemes for employees up to a limit equal to the difference observed under the previous year between:
- 10% of his income from professional activity. Whatever the amount of this income, this first term is equal to a minimum of 10% of the annual social security ceiling (PASS) and a maximum of 10% of 8 times the PASS;
- and the cumulative amount of contributions or premiums paid to contractual pension plans deducted from gross professional income to which are added, where applicable, the payments of the employer and the employee to the Perco or to a collective or compulsory PER;
- alimony
Alimony paid to adult children who are not counted as dependents is deductible from taxable income, within a limit set annually.
Pensions paid to minor children for whom the taxpayer is not responsible or to the ex-spouse are deductible within the limit set by the judge.
Pensions paid to ascendants or parents-in-law are deductible within the limit of the supporting documents that he can produce and up to the level of need of these people;
- compensatory benefits
Payments of sums of money corresponding to a capital compensatory benefit, made over a period of more than 12 months, are deductible from the total income of the person who pays it and are taxable as the beneficiary’s income;
- accommodation costs for an elderly person
The accommodation costs under one’s roof for an elderly person over 75 in need, other than an ascendant, are deductible within a limit set annually and provided however that this person has a taxable income not exceeding the ceiling of resources fixed for the granting of the additional allowance;
- miscellaneous deductions:
- annuities paid on a compulsory and free basis constituted before 2/11/1959;
- payments made for the constitution of the mutual pension of the combatants;
- interest paid on resettlement or retraining loans by French nationals repatriated or returning from abroad;
- land charges for historic monuments whose owner reserves the right to enjoyment;
- payments of social security contributions in the exceptional case that they have not been deducted for the determination of a particular income;
- redemption of pension contributions for people who no longer carry out salaried activities;
- the deduction in favor of the elderly or disabled people of modest means:
People over the age of 65 or disabled people of modest means benefit from a deduction on their overall net income.