French admin for Brits: the RIB, your first tax return and the CAF

French bureaucracy is famous for a reason, but it isn't random. Once you know the handful of documents everyone asks for and the yearly rhythm of the taxman, it gets far less painful.

The short version

• A RIB (relevé d'identité bancaire) is a slip with your French bank details. Landlords, employers, the CAF and the tax office all want one.
• Most offices want a justificatif de domicile: a recent bill or rent receipt in your name.
• If you move to France in one year, you file your first French tax return the following spring, and the first one has to be on paper [1].
• French residents must declare every foreign account, UK current accounts and ISAs included. The fine is €1,500 per undeclared account [2].
• The CAF pays family and housing benefits to people of any nationality who live in France legally. Brits need a valid residence card [3].

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = EUR 1.20).

The documents everyone asks for

Think of these as your French starter pack. Keep paper copies and scans in one place; you'll send them dozens of times in your first year.

Proof of address is the classic chicken-and-egg problem. The bank wants a bill before it opens your account; the energy company wants a bank account before it sends a bill. Ways round it: your signed lease, an attestation d'hébergement (a letter from whoever is putting you up, with a copy of their ID and their own bill), or a bank that accepts a lease. Our guide to banking in France covers opening an account.

Why the RIB matters

Back home you'd read out your sort code and account number. In France you hand over a RIB, and many organisations won't take bank details any other way. Some landlords and employers still prefer a French IBAN starting with FR, even though paying into another EU account should be fine in principle. Life is simpler with a French account.

Your first French tax return

France taxes residents on their worldwide income, and the UK–France double taxation agreement stops you paying twice on the same income [4]. Our guide to French taxes for Brits covers rates and which country taxes what. This section is about the paperwork.

When

You declare income for calendar year N in the spring of year N+1. If you set up home in France during 2025, your first return was due in spring 2026, covering your income from the date you arrived to 31 December [1][5]. The 2026 online season opened on 9 April 2026, with deadlines that vary by département and are earlier on paper [5].

How: paper first time, online after

1. Get form 2042 and its annexes from impots.gouv.fr. Add form 2047 for foreign income (UK pensions, rent from a UK property, UK interest and dividends) and 2044 if you have rental income [1].
2. File it on paper. If you're declaring in France for the first time, you can't use the online service, so you send a paper return to the service des impôts des particuliers (SIP) for your new address [1].
3. Declare your foreign accounts (see below).
4. Wait for your numéro fiscal. Once your return is processed you get a 13-digit tax number. With it, plus the online access number on your notice, you create your secure space (espace particulier) on impots.gouv.fr, or log in through FranceConnect [5].
5. From year two, file online. Online filing is compulsory if your home has internet access and you're able to use it.

If you had French income and were dealt with by the non-residents' tax office before moving, it's different: you file online, declare the non-resident part of the year on form 2042-NR and the rest on form 2042 [1].

Pay-as-you-go: prélèvement à la source

France now deducts income tax at source, a bit like PAYE. The rate is set from your last return, so in your first year your employer will use a default rate until the tax office has your figures. You can adjust your rate and set up instalments in your espace particulier. If you have UK income that isn't taxed at source in France, expect monthly or quarterly instalments taken from your French account.

Declaring your UK accounts

This is the one Brits most often miss, and it isn't optional. If you live in France you must declare every account opened, held, used or closed abroad during the year, with your annual return [2]. That includes:

• UK current and savings accounts, including ones you rarely touch
• online banks and payment accounts whose IBAN doesn't start with FR (unless they meet a narrow exemption for online-shopping accounts)
• crypto accounts on foreign platforms
• life insurance policies opened abroad [2]

The fines are steep [2]:

On top of that, tax due on money in an undeclared account can be increased by 80% [2]. Your ISA, by the way, isn't tax-free in France. Our guide to assurance vie, the PEA and your ISAs explains what to do with it.

Don't forget the UK side. Tell HMRC you've left with the P85 if it applies to you; our guide to telling HMRC you're leaving walks through it.

The CAF: family and housing benefits

The Caisse d'allocations familiales pays family allowances, housing benefit (aides au logement, including the APL), the prime d'activité for low earners and the RSA. The CAF's rules are clear that nationality isn't the test; residence is [3].

• Right to be here. British nationals must provide a valid residence permit showing they're in France legally. If your children were born abroad, you must show they entered France legally [3].
• Living here. For family benefits, France must be your permanent home and you must spend more than nine months a year there; time abroad must total no more than 92 days. For housing benefit you must live in the home at least eight months a year, so no more than 122 days away [3].
• Income. Your entitlement is worked out from the income on your French tax return, including income from abroad. So you can't get far with the CAF until you've filed your first return [3].

To apply, create your personal space on caf.fr, then apply for each benefit. Students renting in Paris often qualify for housing benefit, and it can make a real difference with Paris rents. Our guide to renting in Paris covers the rental side.

Paperwork habits that make life easier

1. Keep a dossier. A ring binder plus a cloud folder with every certificate, notice and payslip. French offices ask for documents you'd never think to keep back home, and payslips (bulletins de salaire) are worth keeping until you retire, since they back up your pension record.
2. Send important letters by lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception (recorded delivery with a signed receipt). Cancelling contracts, withdrawing from a property purchase or writing to a landlord all work this way.
3. Use the online accounts. Ameli, impots.gouv, caf.fr and your espace at the prefecture (the ANEF site for residence cards) save hours of queueing. FranceConnect lets you use one login for most of them.
4. Update your address everywhere when you move, starting with the tax office and the CAF.
5. Ask for a récépissé (receipt) whenever you hand in an application. It's your proof if anything goes missing.
6. Get help when you're stuck. France Services offices help with online government services for free, and other Brits have usually hit the same wall. Swap tips in our community group for Brits in France.

It's a bit of a minefield in year one. By year three you'll be the one explaining the RIB to newcomers over a proper cuppa.

Sources

1. impots.gouv.fr: Je viens ou je reviens en France, comment et quels revenus dois-je déclarer ? (updated 17 December 2025)
2. Service-Public: Should accounts opened abroad be reported? (checked 9 July 2026)
3. CAF: Les conditions générales
4. GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in France (updated 2 October 2026)
5. economie.gouv.fr: Première déclaration de revenus, mode d'emploi (10 April 2026)

Keep reading

• France taxes for Brits
• Banking in France as a Brit
• Carte Vitale and mutuelle: getting into French healthcare
• Leaving the UK: telling HMRC (P85) and your last tax year