Income tax: don’t forget this step to pay less next year

The vast majority of the gains generated by your investments are subject to a flat-rate tax. But you can be exempt from this deposit if your income is below certain thresholds… and provided you act before the deadline.

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Do you have life insurance, a bank account, a term account, a home savings plan (PEL), shares or even bonds? Please note that these investments have one thing in common: the income they generate – interest, dividends – is subject to a non-discharging flat-rate withholding tax. This deduction of 12.8% (7.5% for interest on life insurance contracts over 8 years old) is systematically carried out by your bank when your income is paid, at the same time as social security contributions of 17 .2%. In total, your winnings are subject to flat tax at an overall rate of 30%.

But you can escape part of this taxation, and more precisely the 12.8% levy, provided you are eligible for an income tax advance exemption. To be exempt on your interest, your 2023 reference tax income appearing in your last tax notice must be less than 25,000 euros if you are single (50,000 euros for a couple). For dividends, these thresholds are respectively 50,000 and 75,000 euros. If you meet these criteria, it is up to you to send your financial institution a sworn statement certifying it.

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If you have not already done so, contact your advisor without further delay, the deadline for being exempt from paying advance tax on your investment income in 2025 is November 30, 2024. However, “by way of derogation, for products resulting from life insurance contracts and capital withdrawal from a retirement savings plan, the request for exemption is made at the latest upon receipt of income, and no longer before November 30 of the year preceding that of payment.specifies the tax authorities.

A final essential step when filing your taxes

If you act on time, your savings account interest or stock dividends received in 2025 will therefore be less heavily taxed at source, that is to say when you receive them next year. Please note, non-taxable taxpayers, if they want to avoid catching up on this flat-rate tax at the end of summer 2026, will have to remember to check the 2OP box when declaring their 2025 income, in spring 2026, in order to opt for taxation on the tax scale. Note that this cell is already pre-checked if you have already marked it in your previous tax return. Only this approach will free them from a tax catch-up in 2026.

However, non-taxable households are not the only ones who have an interest in requesting an exemption from paying tax on their investment income. By doing this, those located in the 11% and 30% brackets benefit from a cash advancewhich they will reimburse in part, for taxpayers taxed at 11% who opt for income tax, or completely during the regularization carried out in 2026, after your declaration on your 2025 income.