Tax policy directorate – Bureau a

6 – Investment income 
This category covers income from variable-yield and fixed-income securities.
Income from variable-yield securities includes income from shares and similar income distributed by 
legal entities liable to corporation tax or to an equivalent tax (or opting for this tax). It may fluctuate 
depending on the performance of the issuer. 
Income from fixed-income securities includes income from bonds and other negotiable debt securities 
and income from receivables, deposits, guarantees, shareholder advances, Treasury bills and short-
term notes issued by public- or private-law legal entities. The rate of return is usually fixed during the 
investment period, but this is not always so.
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INCOME FROM
VARIABLE-YIELD SECURITIES (DIVIDENDS AND SIMILAR INCOME) 
Income distributed by French or foreign companies liable to corporation tax or an equivalent tax and 
received by individuals who are resident of France for tax purposes is liable to personal income tax at a 
progressive rate, after deducting, if the companies have their registered office in France, a European 
Union Member State or in a State or territory having concluded a tax treaty with an administrative 
assistance clause to combat tax evasion and avoidance with France, 
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a 40% allowance 
Prior to being subject to the progressive income tax scale, all income distributed, whether eligible or not 
for the 40% allowance, received by individuals who are resident of France for tax purposes, is subject to 
a 21% non-discharging mandatory deduction at source (instalment). This withholding tax is paid during 
the first fifteen days of the month following the month in which the income is paid and is set off against 
the income tax due for the year in which it was applied (income tax paid the following year). If it is more 
than the tax owed, the surplus is refunded. 
However, individuals who are resident of France for tax purposes, and whose household reference 
taxable income does not exceed €50,000 for single taxpayers or €75,000 for taxpayers taxed jointly, 
can opt out of this withholding tax. 
Since 1 January 2013, income distributed by companies based in France has been liable to a 75% 
mandatory flat-rate withholding tax which discharges income tax when it is paid outside France in a 
non-cooperative country or territory, regardless of the tax domicile of the recipient of this income, 
unless the debtor provides proof that this income corresponds to operations whose primary purpose 
and effect are not to shift income to a non-cooperative country or territory. 
I
NCOME FROMVARIABLE
-
YIELD SECURITIES 
(
DIVIDENDS AND SIMILAR INCOME
) 
In principle, this income is subject to the progressive income tax scale. 
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Article 135 of the Growth, Economic Activity and Equal Economic Opportunity Act no. 2015-990 of 6 
August 2015. 
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Article 61 of the 2017 Budget Act no. 2016-1917 of 29 December 2016. 
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Floating or adjustable rate bonds and equity securities for example. 
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The fixed annual allowance of €1,525 for a single person and €3,050 for a couple taxed jointly was 
repealed by Article 9 of the 2013 Budget Act (Act no. 2012-1509 of 29 December 2012) for distributed income paid 
out as from 1 January 2012.

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Since 1 January 2013, prior to being subject to the progressive income tax scale, income from fixed-
income securities received by individuals who are resident of France for tax purposes is subject to a 
24% non-discharging mandatory withholding tax (instalment). This income can be in the form of interest, 
arrears, revenue of any nature from government stock, bonds and other negotiable debt securities 
(such as equity securities and treasury bills issued by the public or private organisations referred to in 
Article 118 CGI). 
This withholding tax is paid during the first fifteen days of the month following the month in which the 
income is paid and is set off against the income tax due for the year in which it was applied (income tax 
paid the following year). If it is more than the tax owed, the surplus is refunded. 
However, individuals who are resident of France for tax purposes, and whose household reference 
taxable income does not exceed €25,000 for single taxpayers or €50,000 for taxpayers taxed jointly, 
can opt out of this withholding tax. 
In addition, some income is subject to a withholding tax discharging income tax liability:
Optional: 
- 
income from fixed-income securities received for a year by a tax household when the amount is 
less than €2,000 and for which the taxpayer has opted to pay income tax at the fixed rate of 
24%. The option is exercised when filing the tax return for all income. 
- 
income relating to life insurance policies and capitalisation bonds and contracts for which the 
beneficiary, an individual who is resident of France for tax purposes, elects for payment of the 
flat-rate withholding tax discharging income tax. The rate of the withholding tax is 35% if the 
term of the policy/contract is less than four years, 15% if the term is between four and eight 
years and 7.5% when the term is eight years or longer.
Mandatory: 
- 
income from fixed-income securities where the debtor is based in France and which is paid 
outside France in a non-cooperative country or territory – barring exceptions. The rate of this 
mandatory withholding tax is set at 75%; 
- 
income from fixed-income securities that is relinquished, pursuant to so-called “sharing” 
solidarity-based savings, in favour of public interest bodies which are compulsorily subject to 
a 5% flat-rate withholding tax discharging income tax liability; 
- 
income from bonds subject to tax anonymity arrangements (bearer bonds) which are subject 
to a 42% withholding tax when the bonds or securities were issued between 21 January 1980 
and 31 December 1997 and to a rate of 60% when issued subsequent to 1 January 1998. 
Certain regulated savings income is expressly exempt from income tax: interest on Livret A, Livret 
d'Épargne Populaire (LEP), Livret Jeune and Livret de Développement Durable (LDD) savings 
accounts. Interest on home-ownership savings accounts (comptes d’épargne-logement, CEL) is also 
exempt from income tax. 
Interest on home-ownership savings plans (plans d’épargne-logement, PEL) is subject to the 
progressive income tax scale (or, optionally, a flat rate of 24%) for the portion of accrued interest as 
from the plan’s twelfth anniversary. In this case, the banking establishments managing PELs withhold 
tax at source.
Deduction of capital losses on crowdfunding operations
Article 25 of the 2015 Supplementary Budget Act no. 2015-1786 created a mechanism for recognising 
capital losses realised by individuals not acting in a professional or commercial capacity, on 
crowdfunding loans made on or after 1 January 2016 by way of a crowdfunding website. The loss is 
allowable for personal income tax alone and recognised in the tax year during which the debt becomes 
definitively uncollectable and, where applicable, during the five following years (Article 125-00 A CGI).

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Article 44 of the 2016 Supplementary Budget Act no. 2016-1918 extended this mechanism to “mini-
bonds”. Thus, for an individual managing his or her own personal assets, on crowdfunding loans made, 
or “mini-bonds” subscribed, on or after 1 January 2017, losses can be set off against interest earned on 
other crowdfunding loans and “mini-bonds”, without distinction, in the tax year during which the debt 
becomes definitively uncollectable or the five following years. Furthermore, the aforementioned article 
introduced an overall cap of €8,000 per year for the amount of these losses for the sole purpose of 
determining the income tax base.