• Your permanent home is in France.
• You spend most of your time in France (at least 183 days during a calendar year, or even less if you spend more time in France than in any other country).
• Your professional activity is in France
• Your center of economic interest is in France.

Income taxes are based on a calendar year and are declared the year following the year residency is established. The filing deadline varies from year to year (for recent years this has been 31 May). Failing to supply your yearly tax declaration by the given deadline makes you subject to a penalty of 10 percent of the tax due. There is no payment made with a French declaration, the balance of tax is due on 15 September. This is simply a declaration of your annual revenues.

The French tax authorities will subsequently calculate the taxes due, based on information provided in your declaration and will send you a bill (avis d’imposition) any time between August and September. First time filers may receive their tax bill even later in the year.

As of 2006, the government implemented a new system called la déclaration des revenus pré-remplie, or a declaration that the government has already filled in on your behalf based on information supplied by your employer. This now includes information on French investments.

If you were resident here for the entire year and are a salaried employee, this form should be automatically sent to you by your local tax office, centre des impôts. Once you are recorded in the system, the déclaration will be sent automatically to your home. If you move, it is your responsibility to notify the tax authorities of your new address.

Unlike the US or UK system of tax withholding on wages, in France there is no such withholding, although there is talk of introducing a withholding system at some point in the future. Your salary slip will however include deductions for your employee social charges, contributions to staff benefits such as pension schemes or death in service.  It is a good idea to budget for an estimated tax amount in advance to avoid a future surprise.

First time filers will owe their annual tax (this could represent a part year scenario depending on when residency was established) all in one payment, upon filing of their first declaration. The following year you should expect to receive a bill from your local French tax office to prepay the current year's tax in three instalments (the tax paid in the first two instalments is based on previous year's income). These estimated tax instalments are due on 15 February, 15 May and 15 September. The last instalment called le solde is the final payment and it represents the difference between total amount of current year's tax owed (based on the current year's tax declaration) and amount paid to date. You can also opt for a monthly tax payment system (mensualisation) as opposed to the three instalment payment method (tier provisionnel).

For example, in calendar year 2010, your first two instalment payments each amount to one third of the total tax due from your 2009 declaration. Before the solde is due 15 September 2010, your 2009 declaration filed in the spring will have been processed and the tax amount due is calculated at this point. Therefore, the final payment for 15 September 2010 reflects the balance due as the difference between your total 2009 tax owed and the amount paid to date through the first two instalments paid in 2010 .