France Income Tax and Social Charges 2026: Brut to Net at Common Salaries

Here's what a private-sector employee keeps before income tax, at monthly gross salaries from €2,000 to €8,000. Sort by any column.

On €2,000 brut a month, net before tax is €1,583.19. On €2,500 it's €1,978.99, on €4,000 it's €3,166.39, and on €5,000 it's €3,962.82.

The rate is almost flat. Up to €4,000 a month the employee pays 20.8% of gross. Above the monthly social security ceiling (the PASS), the capped old-age pension contribution stops growing, while the supplementary pension contributions on the slice above the ceiling are charged at a higher rate. The net effect is a slight dip, to 20.4% at €8,000 a month.

The biggest items are the basic state pension (assurance vieillesse), the supplementary AGIRC-ARRCO pension, and the CSG, a broad social levy that funds health and family benefits. CRDS pays down the social security debt. Health insurance (maladie) is now paid entirely by the employer for most employees, which is why it doesn't appear in the employee's share.

Your employer pays considerably more on top of your gross salary. We don't show that figure here, because the calculator doesn't yet apply the 2026 general reduction on employer contributions for lower salaries, so it would overstate the employer's cost at the bottom of the table.

Part of the CSG and all of the CRDS can't be deducted for income tax. So your net taxable salary is a little higher than what reaches your bank account. On €3,000 brut a month, net before tax is €28,497 a year, but net taxable salary is €29,523. On €5,000 brut it's €47,554 against €49,263.

Before income tax is worked out, a further 10% is normally taken off salary for professional expenses, within a floor and a ceiling, unless you claim your real costs instead. What's left is your revenu net imposable, the figure on your tax notice. The last column of the first table applies that step: on €3,000 brut a month it's €26,571, and on €5,000 it's €44,337. To use the tables together, take that figure and look up the nearest row in the second.

For a single person, income tax is €3,604 on €35,000 of revenu net imposable, €11,104 on €60,000 and €24,801 on €100,000. As a share of taxable income that's 10.3%, 18.5% and 24.8%. The marginal rate is 30% from the middle of the scale and 41% at €100,000.

French income tax is charged on the household, not the individual. Taxable income is divided by a number of parts: one for a single person, two for a married or PACS couple, and a half part for each of the first two children. The scale is applied to one part, then multiplied back up.

That makes a big difference. On €100,000, a couple without children pays €16,208, which is €8,593 less than a single person. Two children cut the bill again, to €12,594.

The children's benefit is capped, the plafonnement du quotient familial. From €80,000 up, the cap applies to our couple with two children, so the children save the same €3,614 at €80,000, €100,000 and €150,000.

Social charges come from this site's France social security calculator, run for a non-cadre private-sector employee at each monthly salary. Net taxable salary adds back the non-deductible CSG and the CRDS from the same calculator. Income tax comes from the France income tax calculator, which applies the 2026 scale, the quotient familial and its cap.

We show couples from €80,000 of taxable income. The calculator applies the décote, a relief that reduces small tax bills, but every bill in the table is too large for it, so it is zero throughout.

Real professional costs. The revenu net imposable column uses the flat 10% deduction. If you claim your actual costs instead (frais réels), your figure will differ.

Tax credits and reductions. Childcare, home help, donations and other credits come off the final bill. None are applied.

Mutuelle and prévoyance. Company health top-up insurance and provident cover are contractual and come off your pay too. They're not included.

Cadres, bonuses and the public sector. We used non-cadre employees. Cadres pay a tiny extra contribution. Bonuses, thirteenth-month pay, profit-sharing and public-sector schemes are not modelled.

High-income surtax. Very high incomes pay an extra contribution on top. It doesn't apply at the incomes shown.

Work out your net pay in the France social security calculator, then your tax in the France income tax calculator. If you're a couple with different incomes, the withholding rate calculator shows how the prélèvement à la source can be split between you. For France's wealth tax on property next to Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands, see our wealth tax comparison.