The French tax return for Americans: your first filing, Form 3916 and your US accounts

Once you're a French tax resident, you file a French return every spring, and you list every US bank, brokerage and crypto account you hold, every single year.

The short version

• Your first return is on paper. Service-Public says you must use a paper return the first time you declare income in France [1], on form 2042.
• Foreign income goes on form 2047, and foreign accounts go on form 3916 / 3916-bis (Cerfa 11916), one entry per account, opened, used or closed during the year [2][3].
• The fines are per account. EUR 1,500 (about USD 1,674) per undeclared account, or EUR 10,000 (about USD 11,163) in a non-cooperative country [3].
• Deadlines fall in spring. The campaign for 2026 income opens in April 2027 [4]; online deadlines are staggered by département.
• US pensions, 401(k)s and IRAs: under the US–France treaty, pension distributions are taxed only in the country where the plan is set up [6]. You still report a lot in France.

USD conversions use the Federal Reserve H.10 rate of October 30, 2026 (EUR 1 = USD 1.1163).

Do you file in France?

If France is your home (your household lives there, you work there mainly, or your economic interests are centered there), you're a French tax resident and France taxes your worldwide income, with relief under the treaty. Uncle Sam still wants his return too, because the US taxes citizens wherever they live. So most Americans in Paris file two returns a year: the IRS 1040 and the French déclaration de revenus.

Both tax years run January to December, which helps. The French return for 2026 income is filed in spring 2027. Since 2019, France collects income tax at source (prélèvement à la source) through payroll or monthly bank debits, but you still file the annual return to settle up. For example, the third installment of 2026 withholding debits for people paying in four installments is on November 25, 2026 [7].

Your first French return: on paper

Service-Public is clear: if it's your first time declaring income in France, you use a paper return [1]. After that, online filing is mandatory if your home has internet access and you're able to file online [1].

Here's the drill for year one:

1. Get the forms. Pick up form 2042 (the main return) at your local tax office, the service des impôts des particuliers (SIP), or download it from impots.gouv.fr. Add 2042 C if your situation needs it, and 2042 RICI for tax credits and reductions [1].
2. Add form 2047 for income received abroad, such as US interest, dividends, rent or pensions [5].
3. Add form 3916 / 3916-bis for each foreign account [2].
4. Report only the right period. In your arrival year, France taxes your income from the day you became a resident. Service-Public has a separate form for arriving in or leaving France [1].
5. Mail it or drop it off at the SIP for your Paris address.
6. Watch the mail. The tax office creates your file and gives you a numéro fiscal (tax ID). That number lets you open your online account for next year.

Late filing costs a surcharge, with a minimum of EUR 60 (about USD 67) [1]. Even if you owe nothing, file. Your avis d'imposition (tax notice) is the document landlords, banks and the prefecture ask for, so a missing return can stall a lease or a residence card renewal.

Deadlines

France doesn't have one April 15. The tax office sets the calendar each spring:

We've kept these in words because the exact dates change each year and weren't posted for 2027 when we checked. The 2026 campaign (for 2025 income) is over, and the 2027 campaign for 2026 income opens in April 2027 [4]. Use the deadline checker on Service-Public or impots.gouv.fr once the calendar is out. Made a mistake? An online correction service opens in summer; in 2026 it ran from July 29 to November 30 [7].

Form 3916: declaring your US accounts

This is the form that trips Americans up, because the IRS already makes you file the FBAR and you'd think one list is enough. It isn't. France has its own.

What you list

Form 3916 / 3916-bis (Cerfa 11916) covers accounts opened, used or closed abroad during the year [2], filed with your income tax return, one entry for each account [2]. That includes [2][3]:

• Bank accounts: your Chase checking, your Ally savings, a credit union account.
• Accounts with other financial providers abroad, such as brokerage accounts (Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard and so on).
• Online bank accounts whose IBAN doesn't start with FR, like many neobanks.
• Crypto-asset accounts on foreign platforms.
• Life insurance and capitalization contracts opened abroad.

There's one narrow exception: an account used only for online purchases or sales, linked to an account you hold in France, with no more than EUR 10,000 a year in sales receipts [3].

Closed an account during the year? It still goes on the form. Have joint accounts or signature authority over a parent's account? List those too.

The penalties

On top of that, if the undeclared money produced unpaid tax, there's an 80% surcharge on the tax owed, which replaces the fixed fine [3]. Five forgotten US accounts could mean EUR 7,500 in fines before any tax is in play. That's real money for a paperwork slip.

US income on the French return

Wages, interest and dividends

French tax residents report worldwide income, including US interest, dividends and capital gains, generally on form 2047 and then carried over to 2042 [5]. The US–France treaty then decides which country taxes what first and how the credits work [6]. Treaty mechanics, US investment funds and the French social charges are a whole guide on their own (see Keep reading). A US expat tax preparer can check your case.

401(k)s, IRAs and Social Security

The treaty, as amended by the 2004 protocol, gives the country where a pension is set up the exclusive right to tax pension distributions and social security benefits paid to a resident of the other country [6]. Read simply: distributions from a US 401(k) or IRA and your US Social Security are taxed by the US, not France. The protocol's technical explanation describes it as "exclusive source country taxation" [6]. It applies to periodic and lump-sum payments alike [6].

That doesn't mean France ignores them. They're still reported on the French return, and a US expat tax preparer can check how your distributions are entered so France gives the treaty relief.

What about Form 3916? French guidance doesn't mention 401(k)s or IRAs by name. A brokerage-style IRA looks a lot like an account with a foreign financial provider, so listing it is the cautious route, given a EUR 1,500 fine per account. Ask your preparer.

Meanwhile, on the US side

Nothing in France changes your US filing:

• FBAR: if your foreign accounts (your French accounts, from the US point of view) add up to more than USD 10,000 at any time in the year, you file FinCEN Form 114 [8].
• Form 8938 (FATCA) has its own, higher thresholds for people living abroad.
• Foreign tax credits usually do the heavy lifting for Americans in France, since French rates and social charges are high.

It's two forms with mirror images: France wants your US accounts on Form 3916, and the US wants your French accounts on the FBAR.

First-return horror stories (and the SIP desk that actually helped) get swapped in our community group for Americans in France. This is general information, not tax advice.

Sources

1. Service-Public: the annual income tax return (in French)
2. Service-Public: form 3916-3916-bis, accounts abroad, 2026 (in French)
3. Service-Public: do you have to declare accounts abroad? (in French)
4. Service-Public: income tax return deadline (in French)
5. Service-Public: form 2047, income received abroad, 2026 (in French)
6. US Treasury: technical explanation of the 2004 protocol to the US–France tax treaty
7. impots.gouv.fr: home page and tax calendar (in French)
8. FinCEN: Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)

Keep reading

• France taxes for Americans
• Assurance vie and PEA: US tax traps
• FBAR: reporting your foreign bank accounts
• 401(k) and IRA when you live abroad