French tax residents report each year their foreign bank accounts (Tax Code art. 1649 A), their life-insurance policies taken out outside France (art. 1649 AA) and their crypto-asset wallets opened abroad (art. 1649 bis C). Since 2017, the automatic exchange of information sends to the French tax authorities the accounts that foreign banks hold for French residents: an undeclared account is no longer invisible. Penalties: €1,500 per account and per year, €10,000 for a State without administrative assistance, an 80% surcharge in case of rectification (art. 1729-0 A) and a 10-year reassessment period (LPF art. L. 169), unless total balances stayed under €50,000.
Every French tax resident reports each year all accounts opened, held, used or closed abroad during the year, including those of which they are only the economic beneficiary or which they use through a power of attorney (Tax Code art. 1649 A; BOI-CF-CPF-30-20). The text, the notion of an account used and the fine are analysed in our page article 1649 A of the Tax Code: form 3916 and fine.
One form, no. 3916-3916 bis, attached to the income tax return no. 2042: one report per account, policy or wallet. The how-to is detailed in reporting foreign bank accounts.
Detection: with the automatic exchange of information (OECD Common Reporting Standard, or CRS, and EU directive DAC2), banks in more than a hundred jurisdictions report each year the accounts of French residents; Switzerland has exchanged with EU States since 2018, on data collected since 2017.
Every French tax resident, whatever their nationality.
A single form, with one report per account, policy or wallet.
Tax evaded, late-payment interest, then fine or surcharge, which are not combined on the same tax.
OECD Common Reporting Standard and EU directive DAC2: France has exchanged since 2017.
What changes depending on whether the taxpayer declares before or after an audit is opened.
The regularisation of an undeclared account remains possible as long as no audit has been opened. The STDR, which applied reduced surcharge rates, closed on 31 December 2017: there is no longer a negotiated scale. A voluntary filing in principle avoids the 80% surcharge, which applies to tax rectified by the tax authorities, and the mandatory referral to the prosecutor (LPF art. L. 228); the fine per account remains due.
List of accounts, balances for each year to test the €50,000 threshold, origin of the funds (inheritance, sale, savings already taxed). This evidence avoids the taxation of article 755 of the Tax Code, which deems assets of unjustified origin acquired free of charge.
Filing of the missing forms 3916 and amended income tax returns for the years not time-barred (10 years, LPF art. L. 169, para. 5, unless the €50,000 threshold applies), with, where relevant, IFI and inheritance duties.
Payment of the tax and late-payment interest (0.20% per month). The halving of late-payment interest (Tax Code art. 1727, V) requires in particular a spontaneous amended return filed before the reassessment period expires, with payment of the basic tax, and is excluded for an offence that excludes good faith. In its doctrine, the administration further limits the reduction to taxpayers who filed their original return and paid the tax on time (BOI-DAE-20-10, § 10). No reduction of the fines is due as of right.
Textbook hypothesis: Swiss account, undeclared income of €20,000 a year for seven years, overall rate of 30%, or €42,000 of tax. After an audit: 80% surcharge (€33,600), total of €75,600 excluding interest. Voluntary filing: the tax and at most €10,500 of fines (€1,500 × 7), or €52,500 excluding interest. The detail and two other cases are in our page regularising foreign accounts.
Maître Jonathan Bensaid, founding partner of the firm, member of the Paris & Geneva Bars, advises taxpayers on the voluntary regularisation of foreign accounts (Switzerland, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, United States): historical audit, documentary reconstruction, amended returns, defence in an audit.
Yes. Article 1649 A covers accounts opened, held, used or closed during the year, with no balance threshold. Since 1 January 2019, the doctrine requires the reporting of all accounts held, even inactive ones (BOI-CF-CPF-30-20, § 120). An almost empty account, or one closed during the year, is reported.
A single form covers bank accounts (art. 1649 A), life-insurance and capitalisation contracts taken out outside France (art. 1649 AA) and crypto-asset wallets opened abroad (art. 1649 bis C). A separate report is filed for each account, policy or wallet.
10 years instead of 3 (LPF art. L. 169, para. 5), for the income relating to the undeclared account only: the tax authorities may reassess until the end of the tenth year following the year of taxation. The extension does not apply if you prove that the total credit balances of your foreign accounts did not exceed €50,000 at any time during the year.
Yes, and since the Act of 25 June 2026 until the end of the second year following the reply. Where the tax authorities, within the initial reassessment period, have asked the competent authority of another State or territory for information (Switzerland or Portugal, for instance), they may rectify the omissions or insufficiencies relating to that request until the end of the second year following the year in which the reply was received and, at the latest, until 31 December of the third year following the year in which the initial period expired (LPF, art. L. 188 A). Before Act no. 2026-534 of 25 June 2026 (art. 101), the period after the reply was one year; the ceiling of the third year is unchanged. The new rule applies to reassessment periods expiring on or after the publication of the Act, on 26 June 2026. The extension requires that you were told of the request within sixty days of its dispatch, and of the reply within sixty days of its receipt, and it covers only the omissions relating to the request. The tax authorities are not bound to use it (BOI-CF-PGR-10-60, para. 360, whose text of 16 January 2019 still describes the former one-year period). Example: for 2016 income of an undeclared foreign account, whose ten-year period (LPF, art. L. 169) expires on 31 December 2026, a request sent in 2026 and answered the same year allows reassessment until 31 December 2028 (31 December 2027 before the reform); a reply in 2027, or no reply, leads to 31 December 2029.
Yes, as long as no audit has been opened. The service for processing amended returns (STDR), open from 2013 to 2017, no longer exists; regularisation falls under ordinary law, with the competent tax office. Method and worked cases: regularising foreign accounts.
Yes. The fine is €1,500 per account and per year for States that have concluded with France an administrative-assistance convention giving access to banking information, which is the case of Switzerland and Luxembourg. The amount rises to €10,000 for States without such a convention. Switzerland and Luxembourg take part in the automatic exchange: the accounts of French residents are reported there every year.
Related resources on regularisations, expatriation and international taxation.
Residence criteria, specific tax scale, bilateral treaties.
Voir la page Related articleAutomatic reporting of crypto accounts from 1 January 2026.
Voir la page Area of expertiseLimitation, surcharges, worked cases, Switzerland and trusts.
Voir la page Lead counselPartner in charge of regularisation and foreign-account matters.
Voir la pageA confidential initial consultation. Historical audit, documentary reconstruction, amended returns, support through to payment, defence in an audit.
© BENSAID Avocats. The information published on this site does not constitute legal advice. Sources: French Tax Code art. 1649 A, 1649 AA, 1649 bis C (reporting obligations), 1736, IV (fine per account), 1729-0 A (80% surcharge), 1727 (late-payment interest); Book of Tax Procedures art. L. 169 (reassessment period), L. 228; BOI-CF-CPF-30-20; OECD Common Reporting Standard; directives DAC2 and DAC8. Editorial update: 6 October 2026.
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