5 million taxpayers benefit from a tax credit. To continue to benefit from it, they must fill out a new box in their tax return this year. Without it, they will lose their tax advantage and will have to pay more income tax.
Contrary to popular belief, the tax authorities are not simply used to collect taxes from taxpayers. In some cases, it is rather the tax administration that owes money to households. However, to receive their reimbursement this year, the households concerned will have to complete an additional process. Indeed, a new box has appeared on the income tax return.
5 million taxpayers will have to respect this new obligation. These are all those who benefit from a tax credit for personal services. In short, all households that hire a housekeeper, a nanny, a gardener or a home helper for the elderly or disabled. According to the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFIP), this tax credit represents an annual gain of 1,226 euros on average per tax household. Legally, the tax credit can even increase up to 6,000 euros. So much money that the tax authorities will have to reimburse to eligible taxpayers.
To benefit from this tax credit, taxpayers must mention, in their income tax return, the amounts they paid between January 1 and December 31, 2025 to purchase the services of a home employee. They must then indicate these expenses in box 7DB of the declaration form. To access box 7DB, the taxpayer must go to their personal space on the impot.gouv.fr website, open their declaration and go to the second page entitled “Your charges”. The line “Personal service: employment at home” corresponds to box 7DB.
The tax credit linked to box 7DB gives the right to a reimbursement of 50% of the costs incurred for employing a person at home. For a household without children, the maximum amount of expenses taken into account in the calculation of the tax credit is 12,000 euros, thus offering a tax credit of 6,000 euros. This ceiling is increased by 1,500 euros per dependent child, bringing the maximum amount of the tax credit to 6,750 euros for a household with one child and 7,500 euros for two children.
Let’s take the example of a couple who spent, in 2025, 4,000 euros to employ a nanny to look after their child and 6,000 euros to pay for the services of a cleaning lady. Our couple will then have to indicate the first amount in the “Childcare” box, and the second in the “House maintenance and housework” box. These boxes are located under box 7DB. The tax authorities will then automatically calculate a tax credit of 2,000 euros for the first expense and 3,000 euros for the second. The tax administration will then have to pay 5,000 euros to our taxpayer couple.
However, and this is what’s new, a new box must also be completed this year. Taxpayers will have to indicate which organization, company or association received the amounts mentioned in the tax return. Concretely, our couple taken as an example will have to indicate the name of the company for which the nanny works and the same for the cleaning lady. This new information should allow the tax administration to verify that the expenses declared correspond to services actually provided.
Initially this change was planned for the 2025 declaration campaign on 2024 income. However, the late adoption of the finance bill at the time made it impossible to update the DGFIP declaration forms. This is now done, and taxpayers must be vigilant.
