Nanny's tax declaration doesn't match her payslips

Banking & Financial Tax & Social charges
1

Hello,

I’m curious what others make of this, particularly anyone who has employed someone through Pajemploi (URSSAF).

My nanny has always been paid by bank transfer (never cash), declared through Pajemploi (URSSAF), receives monthly payslips, and all employer social contributions have been paid through the Pajemploi system. I also pay her during her lunch break and reimburse any work-related expenses.

From me alone, she received around €14,000 net in 2025 (she started part-way through the year).

This was her first French tax return, so she filed a paper return in 2026 for her 2025 income. She later showed me her avis d’impôt, which shows employment income of only around €2,500.

When I asked why, she said it was difficult to work out how much to declare. I found that difficult to understand, as each payslip shows the cumulative totals for the year, and the difference between €2,500 and the €14,000 net she received from me is significant. I even wondered whether she had accidentally used a single payslip, but her monthly net pay was generally around €2,100, so that doesn’t fit either.

I’m also aware that she worked for another family before joining me in 2025, and they were also declaring her through Pajemploi. That makes it even more surprising, as I would have expected her total declared employment income for the year to have been higher than the €14,000 net she received from me alone, not substantially lower.

The employment income shown on her avis d’impôt doesn’t appear to match either the payslips or the bank transfers. As far as I’m aware, I have fulfilled all my obligations as the employer: she has been declared through Pajemploi, all wages have been paid by bank transfer, monthly payslips have been issued, and all employer social contributions have been paid.

To be clear, I’m not asking whether she paid the correct amount of tax. My question is simply about the income she declared.

Has anyone come across anything like this before? Is there an innocent explanation I may be overlooking, or would a discrepancy of this magnitude normally raise concerns about a deliberate under-declaration of income?

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That looks more like the amount of tax she could have to.pay on the amount of income it sounds like she had.

Is she French? in other words, does she have local family to advise her on the advisability of putting all income on the declaration? If not then as we are still just about in the tax period where corrections to this year’s declaration can be made without penalty, I’d be “mother" and express my concern to her, possible consequences of not declaring any income, how easy it is for officialdom to verify and have you perhaps misunderstood but you don’t want her ro be at risk etc.

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Thanks @KarenLot. I appreciate your thoughts.

Just to clarify, the €2,500 isn’t the amount of tax due. It’s the figure shown under “Salaires et traitements” on her avis d’impôt, which is why it concerned me. She received around €14,000 net from me alone in 2025, all declared through Pajemploi (URSSAF), and she also worked for another family earlier that year. I would therefore have expected the employment income shown on her avis d’impôt to be considerably higher.

I do take your point about speaking to her. If there is a genuine mistake, I’d much rather she had the opportunity to correct it while corrections can still be made.

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Yes, and don’t delay.

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5

A benign explanation is that she didn’t understand and only declared the amount above the tax free threshold of €11,600? Which would be around €2,500.

So perhaps an innocent question of whether she needs help with the French system of declaration might be in order?

But if you have done everything correctly then it isn’t your problem apart from loosing a nanny when she is carted off for fraud.

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6

Hope the nanny isn’t teaching your kids maths.

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@Helenochka :joy: Thankfully my background is in mathematical sciences, so hopefully my son will be safe!

On a more serious note, thank you @JaneJones. If it genuinely is a misunderstanding of the French tax system, then of course I’d rather help her correct it than see it become a bigger issue.

That said, I do find it difficult to reconcile. She received around €14,000 net from me alone, had another declared employer earlier in the year, and all of her payslips show cumulative totals. That’s why I’m struggling to see how the figure could end up at around €2,500.

In any event, I’ll be reducing her hours from October as my son starts nursery, so hopefully there’s still time for her to correct anything if it is simply an honest mistake.

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8

Hi,i don,t know who Pajemploi are,but if all the info/payments have been submitted to URSSAF,the total earnings would normally be already filled in by the tax authorities on the form,before you fill the rest of the form in.

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:blush: Thanks. Pajemploi is the URSSAF service used for employing nannies and other domestic employees, so all of her employment and earnings from me were declared through that system.

The twist here, as mentioned in my initial post, is that this was her first French tax return, so she filed a paper return rather than having a pre-filled online declaration. Otherwise I’d have been much less puzzled!

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I have had very similar conversations (in a professional context) eg briefing.employers of (foreign) nannies, in the past..Their conversations with the nannies went along the lines of a tactful suggestion that a much underrated financial asset is a good relationship of trust and confidence between a person and their tax office..You really want to help her bulld that good, positive relationship, particularly as it’s her first year, and it’s essential to get that relationship off to a good start.. You are a little concerned that something may have got lost in translation and would like to help her ensure she gets it right first time. I’m sure you can put it much better than that..

If her payslips are cumulative, I wonder if that means it shows the salary for her prior employment and current one in 2025,? You could always do a.quick and dirty back of the envelope calculation yourself of what you think she should owe/declare, and say I would imagine you’d be declaring something of the order of X and owe Y.

Do let us know what happens!

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Hi,it should,t matter,paper or online,i still get the paper form every year and my salaried earnings are printed in the relevant box.

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Perish the thought, but are we at risk of overstepping the mark here. It’s the Nanny’s tax declaration, not yours. As you say “

It’s not you problem. If, out of kindness, you decide to offer her a session with a tax advisor (a simple matter to discuss no doubt) that would be a good idea. But delving into an employees tax affaires would not be normal IMO.

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Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to respond. There have been some really helpful perspectives.

As it happens, my nanny called me this evening and asked if I could help her understand and correct her tax declaration, so we’ll go through everything together on Monday when my son take his nap.

I appreciate those who have pointed out that it’s ultimately her tax return and her responsibility. I completely agree. However, she’s my son’s nanny, and we have a good relationship. If this is simply a genuine mistake on her first French tax return, I’d much rather help her put it right while corrections can still be made than leave her worrying about it or potentially facing problems later.

Hopefully, we’ll get to the bottom of it Monday. Thanks again for all your thoughts.

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