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Declare a Lebanese bank account to French tax: form 3916

What it is
Declaring a Lebanese bank account to the French tax authorities every year (even if frozen, in dollars or under a simple power of attorney): box 8UU and one form 3916-3916 bis per account.
What it costs
Free. An undeclared account costs a fine of €1,500 per account and per year; the €10,000 rate does not apply to Lebanon (amounts recorded on 23.10.2026).
How long
No wait time: the declaration is made with the income tax return, every spring (opening in April).
Can be done remotely : Yes Entirely online in the Finances publiques online account, or on paper with the income tax return.

The steps

  1. List your accounts in Lebanon

    Any account opened, held, used or closed in the year: current, savings, term deposit, in pounds or dollars, joint or under power of attorney, including those of tax household members.

    before the return

  2. Gather the details

    Name and address of the bank or branch, account name and number, nature, type, opening or closing dates. A statement or a letter from the bank is enough.

    before the return

  3. Tick box 8UU

    In the online income tax return, in the Finances publiques online account.

    during the return

  4. Fill in one form 3916-3916 bis per account

    Online, or on paper (Cerfa 11916) dated and signed by the declarant and the holder, attached to the income tax return.

    during the return

  5. Declare any interest

    Income received abroad: form 2047, attached to the income tax return.

    during the return

  6. Repeat every year

    As long as the account exists, even with no transactions at all.

    every spring

What it really costs

Account declaration (3916-3916 bis)free
Fine per undeclared account (Lebanon), per year€1,500
Fine for a state with no agreement on access to banking information (not Lebanon)€10,000
Surcharge if income from the account was not declared80% of the tax due, at least €1,500
Observed totalFree (forgetting costs €1,500 per account and per year)

Amounts recorded on 23.10.2026.

What most often gets stuck

  • Blocked or inactive account wrongly thought to be exempt: it must be declared until it is closed.
  • Power of attorney over a parent's account in Lebanon forgotten.
  • A single form for several accounts at the same bank: one form per account is needed.
  • Branch address or account number missing: keep a statement or a letter from the bank.
  • Interest on the account not declared: 80% surcharge on the tax due.
  • Past years not declared: the fine can apply to each year not yet time-barred.

If you are tax resident in France, you must declare a Lebanese bank account to the French tax authorities every year, even if it is frozen, dormant, in dollars, or if you only hold a power of attorney over it. With your income tax return, tick box 8UU and fill in one form 3916-3916 bis per account: it is free. A forgotten account costs a fine of €1,500 per account and per year; the €10,000 rate does not apply to Lebanon, which is on the French tax authorities’ list of states that have an agreement with France giving access to banking information.

Who must declare

The obligation applies to individuals whose tax home is in France (mainland France and the overseas departments), whatever their nationality. You are concerned if you hold the account, hold it jointly, or simply have a power of attorney over it: service-public.fr says so in plain terms.

The declaration also covers the accounts of members of your tax household and of people attached to it, for example an adult child attached to your household. For a joint account between spouses, or where one spouse holds the account and the other has power of attorney, one declaration is enough.

People who are not required to file an income tax return are not concerned. If you live in Lebanon and are no longer tax resident in France, this obligation does not apply to you.

Which accounts to declare

Any account opened, held, used or closed outside France during the year: current account, savings account, term deposit, securities account, with a bank or any other institution that takes deposits. An account closed during the year is declared one last time, for the year it was closed.

Since 1 January 2019, an account must be declared as long as you hold it, even if you made no transaction on it. The only exception covers certain online payment accounts linked to a French account, with less than €10,000 of sales received in the year. It does not cover an ordinary account with a Lebanese bank.

Situations specific to Lebanese accounts

Blocked or frozen account. An account from which withdrawals are limited or impossible is still an account you hold. The rules provide no exemption for an inaccessible or inactive account: it is declared every year until it is closed.

Dollar account. The currency makes no difference: the rule is about where the account is opened, outside France, not the currency. An account in Lebanese pounds and an account in dollars at the same bank are two accounts: one form each if they have different numbers.

A parent’s account over which you have power of attorney. Service-public.fr makes anyone with a power of attorney subject to the obligation. French tax doctrine (BOFiP) specifies that a person with power of attorney over another individual’s account must declare it if they use that power for themselves or for a person resident in France. For a power of attorney never used over the account of a parent living in Lebanon, no official page settles the point clearly. If in doubt, declaring costs nothing; forgetting costs €1,500.

How to declare

  1. Declare at the same time as your annual income tax return, in the spring. The 2027 return for 2026 income opens in April 2027.
  2. Online, tick box 8UU, then fill in form 3916-3916 bis for each account.
  3. On paper, use form 3916-3916 bis (Cerfa 11916), one per account, dated and signed by the declarant and by the account holder, and attach it to your income tax return.
  4. Do it again every year as long as the account exists.

The information required, according to French tax doctrine:

  • the name and full address of the bank or branch (number, street, town, country);
  • the name and number of the account;
  • its nature (ordinary, savings, long-term) and use (private, business or both);
  • its type (single account, joint account, collective account, estate account, etc.);
  • the opening or closing date if it falls within the year;
  • your identity and, if you declare under a power of attorney, the identity of the account holder.

Keep a statement or a letter from the bank: it gives the branch address and the exact account number.

What forgetting costs

  • €1,500 per undeclared account, for each year not yet time-barred in which the declaration was missing.
  • €10,000 per account if the state has not signed an agreement with France giving access to banking information. Lebanon is on the list of states that have one (BOFiP list as at 1 June 2021). Like France, it has also been a party, since 1 September 2017, to the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (OECD).
  • An 80% surcharge on the tax due if income from the account was not declared. It then replaces the fixed fine and cannot be lower than €1,500.

Other consequences: the tax authorities can ask you where the money in an undeclared account came from. Transfers made through that account, to or from abroad, are presumed to be taxable income unless you prove otherwise (income already taxed, exempt sums or sums outside the scope of tax).

If you missed past years

No specific procedure is published for an individual to regularise a forgotten foreign account. What the official pages say:

  • For the 2026 return (2025 income), online correction is open in your Finances publiques online account from 29 July to 30 November 2026: you can tick a box you missed.
  • After that, and for earlier years, write to your tax office through the secure messaging of your Finances publiques online account, or by post to your public finance centre.
  • The fine can apply to each year not yet time-barred. The period during which the tax authorities can reassess your tax rises to ten years when the total balance of your foreign accounts exceeded €50,000 at any point in the year concerned.
  • The “right to make a mistake” (droit à l’erreur) lets you put things right without a penalty when you act in good faith and make the mistake for the first time. But service-public.fr states that it does not apply to a missing or late declaration.

We found no official page saying whether the fine is applied to someone who comes forward on their own. Ask your tax office in writing and keep the reply.

Interest on these accounts

Declaring the account is not enough: its income must be declared too. Income received outside France is declared on form 2047 (Cerfa 11226), attached to the income tax return. Under article 16 of the tax treaty between France and Lebanon of 24 July 1962, interest arising in Lebanon and paid to a resident of France is taxable only in France.

Sources

Checked on 23.10.2026.

Elsewhere

BaseMedian wait timeTotal costRemotelyChecked on
YMQ Free (late filing costs $100 to $2,500) Yes 23.10.2026
PAR Free (forgetting costs €1,500 per account and per year) Yes 23.10.2026