Class 1a in 2028: single parents, widowed people and over-64s

Who is in class 1a today

According to the tax administration (ACD), a resident who is not in class 2 is in class 1a if they are widowed, if they receive the child tax reduction (in practice, single parents with a child in their household), or if they had turned 64 at the start of the tax year. Everyone else outside class 2 is in class 1. Recently widowed and divorced people stay in class 2 for a transition period of three tax years.

Bill 8676 replaces classes 1, 1a and 2 with a single Class U from tax year 2028. People in class 1 or 1a move to it automatically on 1 January 2028. No request is needed and there is no option to stay in class 1a. Couples who are married or in a PACS before 2028 are the only ones who get a choice; see our Class U vs Tarif T guide.

Single parents: what the official figures show

For single parents the result depends on two things together: the Class U scale and the single-parent tax credit (CIM). The Minister of Finance published a full simulation in his answer of 11 September 2026 to parliamentary question no. 4644. The table below reproduces it for a single parent who gets the full credit, by adjusted taxable income (not gross salary). "Net" is tax including the 7% employment fund surcharge, minus the credit. A negative figure means the credit is higher than the tax; the ACD pays out the difference.

The minister's conclusion is that there is no income level at which a single parent pays more in 2028 than in 2026 or 2024. The gain is largest at modest incomes: €504 to €567 a year up to €60,000, then it shrinks as the credit tapers, to about €34 to €35 a year from €110,000. We checked each row against the text adopted on 28 October 2026: the Class U tax matches the voted scale to within €2 and the credit amounts match the voted formula exactly.

The single-parent tax credit (CIM) from 2028

• Amount: €4,008 a year for adjusted taxable income below €60,000 (€3,504 today). Between €60,000 and €105,000 it is €4,008 − (income − €60,000) × 0.0724. Above €105,000 it is €750.
• Who gets it: a taxpayer on Class U who is neither married nor in a partnership and who alone gets the child tax reduction for a child in their household. It is granted on request.
• Not granted when both parents live together with the child, or when the child alternates between the homes of two parents who share parental authority (alternating residence). The text now writes this exclusion into the law.
• Maintenance received for the child: today the ACD reduces the credit by 50% of allowances such as maintenance above €2,712 a year (€226 a month). The bill raises that threshold to €2,964.

Children under three: the €5,400 allowance

The reform adds an early-childhood allowance of €5,400 a year per child who is under three at the start of the tax year. It is deducted from taxable income and only exists under Class U. A parent who alone gets the child tax reduction receives the full €5,400; parents with alternating residence get half each. It is not included in the ministry's table above.

Using the calculator's formulas, a single parent with €50,000 of taxable income pays about €5,255 on Class U before credits. With one child under three, taxable income falls to €44,600 and the tax to about €3,369, roughly €1,886 less, on top of the credit.

Widowed people and over-64s without children

People in class 1a because they are widowed or aged 64 or more do not get the single-parent credit, so only the scale matters. The Chamber's Finance Committee report of 29 September 2026 compares today's class 1a scale with Class U (adjusted taxable income, surcharge included):

The committee's verdict is that the tax for today's class 1a "will remain similar, with a small adjustment in their favour": a few dozen euros a year. Below €20,000 of adjusted taxable income there is no tax under either scale. Pensioners who are married or in a PACS before 2028 are in class 2 today, not 1a, and keep the couples' choice.

After a death or a divorce: five years on Tarif T

Today, a widowed or divorced person stays in class 2 for the three tax years after the death or divorce, then moves to class 1a. Under the voted text (new article 118bis), they stay on Tarif T, the successor of class 2, if the death or divorce happened in the five years before the tax year and the couple was taxed jointly in the year before it. During that period they can opt for Class U instead. For divorced and separated people there is an extra condition, as today: they must not have used this transition in the five years before.

A transitional article excludes people whose three-year class 2 period ends with tax year 2026. They go to class 1a in 2027 and to Class U in 2028. On our reading of the text, a spouse who died in 2024 gives Tarif T up to the 2029 tax year instead of 2027. When the transition ends, Class U applies.

Divorced parents who pay maintenance

A parent whose child does not live with them can deduct the cost of supporting that child, up to a ceiling. The bill raises that ceiling from €5,424 to €5,928 a year. Like the single-parent credit, this deduction is excluded when the child lives with both parents under alternating residence.

What you need to do

• Nothing, for the switch itself. Class 1 and 1a taxpayers are moved to Class U automatically from 1 January 2028.
• Check your tax card in early 2028 and make sure the single-parent credit is applied if you are entitled to it. If it was not, or only in part, you can still get it after the end of the year through an annual adjustment or a tax return.
• Claim the early-childhood allowance if you have a child under three; it is granted on request.
• Recently widowed or divorced? Check whether you fall within the five-year Tarif T period before you opt for Class U.

To compare Class U with Tarif T for a couple, use the calculator. The full Class U scale is in our Class U tax brackets 2028 guide.

Status of the law

Bill 8676 was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies at first vote on 28 October 2026 (37 in favour, 11 against, 12 abstentions), with a request to waive the second vote. We had not seen it published in the Journal officiel on 2 November 2026. The ministry's table was prepared on the bill before the vote; we checked its figures against the adopted text. All amounts may change if the text is amended or once the scale is indexed.