This article is general information for landlords of French property and is not legal advice. Verifying a candidate’s documents must be done in line with data-protection rules; a “non-conforme” result is not by itself proof of fraud. Use only the official tools described here, and take advice from a French professional where a tenancy decision turns on it.
Last Updated: June 2026
Every landlord screening tenants in France asks for the same headline document: the avis d’imposition (tax notice), the cleanest proof of a candidate’s income. And precisely because it carries so much weight, it is one of the most commonly faked documents in a rental file – a doctored PDF, an inflated revenu fiscal de référence, a borrowed notice with the name swapped. The good news is that France hands you two free, official ways to check a notice is genuine, and neither requires you to be a tax expert. One you do with your phone in ten seconds; the other you do online in under a minute. Let’s walk through both.
Why Fake Tax Notices Are a Landlord’s Problem
The avis d’imposition is a permitted item in a tenant’s application file, and it is the document most landlords lean on to confirm that the rent is genuinely affordable for the candidate. That makes it a target. A forged or stale notice can turn a careful affordability check into a false sense of security, and by the time the rent stops arriving you are deep into the slow, expensive world of recovering possession – the territory of the step-by-step process for removing a defaulting tenant. Ten seconds of verification at the application stage is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.
Method 1: The 2D-Doc Barcode
Since April 2022, every income avis d’imposition – and every avis de situation déclarative à l’impôt sur le revenu (ASDIR, the on-demand statement) – carries a secure 2D-Doc barcode. It was developed by France Titres, the Agence nationale des titres sécurisés (ANTS), specifically to fight document fraud and guarantee that the page in front of you has not been tampered with.
You read it with a smartphone, using one of the apps recognised by France Titres: Otentik Code Reader, Smart Verify, 2D-DOC Reader, VDSeal Reader, or VDS Verify. Scan the code and the app gives you a simple verdict: a green signal if the document is authentic, a red signal if the read fails. Crucially, the scan also displays the data that should match what is printed on the notice, so you can compare the two:
- whether the document is conforme (compliant);
- the income year, and the date de mise en recouvrement (assessment date);
- the declarant(s) by name, and their 13-digit numéro fiscal;
- the nombre de parts (household quotient), the revenu fiscal de référence, and the notice reference;
- the document type, the issuer, and the date of signature.
If the printed figures and the scanned figures line up, you are looking at a genuine, untampered notice.
Method 2: The SVAIR Online Checker
The second method answers a slightly different question. The SVAIR (Service de Vérification des Avis d’Impôt sur le Revenu) is a free online service from the Direction générale des Finances publiques that tells you whether the notice a candidate has handed you is the most recent one the tax authority holds for them. It is free, open to everyone, and available around the clock at the official impots.gouv.fr verification page.
To protect taxpayers’ confidentiality it asks only for two numbers printed on the notice itself – the 13-digit numéro fiscal (tax number) and the 13-digit référence de l’avis (notice reference) – and from those alone it returns its verdict. If the references are valid the notice comes back conforme, which means the data on screen matches the document and it really is the latest notice the office holds; if they are not, you get non-conforme, a result worth understanding properly because it does not automatically mean “forgery” (more on that in a moment). And there is a third, less common outcome – a conforme carrying a “situation partielle” note – which arises in widowhood cases where two declarations exist for the year and the notice you are shown is simply one of the two.
Verify an Avis Now (Official Tool)
Check a tax notice with the official SVAIR tool
Free, run by the French tax authority (DGFiP). You will need two numbers from the candidate’s notice:
Opens impots.gouv.fr in a new tab. Only ever enter these references on the official impots.gouv.fr site – never on a third-party page.
The Two Methods, Side by Side
| 2D-Doc barcode | SVAIR online | |
|---|---|---|
| What it checks | That the document has not been tampered with (integrity) | That it is the latest notice the tax office holds (up to date) |
| How | Scan the barcode with a recognised smartphone app | Enter two references on impots.gouv.fr |
| You need | A reader app and the physical or PDF notice | The 13-digit numéro fiscal + 13-digit notice reference |
| Result | Green (authentic) or red (fails) | Conforme / non-conforme / conforme + “situation partielle” |
| Cost | Free | Free |
What “Non-Conforme” Really Means
This is the part to read twice, because a non-conforme result is not the same as catching a fraudster. It simply means the notice in your hand is not the most recent one on file – and there are perfectly innocent reasons for that. The candidate may have filed a déclaration rectificative (amended return) or used the online correction service, in which case a newer notice now exists. We cover that whole process in the guide to correcting a French tax return, and the simple fix here is the same one the tax authority suggests: ask the candidate for the more recent notice that reflects their current position. Treat non-conforme as a prompt to ask a question, not as a verdict of guilt.
Doing This Properly (and Lawfully)
Two cautions. First, only ever enter a candidate’s references on the genuine impots.gouv.fr site; never on a page that merely looks official, and never store more fiscal data than you need. Second, screening must respect data-protection and anti-discrimination rules – you are verifying a document the candidate has chosen to provide, not building a dossier. Used that way, these tools are exactly what they were built for: a quick, official sanity check that the income behind a tenancy is real. If you are weighing up the wider economics of letting in the first place, the tax side of being a landlord is set out in the furnished-lettings (LMNP) guide for non-residents.
The Bottom Line
A fake avis d’imposition is one of the easier frauds to run and one of the easiest to catch – if you take the ten seconds to check. Scan the 2D-Doc barcode to confirm the page is genuine; run the two references through SVAIR to confirm it is current. Both are free, both are official, and between them they close off the most common way a shaky applicant dresses up their income. Verify first, sign later.
FAQ
How can a landlord check a French tenant’s tax notice is genuine?
Two free official methods. Scan the 2D-Doc barcode on the notice with a recognised smartphone app (Otentik Code Reader, Smart Verify, 2D-DOC Reader, VDSeal Reader or VDS Verify) to confirm the document has not been tampered with; and use the SVAIR online service on impots.gouv.fr, entering the 13-digit numéro fiscal and the 13-digit notice reference, to confirm it is the latest notice the tax office holds.
What is the 2D-Doc barcode?
A secure barcode present on income tax notices and ASDIR statements since April 2022, developed by France Titres (the ANTS) to fight fraud. Read with a recognised app, it shows a green signal if the document is authentic and a red signal if the read fails, and displays the key data so you can compare it with what is printed.
What does SVAIR need, and what does it cost?
SVAIR is free and open to all. It asks for two references from the notice: the 13-digit numéro fiscal and the 13-digit référence de l’avis. It then tells you whether the notice is conforme (the latest on file) or non-conforme.
Does “non-conforme” mean the document is fake?
Not necessarily. It means the notice is not the most recent one the tax authority holds. That can happen because the person filed an amended return or used the online correction service, so a newer notice exists. The right response is to ask the candidate for the more recent notice rather than to assume fraud.
What is a “situation partielle” result?
It is a conforme result carrying a note that applies in widowhood cases, where two declarations are required for the year. The notice shown corresponds to one of the two. It is not a sign of a problem with the document.
Can I just embed the verification tool on my own site?
No. The official tool is run by the tax authority and should only be used on impots.gouv.fr. Entering a 13-digit fiscal number on any page that is not the genuine government site is a security risk, so always go directly to impots.gouv.fr to verify.
