A 100-euro fuel allowance extended to low-income households

Decree No. 2026-959 of October 15, 2026 establishes a fuel allowance of 100 euros for low-income households using a vehicle for professional purposes. Published in the Official Journal of the French Republic on October 16, 2026 (JORF No. 0242) under number NOR: ECOE2626788D, the text is signed by the Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Industrial, Energy, and Digital Sovereignty. It replaces a scheme targeted solely at “high-mileage drivers” with aid open to intermediate deciles.

A 100-euro check for constrained commutes

Article 1 defines the purpose of the scheme: “to limit the effects of rising fuel costs for households using a vehicle for professional purposes.” Article 4 sets the amount at 100 euros, paid as a grant by the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) to the bank account that the household has provided to the tax administration for income tax purposes.

The text follows the continuity of the allowance created by Decree No. 2026-333 of April 30, 2026, for which the application deadline had been postponed from August 31 to September 30, 2026, by an order of September 8, 2026 (NOR: CPPE2623308A, JORF No. 0211 of September 10, 2026).

Eligibility conditions

The benefit of the allowance is reserved for taxpayers domiciled in France within the meaning of (a) 1 of Article 4 B of the General Tax Code for the year 2024, established in metropolitan France, Mayotte, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, and Réunion. The cumulative criteria are as follows:

• be at least sixteen years old as of December 31, 2024;
• have declared an earned income in 2024: treatments and salaries excluding unemployment and early retirement, industrial and commercial profits, non-commercial profits, or agricultural profits;
• belong to a tax household whose 2024 reference tax income per share is less than or equal to 22,770 euros;
• travel more than 15 kilometers per trip between home and workplace, or more than 8,000 kilometers per year for professional purposes, including home-work commutes.

The vehicle must have two, three, or four wheels, with a thermal or non-rechargeable hybrid engine, and be regularly insured on the date of the application. Heavy motorized quadricycles, agricultural vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, company or service vehicles, as well as damaged vehicles within the meaning of Articles L. 327-1 to L. 327-6 of the Highway Code, are excluded. An applicant may receive only one allowance, and a single vehicle cannot generate multiple allowances. Taxpayers subject to the real estate wealth tax for the year 2024 are excluded.

Automatic payment for April beneficiaries

Article 5 provides that persons who have effectively benefited from the indemnity of Decree No. 2026-333 of April 30, 2026 will receive an automatic payment of 100 euros, without any further action. Other applicants must use a digital form, open on the date set by a joint order of the ministers in charge of the economy and public accounts, in their public finance space accessible via impots.gouv.fr.

Control is based on the retention of supporting documents for five years. DGFiP agents may request them from any beneficiary, who has one month to respond; sums unduly received are recovered as non-tax debts, with the penalties of Article L. 115-1 of the Code of Relations between the Public and the Administration. The information body mentioned in Article L. 451-1 of the Insurance Code, manager of the file of insured land motor vehicles, supports the processing and control of the files.

A mechanism backed by the energy crisis budget

This generalization is based on Decree No. 2026-956 of October 14, 2026, regarding the opening and cancellation of credits as an advance, the report of which is published in JORF No. 0241 of October 15, 2026. This text opens 150 million euros in commitment authorizations and payment credits under Program 174 “Energy, Climate and Post-Mining” to finance the “high-mileage” indemnity: extension of accepted files for deciles 1 to 5, with an increase to 200 euros per beneficiary, and the creation of an indemnity for deciles 6 to 7.

For readers, the stake is twofold: modest households whose professional commutes exceed the set thresholds may claim 100 euros, while employers and payroll services must anticipate the distance and insurance justifications required in the event of an audit. The mechanism remains, however, limited to 2024 income and to a single vehicle per household.

Source: Official Journal of the French Republic, JORF No. 0242 of October 16, 2026, Decree No. 2026-959 of October 15, 2026, NOR: ECOE2626788D.