French Inheritance Tax 2026: Rates, Allowances, Foreign Heirs

French inheritance tax (droits de succession) works very differently from the UK or US systems. There is no single estate-level tax with one threshold: each beneficiary is taxed individually on the share they receive, at a rate set by their family relationship to the deceased. A child and a stepchild inheriting the same amount can face wildly different bills — 20% for one, 60% for the other.

The tax is assessed on the net value of the assets received (market value minus deductible debts such as an outstanding mortgage). For real estate, the value declared in the succession is the property's fair market value at the date of death — a figure that matters twice, because it also becomes your acquisition basis if you later sell the property.

This guide covers the 2026 rules for foreign heirs: who is liable, the allowances and rate bands, filing deadlines from abroad, and how the UK and US tax treaties prevent double taxation.

Liability follows the residence of the deceased and of the heirs (article 750 ter of the French tax code):

• The deceased was a French tax resident → French inheritance tax applies to their worldwide estate, wherever the heirs live (subject to treaties);
• The deceased lived abroad, the heir lives abroad → French tax applies only to the assets located in France — first and foremost French real estate, but also French bank accounts and shares in French companies (including SCIs);
• The deceased lived abroad, but the heir has been a French tax resident for at least 6 of the last 10 years → French tax applies to everything that heir receives, worldwide.

The practical consequence for most foreign families: a house or apartment in France is always within the scope of French inheritance tax. Owning it through a foreign company rarely helps — shares of any company whose assets are mainly French real estate are treated as French assets.

Note that France taxes the transfer itself, at the level of each heir. Whether your home country also taxes the inheritance (as the UK does through IHT on UK-domiciled estates, or the US through the federal estate tax) is a separate question, settled by double-tax treaties — see below.

Each heir deducts a personal allowance (abattement) from their share before the rate bands apply:

Two points foreign families often miss:

• Unmarried partners are strangers for French tax purposes : a surviving partner who is neither married nor in a French PACS (or equivalent registered partnership) pays 60% above €1,594 — even after decades together. Marriage, PACS or careful planning (see below) is essential when a couple owns French property;
• Siblings can be fully exempt in one narrow case: over 50 (or invalid), single/widowed/divorced, and having lived with the deceased for the 5 years before death.

Allowances refresh every 15 years for lifetime gifts — gifting a share of the French property during your lifetime can use the €100,000-per-child allowance more than once.

After the allowance, the taxable share is taxed by bands. For children and parents (direct line):

For the other categories:

• Siblings : 35% up to €24,430, then 45% ;
• Nephews, nieces and relatives up to the 4th degree : flat 55% ;
• Everyone else (including unmarried partners and stepchildren) : flat 60%.

Worked example: a child inherits a French holiday home worth €350,000. After the €100,000 allowance, €250,000 is taxable. The first bands cost about €1,806, and the balance in the 20% band about €46,814 — a total of roughly €48,600, payable when the succession is filed. An unrelated heir receiving the same property would owe about €209,000.

The succession declaration (déclaration de succession) must be filed with the French tax authorities, and the tax paid, within:

• 6 months of death if the deceased died in France;
• 12 months if the deceased died abroad (the usual case for non-resident owners) — the office in charge for non-residents is the Recette des non-résidents in Noisy-le-Grand.

Missing the deadline costs 0.20% interest per month plus a 10% surcharge once you are 6 months past the deadline. Since French estates with real estate require a notaire anyway (to establish the inheritance deed and transfer title), the notaire prepares and files the declaration in practice — heirs abroad can act through powers of attorney without travelling to France.

Payment is due when filing. If the estate is mostly a property and the heirs are cash-poor, options exist (instalment plans with guarantees, deferred payment for bare owners), but interest applies — most foreign heirs simply sell the property and settle the tax from the proceeds.

France has inheritance-tax treaties with around 35 countries, which allocate taxing rights and prevent the same asset from being fully taxed twice:

• United Kingdom (1963 treaty) : French real estate is taxed in France. The UK may also bring it into IHT scope for UK-domiciled deceased, but grants a credit for the French tax paid — you never pay full tax twice on the French property;
• United States (1978 estate tax treaty) : French real estate is taxable in France ; the US taxes the worldwide estate of US citizens/residents but credits the French tax. Note the very high US federal exemption means many American families owe only the French side;
• No treaty country : France taxes the French assets ; your home country applies its own rules, usually with a unilateral foreign-tax credit (France itself credits foreign tax on foreign assets under article 784 A).

Treaties cover tax, not succession law. Who inherits — and whether France's forced-heirship rules protect your children — is a separate legal question governed by the EU Succession Regulation, covered in our guide to French inheritance law.

The classic levers, all standard practice for French cross-border estates:

1. Marry or PACS : it turns a 60% bill into full exemption for the surviving partner. A foreign civil partnership registered abroad is generally recognised as a PACS equivalent;
2. Lifetime gifts every 15 years : €100,000 per parent per child, renewable — gifting bare ownership (nue-propriété) of the French property while keeping the usufruct is the flagship strategy: the taxable value is reduced by the usufruct's value (e.g. −40% at age 61-70), and at death the usufruct extinguishes tax-free;
3. Life insurance (assurance-vie) : premiums paid before 70 pass with a separate €152,500 allowance per beneficiary, at flat 20% up to €700,000 — outside the succession entirely;
4. Family SCI : gifting SCI shares over time is more flexible than gifting slices of a house, and minority/illiquidity discounts of 10-15% are commonly accepted on share valuations;
5. Check the property's declared value : an inflated valuation raises the inheritance tax today; an understated one raises the capital gains tax when you sell later. Getting an accurate market valuation at death is the arbitration point — see our guide to selling an inherited French property.

Once the succession is settled, foreign heirs face a practical choice :

• Keep it — budget for the annual taxe foncière and second-home taxes, insurance, maintenance from a distance, and French income tax if you rent it out;
• Sell it — the value declared in the succession becomes your acquisition basis, so a sale shortly after inheriting usually triggers little or no French capital gains tax (see our guide to capital gains tax for non-residents). Selling from abroad is entirely feasible through powers of attorney;
• Buy out the other heirs — French co-ownership between heirs (indivision) requires unanimity for a sale, so one heir keeping the property typically buys the others' shares at market value, with a notarised deed.