France · Tax information · Information, not legal advice — as at 30 August 2026
The value you declare when you inherit in France — and the tax you pay when you sell
France gives you less choice than its neighbours: the succession declaration must state each asset at its real market value at the date of death. But the temptation to shade that value downwards — to trim the inheritance-tax bill — backfires twice: the tax authority can challenge an unrealistic value, and whatever value was declared becomes your starting value for capital-gains tax when you later sell. A defensible market value at the succession is both the legal requirement and, very often, the better tax outcome.
France asks for the real value
The French succession declaration (due within six months when the death was in France) values each asset at its market value at the date of death — not an administrative or cadastral figure. Spouses are exempt from French inheritance tax and each child has a substantial allowance, so for many families the bill on a modest estate is smaller than feared; above the allowances, progressive rates apply.
Why shading the value down backfires
Because the declared value does double duty. When the property is later sold, the capital gain is measured, in broad terms, from the value declared at the succession. Declare €60,000 below the real value and you may save a slice of inheritance tax at the family's marginal rate — but you have manufactured €60,000 of extra taxable gain for the sale, taxed at the capital-gains rates that apply to the seller, and you have handed the tax authority a valuation it is entitled to challenge in the meantime. For an estate inside the allowances, an under-declaration saves nothing at all and still creates the future gain.
The questions worth asking before filing
Is the valuation defensible and evidenced (an agent's appraisal at the date of death is cheap insurance)? Do the heirs intend to sell soon — in which case the declared value and the sale price should sit close together, and the gain small? And how does the French position interact with the heirs' home-country tax? Those questions belong before the declaration is filed — the declaration is what fixes the number. In our successions the valuation question is raised as standard; where the numbers call for advice, we say so plainly and brief a suitable tax adviser precisely.
What that looks like in figures (illustrative only)
Take the €60,000 above. Shading the value down by that much saves a child in the 20% band about €12,000 of French inheritance tax today. But it manufactures €60,000 of future gain, and a UK-resident seller of French property pays 19% plus social levies — 7.5% rather than 17.2% for a seller who can prove UK affiliation, so about 26.5% in all. That is roughly €15,900 when the house is sold. You save twelve thousand now to lose sixteen later — and if the proof of affiliation cannot be produced, the levy is 17.2% and the loss is larger again.
The same trade-off, country by country: Portugal · Spain · Italy — and the tax questions to ask before you list an inherited property abroad.
(Information, not tax advice; mechanics stated in broad terms as at the date above — rates, allowances and surcharges change with budgets.)