International Inheritance: French Taxation in 2026

Quick answer. If the deceased was a French tax resident, article 750 ter of the CGI makes their entire estate taxable in France, including assets located abroad. If the deceased lived outside France, only French assets are taxed, unless the heir has been resident in France for at least 6 of the last 10 years.

An estate spread across several countries (a flat in Paris, a securities account in the United States, company shares in Germany) does not follow a single rule on death. Two questions arise at once: which civil law governs the distribution, and which tax authorities claim duties. These two logics are distinct, and confusing them is the first source of error we see in cross-border files.

Recently, a director of an SME based in the Paris region asked us for help after the death of his father, a US resident who owned a rental property in France and a portfolio in the United States. The family assumed only the US authorities were concerned. Yet the French territoriality rule applied to the property, and the heir's residence in France opened up wider taxation. This article sets out the rules actually in force in 2026.

At Hayot Expertise, a firm registered with the Ile-de-France Order of Chartered Accountants, we regularly handle these situations through our French CPA support for cross-border situations, working alongside the notaire handling the civil side.

French inheritance taxation rests on article 750 ter of the General Tax Code. Three situations must be distinguished, and it is tax residence that governs, not nationality.

Case 3, set out in article 750 ter 3° of the CGI, is the most often overlooked. The so-called 6-out-of-10-years rule applies to the heir, legatee or donee: if they have been a French tax resident for at least 6 years over the 10 years preceding the transfer, the foreign assets they receive become taxable in France. This 6-year period may be non-continuous. A family settled in France for a long time and inheriting from an expatriate relative is therefore concerned.

To understand how foreign assets are held before death, we also look at the structuring of assets held abroad when shares in foreign companies enter the estate.

French inheritance duties do not depend on the heir's nationality, but on their relationship to the deceased. The scale is unchanged in 2026.

The 60% rate is often wrongly presented as a general rate applicable to foreign heirs. That is incorrect. This rate applies only to persons with no family relationship, and after a reduced allowance of EUR 1,594, not on the gross assets. A child inheriting from a foreign parent receives the same EUR 100,000 allowance and the same progressive scale as a child inheriting from a French parent.

The same asset may be taxed by two countries: the one where the asset is located and the one of residence. Two mechanisms limit this double charge.

1. Inheritance tax treaties. France has signed treaties dedicated to inheritances and gifts with certain countries, including the United States (treaty of 24 November 1978). These treaties allocate the right to tax between the two States and prevail over domestic law. Their existence and content must be checked case by case. This is precisely the point of the role of tax treaties against double taxation.
2. The credit under article 784 A of the CGI, in the absence of a treaty. Where no treaty applies, article 784 A allows duties already paid abroad to be credited against duties due in France. This credit is capped: it cannot exceed the French duties attributable to movable and immovable assets located outside France.

What the tax authorities look at#

The article 784 A credit requires solid evidence of the tax actually paid abroad: foreign tax assessment, proof of payment, conversion into euros. Recent case law (notably a decision of the Paris Court of Appeal) tends to allow the credit for the tax actually paid, without a condition relating to how the foreign base was calculated. Keep the entire documentary chain: without proof, the credit is refused.

This is the most frequent confusion. Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 governs the civil side of international successions: competent jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition of decisions and the European Certificate of Succession. It does not deal with taxation: tax matters are expressly excluded from the scope of EU private international law regulations.

In practice, this regulation applies a principle of unity: a single national law governs the entire succession. The default connecting factor is the deceased's last habitual residence. A person may, however, choose to apply their national law to their succession (the professio juris), a choice made during their lifetime, by will.

Our reading#

Choosing your national law via the professio juris can secure the transfer on the civil side, for example to preserve a reserved portion or to respect a distribution wish. But this choice does not move the taxation: even if US law governs the distribution, article 750 ter of the CGI continues to determine what is taxable in France. The civil side is decided with the notaire, the tax side with the chartered accountant and the notaire together.

Two approaches coexist in international wealth files.

• Anticipate: staggered gifts using the EUR 100,000 allowance renewable every 15 years, choice of law by will, clarification of tax residence, and wealth structuring through a holding where the estate includes business assets. This route takes time and consistency with the actual situation.
• Face it: without preparation, heirs discover on death taxable bases in several countries, short deadlines and foreign evidence that is hard to obtain. The article 784 A credit partly repairs this, never fully.

Anticipation suits stable situations with an identified estate. Once death has occurred, the priority becomes the rapid reconstruction of the inventory and the collection of foreign tax evidence, alongside our tax analysis of your wealth situation.

The steps to follow, once death has occurred, are organised as follows.

1. Draw up a complete inventory of assets and liabilities, distinguishing those located in France from those abroad, with their value at the date of death.
2. Determine the territoriality rule under article 750 ter of the CGI (residence of the deceased, residence and seniority of the heirs).
3. Check whether an inheritance tax treaty exists with the country concerned, and otherwise prepare the article 784 A credit.
4. Gather evidence of foreign tax already paid (assessments, proof of payment, conversions).
5. File the inheritance declaration on the dedicated forms (form 2705 and, where applicable, 2705-S), within the applicable deadline. To be checked in the specific case on service-public.fr, the filing deadline is in principle 6 months for a death occurring in France and 12 months for a death abroad.

These obligations fit alongside the other 2026 reporting obligations when the heir is themselves a French taxpayer.

The underestimated risk#

The filing deadline is the first operational trap. Gathering foreign documents (account statements or title deeds in another language) often takes longer than expected, and the deadline runs from the death, not from the discovery of the assets. A delay generates interest and penalties. Start collecting evidence in the first weeks.

Several configurations deserve specific attention. An heir settling in France may, under certain conditions, fall under the impatriate regime for new arrivals in France, a regime that concerns income tax and not inheritance duties: the two must not be confused. A foreign director structuring their arrival fits into a broader roadmap. Finally, where the estate includes a business, the analysis joins the taxation of the company and the schemes specific to business transfer, dealt with separately.

In all these cases, the work is done hand in hand with the notaire, in line with our accounting expertise with an international dimension.