Inheritance Tax on PROPERTIES FOR SALE in FRANCE

Inheritance Tax on PROPERTIES FOR SALE in FRANCE

As in most countries, the subject of inheritance is a tricky one with many flaws and places that you can go wrong in.
IN many places these laws favour the living spouse, but in France they grant rights of inheritance to the children.
If you own French property you are not, per se, completely free to dispose of your property in the way that you might wish, say, through a will.

Rules

3 points.
i. If you are resident in France these rules will apply to all your worldwide assets, save for real estate held abroad; if you are not French resident, they will apply to all real estate you own in France.
ii. The inheritance rights discussed below are those that apply in an intestate inheritance, or in the absence of prior inheritance planning measures being taken.
iii. Only that part of the estate belonging to the deceased is subject to inheritance laws, so in the case of a married couple, it will normally be 50% of their joint wealth.

Spouse and Children

Children are specifically protected from being disenfranchised from the inheritance.

la reserve – part of estate left for your descendants.
Quotité' disponible – part of the estate that is freely disposable.

Others

Parents are not protected like children are, so you can choose to disherit them by a will.
If you do not have children who succeed you, and if you do not otherwise disinherit your relatives by will or gift

Where there is no surviving spouse the law stipulates an order of inheritance, as follows:
i. Children, and then their grandchildren;
ii. Father and mother; sisters and brothers and their descendants;
iii. Grand-parents;
iv. Others, such as uncle's, aunt's and cousins.

Inheritance tax

What is it?
An inheritance is the money or estate left over to you when someone dies. Inheritance is when the government take a proportion of that money, however most people will not have to abide by this tax because it only occurs if the inheritance is over the threshold of £325,000.

Must I Pay ? 
Basically, to answer this question you have to add up the assets of the estate left to you. This includes any possession, the house, money in bank, and you subtract any debts they had. If this is over the £325,000 threshold then you pay. This Threshold can be increased to as much as £650,000 for married couples. Wahoo!

Dreaded Question... How much?
Alot, usually around 40% however this can differ under circumstances. Also if you don't pay within six months than the government starts to charge interest.