A UK national who inherits a French house, bank account, shares or other asset can face two different questions at the same time: whether France may tax the succession, and how the resulting French bill must be declared and paid. Brexit does not create a general exemption. It also does not mean that a French tax demand is automatically correct. The answer depends on the deceased person’s tax domicile, the heir’s tax residence, the location and legal ownership of each asset, any previous gifts, and the France–United Kingdom succession-tax convention signed in 1963.

The practical difficulty is often timing. A French déclaration de succession (inheritance-tax return) may be due while the estate is still blocked in England or Wales, while a property cannot yet be sold, or while HM Revenue & Customs is still calculating UK Inheritance Tax. French law normally separates the obligation to file and pay from the right to dispute the assessment. An heir should therefore preserve the challenge immediately, request the correct payment facility, and build the treaty file in parallel. This article addresses that payment-and-appeal problem for a British reader after Brexit; it does not cover the purchase of French property or the creation of a company.

The safest approach is to treat the file as a cross-border evidence exercise. First identify the tax connecting factors. Then calculate the statutory deadline and obtain a written payment arrangement before the due date. Finally, challenge any error through the French procedure, rather than simply withholding payment and hoping that the dispute will suspend collection.

I. How are French inheritance-tax liabilities determined for a UK-resident heir after Brexit?

A. Which estate, residence and asset facts trigger French tax?

French inheritance tax is known as droits de mutation à titre gratuit (duties on gratuitous transfers). The first question is not the heir’s passport. It is the combination of the deceased person’s domicile, the heir’s domicile, and the situs of the assets. “Domicile fiscal” means tax domicile, which is a factual and statutory concept. It must not be confused with an immigration residence permit, a postal address, or the place where a British person happened to spend a few weeks before the death.

Article 750 ter of the French General Tax Code is the starting point. The official text opens with the words Sont soumis aux droits de mutation à titre gratuit. It then distinguishes three situations. If the deceased was tax-resident in France, France can in principle tax movable and immovable assets in France and abroad. If the deceased was not tax-resident in France, French assets remain within the French territorial base. A third rule can apply where the heir or beneficiary is tax-resident in France and has been resident there for at least six of the ten years preceding the receipt of the inheritance. A British heir who lives in London is therefore not in the same position as a British heir who has settled in Paris, even where they inherit from the same person.

That domestic rule is only the first layer. The France–UK convention on inheritance taxes, signed in Paris on 21 June 1963, can allocate taxing rights and provide a credit or exemption mechanism. The current official text is available from the French tax administration’s copy of the France–UK succession convention. The French doctrine explains that Articles 3 to 5 deal with the situation of assets and that Articles 6 and 7 organise the elimination of double taxation. It is therefore necessary to classify each asset, not merely to compare the final totals on two tax forms.

For example, a French apartment is normally examined as French-situs immovable property even when the beneficiary is a UK resident. A UK bank account may be treated differently depending on the deceased person’s domicile and the convention’s situs rules. Shares in a company holding French property may require a separate analysis of indirect ownership. An interest in a French société civile immobilière, or SCI (a French civil property-holding company), is not analysed simply by asking where the share certificate is kept. The underlying asset, the company’s activity, the rights attached to the shares and the applicable treaty article all matter.

The deceased person’s centre of life also needs proof. In the First Civil Chamber decision of 17 October 2019, no. 18-21.140, the Court of cassation reproduced the lower court’s reasoning that Il incombe à la juridiction française de déterminer par application de la loi française le lieu d’ouverture de la succession. The same passage referred to Article 720 of the Civil Code, which states: Les successions s’ouvrent par la mort, au dernier domicile du défunt. That is not a day-counting shortcut. It means that evidence of the principal establishment, family life, property, work, health arrangements and intentions can become decisive.

A later decision illustrates the procedural consequence. In First Civil Chamber, 21 September 2022, no. 19-15.438, published in the Bulletin, the proceedings concerned the habitual residence of the deceased and the competence of the French courts for an international succession. The decision records the argument that la résidence habituelle de [Y] [H] au jour de son décès était située en France and ultimately held that the French courts were competent to decide the whole succession. The case is not a universal rule that every estate with a French asset belongs before a French court. It does show why an heir should separate the question of habitual residence from the nationality of the family and from the location of one bank account.

Brexit changes the background, but it does not erase those connecting factors. The United Kingdom is no longer an EU Member State for the purposes of the EU Succession Regulation’s ordinary application. A British will can still be relevant, and the choice-of-law question can still be important, but succession law and tax law are distinct. The tax office may ask for the deceased’s UK domicile evidence even when the notary is analysing the law governing the distribution of the estate. A tax return that treats the will as the complete answer risks confusing civil entitlement with fiscal liability.

For the civil-law layer, read the related guide on how a UK will interacts with French reserved heirs and the notary process. That article addresses the choice-of-law and reserved-heir questions; this one concentrates on the tax return, payment facility and challenge route that follows once the taxable estate has been identified.

The UK side must be reviewed separately. GOV.UK’s Inheritance Tax double-taxation guidance explains that a double-taxation convention may permit tax to be reclaimed or credited when the same asset is taxed in the UK and abroad. It also records that the France treaty is an older estate-duty convention with different rules from more recent agreements. For deaths or transfers affected by the UK’s post-6 April 2025 long-term-residence rules, the executor should also check the current HMRC guidance on long-term UK residence. A French filing should not assume that an old domicile analysis remains correct for every UK asset.

Before accepting the tax calculation, write down the facts in a table: date and place of death; deceased person’s last tax domicile; dates of residence in France and the UK; French immovable property; UK property; bank and investment accounts; pensions and trusts; debts; gifts made in the preceding fifteen years; identity and residence of every heir; and the amount of tax already paid or due in the other country. This factual map will expose a wrong assumption much faster than a general statement that the family is “British” or “based in France”.

B. Which deadline, declaration and treaty documents must you assemble?

Article 641 of the General Tax Code gives the basic French filing period. The official wording provides: De six mois, à compter du jour du décès, lorsque celui dont on recueille la succession est décédé en France métropolitaine; D’une année, dans tous les autres cas. The reference is to the date and place of the deceased person’s death, not to the date on which the British beneficiary receives a grant of probate, the date on which the French notary finishes the inventory, or the date on which a property is finally sold. If the estate is cross-border, confirm the applicable branch of Article 641 at the beginning of the file.

For a deceased person who was domiciled outside France, the French tax administration’s non-resident guidance identifies the office to which the return and payment must be sent. The official page, “Auprès de quel service dois-je payer les droits de succession et selon quelles modalités ?”, also explains the payment methods and the possibility of a French instalment request. This matters for a UK executor because a return sent to an ordinary local tax office, without checking the non-resident instructions, can lose time at the worst moment.

The declaration must be complete and internally consistent. Article 802 of the General Tax Code requires the declaration to contain a statement that the information is sincere and true. The official text states that the declarant affirme sincère et véritable la présente déclaration. In Commercial Chamber, 8 October 2025, no. 24-16.995, the Court of cassation repeated, in the context of a succession dispute, that Selon les articles 800 et 802 du même code, les héritiers, légataires ou donataires, leurs tuteurs ou curateurs, sont tenus de souscrire une déclaration détaillée et qu’ils affirment sincère et véritable. An heir should therefore not submit a low provisional valuation merely because the British estate administration is incomplete.

The evidence file should include the death certificate, the full will and any codicil, the English or Welsh grant of representation where one exists, the French deed of notoriety or other proof of heirship, and a statement from the notary identifying the assets that fall into the French declaration. Every document issued in the United Kingdom should be checked for the correct form of legalisation, apostille and French translation. A translation is not a substitute for an apostille, and an apostille is not a substitute for evidence that the document proves the relevant fact.

For residence, retain council-tax records, tenancy agreements, utility bills, travel calendars, employment or pension records, health-insurance evidence, bank activity and correspondence showing where the deceased’s principal personal and economic life was conducted. For French property, retain the title deed, land registry information, mortgage statement, valuation date, insurance and any usufruct or bare-ownership document. Usufruit means a right to use property and receive its benefits; nue-propriété means bare ownership without that use right. Those rights can alter the taxable value and the timing of payment.

Previous gifts deserve special attention. Article 784 of the General Tax Code requires the parties to disclose earlier gifts and includes the value of gifts that have not fallen outside the fifteen-year period. Its official text begins: Les parties sont tenues de faire connaître, dans tout acte constatant une transmission entre vifs à titre gratuit et dans toute déclaration de succession, s’il existe ou non des donations antérieures. The French tax calculation can therefore change even when the assets received at death appear modest. Gather UK lifetime-gift records as well as French donation deeds, and state clearly when a document is unavailable.

The relationship between the taxable share and the family relationship also needs checking. Article 779 provides a number of French allowances, including the allowance for a child or ascendant. The official text provides for an allowance of 100,000 euros on the share of each ascendant and each child, subject to the statutory conditions and the treatment of earlier gifts. The current wording is available on Légifrance, Article 779. Do not apply a French allowance simply because the beneficiary is a child under English family law; the declaration must establish the relationship accepted for French tax purposes.

After allowances and treaty adjustments, Article 777 sets the French rates. Its official opening is: Les droits de mutation à titre gratuit sont fixés aux taux indiqués dans les tableaux ci-après, pour la part nette revenant à chaque ayant droit. The relationship categories and bands are applied to the taxable share of each beneficiary. A calculation should show the gross assets, debts, exemptions, allowances, prior gifts, treaty credit and final amount rather than giving the family one unexplained figure.

Finally, keep the two tax systems in a single reconciliation file. On the French side, ask for the calculation of the French duty, the asset situs analysis and the certificate of payment or non-exigibility when one is needed for the notary or an institution. On the UK side, keep the IHT400 or other relevant HMRC account, valuations, payment confirmations and any HMRC correspondence. The HMRC manual on the France convention explains why French returns and a French clearance certificate can be requested when a UK credit is claimed. The credit is not automatic merely because both forms mention the same apartment; the same asset, tax, domicile and payment must be matched.

II. How can you obtain time to pay or challenge a French succession-tax demand?

A. Can you request instalments, deferment or a certificate when cash is trapped?

French law distinguishes the debt from the financing of the debt. Article 1701 of the General Tax Code states: Nul ne peut en atténuer ni différer le paiement sous le prétexte de contestation sur la quotité, subject to the legal routes for seeking restitution. In plain English, sending a dispute letter does not by itself suspend the payment obligation. If the tax is due, an heir should either pay, obtain an accepted payment facility, or secure advice on a formal request for relief. Silence is not a payment strategy.

There is, however, a statutory exception. Article 1717 provides: Par dérogation aux dispositions de l’article 1701, le paiement des droits d’enregistrement et de la taxe de publicité foncière peut être fractionné ou différé selon des modalités fixées par décret. The relevant French terms are paiement fractionné (payment by instalments) and paiement différé (payment postponed until a specified event or date). The request must be made in the proper form and supported by the assets, guarantees and consent required for the selected facility. It should be raised with the declaration, not after collection action has begun.

The French tax administration’s non-resident page explains that succession duties can, in appropriate cases, be paid in several equal instalments for up to one year after the expiry of the legal declaration period. It also describes a possible three-year period where at least half of the estate consists of non-liquid assets such as property, works of art or unlisted securities, with interest. Different rules can apply where the transfer involves bare ownership or a surviving spouse’s rights. The administration may require a guarantee. The request should identify the asset that prevents an immediate cash payment, its valuation, its expected sale or refinancing route, and the proposed timetable.

A British heir should not confuse the French facility with UK Inheritance Tax instalments. GOV.UK explains that qualifying UK assets can be paid by annual instalments over ten years, with a first instalment normally due at the end of the sixth month after the death. That is a UK mechanism. It does not automatically extend the French deadline or bind the French tax office. If the same French house appears in both systems, create two calendars and record the separate interest, security and clearance requirements.

The first request should be precise. State the deceased’s identity and date of death; the French declaration deadline under Article 641; the amount accepted and the amount disputed; the assets available in cash; the assets that cannot yet be sold; the proposed number and dates of instalments; the guarantee offered; the other-country tax position; and the documents enclosed. Ask the office to confirm in writing whether the request is complete, whether interest will be charged, and whether the proposed facility protects the issue of a certificate needed for the estate. Keep proof of delivery and a copy of every attachment.

Consider the payment order as well as the tax amount. Article 1709 provides: Les droits des déclarations des mutations par décès sont payés par les héritiers, donataires ou légataires. Les cohéritiers, à l’exception de ceux exonérés de droits de mutation par décès, sont solidaires. “Solidaires” means jointly liable towards the tax authority, subject to the statutory exceptions. One heir who pays more than their economic share may need a separate accounting or civil claim against co-heirs. An instalment plan should therefore be agreed by all relevant heirs and should state who will fund each instalment.

Where a bank, notary or buyer asks for proof that French duty has been settled, ask which certificate is actually required. A certificat d’acquittement confirms payment; a certificat de non-exigibilité confirms that no payment is due in the relevant situation. A receipt, an instalment agreement and a certificate are not interchangeable. The non-resident office may need to see the declaration, payment history and treaty documents before issuing the correct certificate. This distinction can prevent an executor from paying a second time merely because an institution has asked for the wrong document.

The treaty claim should run at the same time as the payment request. If France taxes French property and the UK taxes the estate because of the deceased’s UK domicile or long-term-residence status, identify the treaty article and the credit mechanism relied upon. Attach the UK calculation and proof of payment when available, but do not delay the French filing solely because HMRC has not finished. If the exact credit cannot yet be calculated, disclose the uncertainty and ask how the French office wants a later claim or amended calculation to be presented.

B. How do you challenge the assessment, penalties or double taxation?

There are three different disputes that families often mix together. The first is a factual dispute: France has treated the deceased or the heir as tax-resident in France, or has located an asset in France, when the evidence points elsewhere. The second is a calculation dispute: valuation, debts, prior gifts, allowances, relationship category or rate has been misstated. The third is a treaty dispute: both countries tax the same asset and the credit, exemption or situs rule has not been applied. Each needs a separate schedule and evidence. A letter saying “the UK has already taxed this” is not enough to decide which treaty article operates.

If the French administration sends a proposition de rectification (proposed tax adjustment), answer it within the stated period. Article L. 57 of the Tax Procedures Code requires a proposed adjustment to be reasoned so that the taxpayer can make observations or accept it. The official text states: L’administration adresse au contribuable une proposition de rectification qui doit être motivée de manière à lui permettre de formuler ses observations ou de faire connaître son acceptation. The reply should identify each contested proposition, state the legal and factual correction, and attach the evidence in a numbered bundle. Avoid a general denial that leaves the administration’s reasoning unanswered.

Ask for the underlying evidence when the calculation relies on information obtained from another person or institution. Article L. 76 B provides: L’administration est tenue d’informer le contribuable de la teneur et de l’origine des renseignements et documents obtenus de tiers and requires communication of those documents before collection when the taxpayer requests them. For a UK heir, this can include a valuation, a bank statement, a family relationship document or an information exchange element that the family has never seen. Ask for the source, date, author and use made of each document, then explain why it does not prove the conclusion drawn from it.

The reply should also protect the treaty position. Attach a residence chronology, the UK and French tax calculations, the convention article relied upon, asset-level valuations, proof of French and UK tax actually paid, and a proposed credit calculation. If a foreign document is not yet available, identify it and give an expected date rather than presenting an unverified figure. The French tax administration can reject a vague treaty claim while accepting that the estate may eventually be entitled to relief. A precise reservation is therefore safer than an unsupported assertion.

Late filing or late payment creates a separate risk. Article 1728 of the General Tax Code provides for a 10 per cent increase in specified late-declaration situations and higher increases after a formal notice has not been followed. Its current official text states that the 10 per cent increase for declarations under Article 800 applies from the first day of the seventh month after the expiry of the six-month or twenty-four-month periods referred to in Articles 641 and 641 bis. The complete rule is available on Légifrance, Article 1728. Do not assume that a pending treaty dispute prevents a late-declaration increase. File on time, request the facility, and reserve the right to seek a reduction or repayment if the legal basis is wrong.

If the administration rejects the observations or maintains the demand, a formal réclamation contentieuse (claim seeking a correction or repayment) may be required. For the ordinary category of taxes other than local direct taxes, Article R*196-1 of the Tax Procedures Code provides a deadline ending on 31 December of the second year following the relevant collection, payment or event. The official wording begins: Pour être recevables, les réclamations relatives aux impôts autres que les impôts directs locaux et les taxes annexes à ces impôts, doivent être présentées à l’administration au plus tard le 31 décembre de la deuxième année suivant celle. The trigger must be identified carefully; do not copy the deadline from an unrelated income-tax dispute.

Inheritance and registration duties are generally litigated before the judicial court rather than the administrative court. Article L. 199 of the Tax Procedures Code states that, for registration duties, wealth tax, land-registration tax, stamp duties and related taxes, le tribunal compétent est le tribunal judiciaire. The correct route depends on the document received, the stage of collection and the nature of the claim. A complaint to the tax office, a request for a payment facility and proceedings before the tribunal judiciaire are different acts; one does not automatically replace the others.

French case law shows why the file must be built around the actual estate. The 2025 decision no. 24-16.995, already cited above, treated the filing obligations, a replacement declaration and the administration’s right of control as questions that depended on the history of the particular succession. Its reasoning connected Article 641, Articles 800 and 802, and the rules on a missing new declaration. The lesson is practical: if a court declaration has been cancelled, if an inventory is corrected, or if a second return replaces the first, preserve the chronology. A tax office may treat the replacement as the legally operative declaration, and the limitation analysis can turn on that fact.

Residence evidence also remains central when the estate contains property in both countries. The 2019 decision no. 18-21.140 examined the deceased’s life between several countries and did not treat a death in France or repeated stays as conclusive proof of a French principal establishment. That reasoning should not be lifted mechanically into a tax case, but it is a warning against relying on one fact. Travel records, family arrangements, ownership, work, health and correspondence must be read together. Conversely, the 2022 decision no. 19-15.438 demonstrates that French jurisdiction can still be engaged in a succession with a UK-resident family member when the legal connecting factors point to France.

Double taxation should be challenged with an asset-by-asset reconciliation. List the asset; its legal owner; its situs under French domestic law; its situs under the convention; the French tax charged; the UK tax charged; the person legally liable in each country; the date of payment; and the relief requested. Then check whether the requested relief is a credit, an exemption, a limitation of the taxing right, or a repayment after payment. The French BOFiP commentary on the France–UK succession convention explains the credit mechanism and refers to the special process for claiming UK tax against French liability in the circumstances covered by the convention.

A UK executor should also compare the French timetable with the UK probate timetable. GOV.UK states that UK Inheritance Tax is normally due before a grant of representation is issued and allows payments on account or a request to postpone where estate funds cannot be released. That may help the UK administration, but it does not answer the French declaration deadline. If a French property is needed as security for either tax system, obtain a valuation that can be explained in both currencies and keep the exchange-rate date. If an asset is sold after death at a loss, check whether a post-death relief or amended valuation is available before using the sale price as the original inheritance value.

At the end of the review, send one controlled letter rather than scattered emails. The letter should identify the estate, state the position accepted and disputed, attach an indexed evidence bundle, request the payment facility, reserve the treaty claim, and ask for the correct certificate. If the administration does not answer, note the date and escalate through the relevant tax complaint or court route. A British heir can communicate in English with advisers, but the formal French tax document must be read in its legal context. A translation that omits “solidary liability”, a guarantee condition or a limitation date can change the practical decision.

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Conclusion

A UK heir should not treat a French inheritance-tax bill as either automatically valid or automatically displaced by UK tax. The decisive work is to establish the deceased person’s domicile, classify each asset, apply Article 750 ter and the 1963 convention together, and meet the Article 641 filing deadline. The payment question then has its own answer: request French instalments or deferment under Article 1717, while keeping the UK IHT timetable separate. The dispute question has another answer: reply to a proposed adjustment under Article L. 57, obtain the documents used by the administration, file a timely claim and use the correct court route if necessary. Early evidence, a written payment request and an asset-level treaty reconciliation give the executor a realistic chance of avoiding both a preventable penalty and an unrelieved double charge.