For a British citizen inheriting a house in France, the hardest question is often not whether French inheritance tax exists, but how to pay it before the house can be sold. The French expression droits de succession means inheritance tax charged on a transfer at death. The expression déclaration de succession means the inheritance tax return. Both the return and the payment follow French deadlines, even when the beneficiary lives in the United Kingdom, the estate is being administered under a UK will, or the family expects a sale of the French property to provide the cash.
Brexit has changed residence, immigration and cross-border administration for British families, but it has not created an automatic payment holiday for a French tax debt. A house that remains unsold may support a request for paiement fractionné, meaning payment by instalments, when the estate satisfies the statutory illiquidity test. That is different from paiement différé, meaning deferred payment until a later legal event. Full ownership of an ordinary house is not, by itself, a right to wait for completion.
This article explains the decision in practical terms: which estate and tax facts must be established, when an unsold French property can support instalments, what guarantees the French tax authority may require, and what happens after refusal or a missed term. It also separates the French collection rules from possible United Kingdom inheritance-tax relief. The answer will usually turn on the asset mix and the filing date, not on the heir’s nationality alone.
I. Can a UK heir obtain French inheritance-tax instalments when the estate includes an unsold property?
A. What is due, who pays, and why an unsold house does not automatically defer tax
The first task is to map the estate before discussing a payment plan. That map should identify the deceased’s tax residence at death, the place of death, the residence of each heir, the location of every asset, the wording of the will, any earlier gifts, and liabilities that can be deducted under French rules. For a British family, the map often contains a French home, UK bank accounts, an occupational pension, investments, life insurance and a UK probate document. Those items do not all receive the same treatment.
French situs is important. Article 750 ter of the Code général des impôts, or CGI (the French General Tax Code), includes French-located immovable property in the French inheritance-tax base even where the deceased was not fiscally resident in France. The same article can also bring wider assets into the French base where an heir has been fiscally resident in France for at least six of the preceding ten years, subject to the applicable treaty rules. The official wording is available in the current Légifrance section for CGI Article 750 ter. A British passport does not remove a French tax charge on a French house.
Article 1701 CGI sets the normal sequence. It provides: « Les droits des actes et ceux des mutations par décès sont payés avant l’exécution de l’enregistrement, de la publicité foncière ou de la formalité fusionnée, aux taux et quotités réglés par le présent code. » In English, the duties on death transfers are paid before the registration or land-formality process is completed. The full provision is on Légifrance, CGI Article 1701. The practical point is decisive: a planned sale of the property is a possible source of funds, but it does not normally postpone the return and the initial tax payment.
Article 1709 CGI identifies the persons liable. It says: « 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. » An héritier is an heir, a donataire is a person who received a gift, and a légataire is a beneficiary under a will. The words cohéritiers sont solidaires mean that co-heirs can be jointly pursued for the tax, within the statutory limits. The text is available at Légifrance, CGI Article 1709. An agreement between siblings about who will pay is useful internally, but it does not necessarily bind the French Treasury.
The return deadline is also separate from the payment-plan question. Article 641 CGI provides a six-month period where the deceased died in metropolitan France and a one-year period in other cases, subject to particular rules for assets or deaths outside France. Its text states: « D’une année, dans tous les autres cas. » The complete deadline rule is on Légifrance, CGI Article 641. A UK heir should therefore record the death date, the place of death and the date on which the declaration will be filed. Waiting for the French house to sell can consume the filing period while leaving the estate exposed to interest and penalties.
The French tax authority’s public guidance confirms the same logic: inheritance tax is normally paid with the declaration, while a taxpayer can request a deferred or fractioned facility under defined conditions. The practical overview is the official page How can I pay inheritance tax? on impots.gouv.fr. It is useful for checking the current administrative presentation, but the legal basis remains the CGI and its implementing provisions.
There is a further cross-border distinction. The United Kingdom and France have a convention concerning duties on estates of deceased persons. HM Revenue & Customs explains the French convention and its interaction with UK inheritance tax in its Inheritance Tax Manual guidance on France. Depending on domicile, residence, asset situs and the convention’s allocation rules, the same economic value may generate a credit, an exemption or a claim for relief in one country. That question can reduce double taxation, but it does not normally erase the French filing deadline or turn an unsold French property into an automatic instalment entitlement.
That is why a UK heir should separate four questions in correspondence with the notaire, meaning the French civil-law notary, and the tax office:
- Is the French property within the French inheritance-tax base?
- What tax is payable after allowances, deductions, prior gifts and any treaty relief?
- Does the composition of the estate meet the conditions for fractioned payment?
- What security can be offered while the balance remains unpaid?
The word “unsold” answers none of those questions by itself. A property may be illiquid in an ordinary commercial sense and still be fully taxable. A buyer may be found quickly, or a sale may take years because of co-ownership, title defects, planning issues or a weak market. The French payment-credit rules use statutory categories and percentages; they do not promise relief merely because a family has listed a house with an estate agent.
B. When fractioning or genuine deferral is legally available
The gateway provision is Article 1717 CGI. It states: « I. — 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 provision therefore authorises a regulated exception to the ordinary immediate-payment rule; it does not grant an unconditional right. The current text is available on Légifrance, CGI Article 1717.
For a normal estate containing an unsold French house, the relevant route is usually fractioning. The French term crédit de paiement fractionné means that the tax remains due but is divided into scheduled payments. The implementing rules begin with Article 396 of Annex III to the CGI, which applies the credit to death transfers. The text is available at Légifrance, Annex III Article 396. The request must then fit the payment timetable and the illiquidity conditions in Article 404 A.
Article 404 A of Annex III provides a short general timetable: equal payments, at intervals of no more than six months, with no more than three payments in the ordinary case and a final payment no later than one year after the end of the ordinary filing period. Its text includes: « Les versements, à intervalle de six mois au plus, ne peuvent être supérieurs à trois. » The article also extends the maximum period to three years and the number of payments to seven where at least 50 per cent of the hereditary assets consist of non-liquid property in the statutory sense. The full rule, including the reference to buildings, is on Légifrance, Annex III Article 404 A.
A building is one of the categories that can count as non-liquid property for that extended route. The threshold is measured against the hereditary assets, not against the family’s emotional attachment to the home and not against the value of the French property alone. If the estate is made up of a French house, readily available cash and listed investments, the solicitor or notary should prepare a written valuation schedule. That schedule should show the numerator, the denominator and the valuation date used for the 50 per cent test. The tax office remains entitled to examine the classification and valuation.
Consider an example. The estate contains a French house valued at €600,000 and cash and investments worth €300,000, before the final tax computation. The house represents approximately 66.7 per cent of the listed assets. That fact may support the extended fractioning timetable, if the other legal conditions are met. It does not mean that the tax is €900,000, nor does it establish the amount of tax. The taxable base, allowances, debts, valuation evidence and treaty position must be calculated separately. The example only shows how an unsold building can matter to the liquidity threshold.
True deferral is narrower. Article 397 of Annex III deals with categories such as a transfer of bare ownership, preferential allocation arrangements and certain rights of a surviving spouse. Nue-propriété means bare ownership: ownership without the present right to use or receive the income from the asset. Usufruit means usufruct: the right to use property or receive its income while another person holds bare ownership. The implementing provisions are found in the current Légifrance section on deferred-payment credits.
Article 404 B explains the later event for a qualifying deferred credit. It provides: « Le paiement des droits peut être différé jusqu’à … six mois … de la date de la réunion de l’usufruit à la nue-propriété ou de la cession … » The complete provision is on Légifrance, Annex III Article 404 B. The omitted portions in that short quotation refer to the statutory situations and do not convert every unsold house into a deferred-payment case.
For that reason, a British heir who receives the entire French house in full ownership should normally analyse fractioning first. If the deceased gave the heir bare ownership and another person holds a qualifying usufruct, the deferral analysis may be different. If a farm or another specially regulated asset is involved, a separate regime may apply. The wording of the will, the deed prepared by the notary and the nature of the rights transferred must be read together. The family’s intention to sell later is not a substitute for one of those legal categories.
Interest is part of the calculation. Article 401 of Annex III says: « Sous réserve des dispositions de l’article 404 GC, les droits et taxes dont le paiement est fractionné ou différé donnent lieu au versement d’intérêts. » It also provides that, for fractioned payment, the interest is paid with each instalment. The rule is available at Légifrance, Annex III Article 401. The impots.gouv.fr guidance currently states a 2 per cent rate for requests made from 1 January 2026, but the rate and any special regime must be checked when the request is filed. A payment credit is therefore a financing mechanism with a public creditor, not a free extension.
Early payment can reduce that cost. Article 404 of Annex III states: « Les droits ayant fait l’objet de l’octroi du crédit peuvent être acquittés par anticipation. Dans cette hypothèse, les intérêts ne sont dus que jusqu’au jour du paiement des droits. » The official text is on Légifrance, Annex III Article 404. If the French house sells before the final term, the heirs should obtain a precise payoff figure and settle according to the tax office’s instructions, rather than simply transferring an estimated amount.
The decision at the end of Part I is therefore practical. An unsold French building may help an estate reach the 50 per cent non-liquid-assets test for fractioning. It does not automatically create deferral, remove interest, postpone the declaration, or suspend liability between co-heirs. A UK heir should ask for the correct credit at the time the declaration is submitted, with a proposed schedule and a credible guarantee.
II. How should a UK heir apply, secure, and challenge the instalment plan?
A. File the request correctly and offer acceptable guarantees
The request should travel with the inheritance declaration, not as an afterthought when the first demand for payment arrives. Article 399 of Annex III says: « La demande de crédit doit être soit formulée au pied de l’acte ou de la déclaration soumis à formalité soit jointe à l’un ou l’autre de ces documents. » It adds: « Elle doit contenir une offre de garanties suffisantes. » The article is available at Légifrance, Annex III Article 399. For a UK heir, the written file should make clear whether the request is for fractioning or deferral and which statutory category is relied on.
The same provision gives the public accountant, meaning the competent French tax-collection officer, two months to decide. It also gives four months for the guarantees to be constituted after the relevant decision. Those periods are not a reason to submit an incomplete request. They are time windows in which the file should be capable of being assessed. If the French property is jointly owned, the file should identify every owner, every heir and any consent or power needed to create security.
Article 400 gives examples of security. It provides: « Les garanties peuvent notamment consister en des sûretés réelles d’une valeur au moins égale au montant des sommes … ou en un engagement solidaire … » A sûreté réelle is security attached to an asset, such as a mortgage or another real right. An engagement solidaire is a binding joint guarantee under which the guarantor can be pursued according to its terms. The complete provision, including the power to request additional security, is on Légifrance, Annex III Article 400.
A French house may be offered as security, but its existence is not enough. The authority may examine the land-register position, ownership, valuation, prior mortgages, insurance, title restrictions, co-ownership and the likely realisable value. A UK bank guarantee, a French bank guarantee, another property or a portfolio may be considered depending on the circumstances and the officer’s assessment. The request should contain valuation documents, title evidence and a clear explanation of how the security remains effective until the last instalment.
The first payment still matters. Article 402 of Annex III states: « Sous réserve des dispositions de l’article 404 GB, le premier versement des droits dont le paiement fractionné est autorisé doit être effectué au moment de l’accomplissement de la formalité fusionnée ou de l’enregistrement. » The next payments follow the approved schedule and must be made promptly after each due date. The full text is on Légifrance, Annex III Article 402. A request to pay later is not permission to pay nothing when the declaration is lodged.
For a family living in Britain, administration can be slowed by documents. The file may contain a UK death certificate, a will, a grant of probate or letters of administration, a family-record document, bank statements, pension information, property deeds, a recent valuation, evidence of debts, records of gifts made within the relevant period, and documents supporting a UK inheritance-tax calculation. French authorities may require translations or formal authentication. The notaire can identify the civil documents required for the succession, while the tax officer decides the payment credit. Those two roles should not be treated as interchangeable.
The official non-resident guidance on where succession duties are paid is available through the impots.gouv.fr page for taxpayers connected with a foreign country. The exact service and filing route can depend on the deceased’s domicile and the estate’s assets. A British heir should ask for the correct office in writing, retain proof of delivery and keep a copy of the signed declaration and the credit request.
Cross-border relief should be prepared in parallel. HMRC explains that where France has a treaty claim over assets situated in France, the UK calculation may require a credit or an adjustment. Its guidance on the United Kingdom–France estate-duty convention is at HMRC’s France convention manual. A separate HMRC page also explains the possibility of claiming double-tax relief under a convention at GOV.UK inheritance-tax double-taxation relief. The French payment request should not be left waiting for HMRC to complete its own assessment. Instead, the file should identify the relief claimed, the evidence available and any amount still disputed.
The notaire’s information duty can matter where a family was not told about the possibility of a credit. In a decision of 8 December 2009, First Civil Chamber, nos. 08-16.495 and 08-17.406, the Court of Cassation stated: « le notaire est tenu d’éclairer les parties et d’appeler leur attention sur la portée, les effets et les risques des actes auxquels il prête son concours ». The official decision is at Légifrance, Cass. civ. 1, 8 December 2009, nos. 08-16.495 and 08-17.406. That principle does not guarantee that a credit will be approved, but it supports a careful review of what the notary explained, what the heirs signed and when the liquidity problem became apparent.
A useful application pack should answer the following in a single document:
- Who died, where, and on what date?
- Which French and UK assets form part of the estate, with values and evidence?
- What percentage of the hereditary assets is represented by non-liquid property?
- Is the request for the ordinary three-payment timetable or the extended seven-payment timetable?
- Why is the house not immediately saleable, and what is the realistic sale plan?
- What asset or guarantee secures the principal and the interest?
- What UK inheritance-tax relief or treaty credit is claimed, and what evidence supports it?
The proposal should be conservative. If the family’s hoped-for sale date is six months away, it should not promise a payment that depends on a buyer completing on that exact date. It should show how each instalment can be paid from existing funds or a documented financing facility. If a sale takes longer, the heirs should already know which instalment is due and which amount of interest is accumulating. A realistic plan is more useful than a statement that the property is “stuck”.
It is also important to link this issue with the family’s wider succession documents. A UK will may determine who inherits, but French forced-heirship rules, the réserve héréditaire (the protected share for certain descendants), and the treatment of French real property can affect the civil result. A broader explanation of how a UK will operates in France is available in the firm’s guide to UK wills, French choice of law and reserved heirs. Where a UK executor is handling the estate, the practical document and translation issues are also addressed in the firm’s guide to a UK executor dealing with a French notary. Those articles do not replace the tax request, but they help keep the civil, probate and tax workstreams aligned.
B. What if the administration refuses, a deadline is missed, or an instalment defaults?
A refusal should be analysed, not answered with a general complaint about the property market. Ask the tax office to state whether it rejected the statutory liquidity test, the proposed timetable, the valuation, the guarantee or the form of the request. Each reason suggests a different response. A valuation problem may call for an independent appraisal. A security problem may call for a mortgage or bank undertaking. A legal-category problem may show that the family requested deferral when only fractioning was potentially available.
If the disagreement concerns the tax base, a UK treaty credit or an overpayment, the heirs should preserve the assessment, the declaration, payment receipts, correspondence and all supporting calculations. A claim for relief or restitution follows its own procedural route and time limit. The Court of Cassation’s commercial chamber, in a decision of 7 May 2019, no. 17-24.595, dealt with a late tax claim and stated that the claimant’s request was « irrecevable comme forclose », meaning inadmissible because it was out of time. The official decision is at Légifrance, Cass. com., 7 May 2019, no. 17-24.595. The precise remedy and starting date must be checked against the assessment and the type of claim; an heir should not assume that a negotiation about instalments suspends every litigation deadline.
The filing obligation can survive an internal family dispute. In a decision of 17 October 1995, no. 93-19.043, the commercial chamber held that an heir who had taken the succession had « l’obligation de procéder à la déclaration dans les délais légaux ». The decision is available at Légifrance, Cass. com., 17 October 1995, no. 93-19.043. The lesson for a British family is direct: a dispute about the will, an argument over the house’s value or negotiations between beneficiaries should be reported and managed, but those events should not be treated as an automatic suspension of the declaration deadline.
The date on which the declaration is registered can also have legal consequences. In a decision of 10 July 2012, no. 11-19.953, the commercial chamber held that the registration date was the starting point for the relevant limitation analysis. The Court wrote: « cette date d’enregistrement constituait le point de départ du délai de prescription ». The official decision is at Légifrance, Cass. com., 10 July 2012, no. 11-19.953. A family should therefore keep evidence of when the declaration was submitted and registered, when the credit request was made, when the response was received and when each guarantee was constituted.
Late payment has two distinct risks. First, a tax debt that is not paid within the legal period can attract late-payment interest. Article 1727 CGI states: « I. – Toute créance de nature fiscale qui n’a pas été acquittée dans le délai légal donne lieu au versement d’un intérêt de retard. » The official provision is on Légifrance, CGI Article 1727. Secondly, a late or incomplete declaration can attract a surcharge under Article 1728 CGI, whose current text is available at Légifrance, CGI Article 1728. The amount depends on the nature and duration of the default, so the family should obtain an itemised calculation instead of assuming that the only cost is the credit interest.
Default under an approved credit can be even more disruptive. Article 403 of Annex III states: « Le redevable est déchu du bénéfice du crédit … en cas de retard dans le paiement de l’un quelconque des termes échus. » It further provides that the loss of the credit makes the suspended duties immediately due, with late-payment interest under Article 1727. The official text is at Légifrance, Annex III Article 403. The punctuation in the full article contains further conditions, but the operational rule is clear: missing one scheduled term can jeopardise the entire balance.
That consequence makes calendar control essential. The executor, the beneficiaries, the notaire and anyone managing the sale should have the same written schedule. Each payment should be sent with the correct reference, and proof of receipt should be retained. If a sale is delayed, contact the tax office before the term expires and ask what formal option is available. A private promise that the buyer will complete next month does not protect the credit. If a payment has already been missed, the heirs should request an immediate statement of account and a written position on whether the credit has been lost.
Co-heir solidarity adds a further layer. One UK-resident beneficiary may believe that a French-resident sibling is handling the tax; the French Treasury may still pursue the persons identified as jointly liable. Conversely, the sibling may believe that the UK heir’s cash or probate distribution is available when it is not. The estate agreement should therefore allocate funding responsibility, but it should also provide a back-up source of payment. A sale strategy, loan facility or advance from a beneficiary can prevent a dispute from becoming a public-tax default.
The most difficult cases combine an uncertain civil succession with an urgent tax deadline. A person may challenge a will, dispute whether a spouse has a right of use, or argue that an asset belongs to a trust or to a company. The tax office may still require a declaration based on the legal position it considers applicable. The Court of Cassation cases above show why the file should record both the substantive dispute and the procedural steps taken. A reservation of rights, a provisional calculation and a request for an approved credit may be safer than silence, but the exact approach depends on the documents.
When a French property has not sold, the evidence should also explain why a guarantee remains sufficient. A valuation should state whether it is an open-market value, a forced-sale value or a net value after mortgages and sale costs. If there is a prior mortgage, the available equity may be lower than the headline price. If the property is occupied, subject to a life interest or held with another person, the security analysis changes. If the house is in a rural or low-demand area, a longer sale period should be allowed in the family’s funding model. These facts do not automatically defeat a request, but they should be addressed before the public accountant asks for them.
The file should also distinguish an inheritance-tax disagreement from an estate-liquidation problem. A UK heir may owe French tax even if the property has a low sale price, because the tax valuation and the eventual negotiated price are not necessarily the same. A later capital loss does not automatically rewrite the inheritance declaration. Conversely, a disputed valuation may justify a carefully documented claim or correction. The legal route, the evidence and the time limit differ. The heirs should identify which figure is being challenged and why.
For a British reader, the safest sequence is as follows in substance: obtain the French estate calculation; confirm the filing office; prepare the fractioning or deferral request at the foot of the declaration or as an attachment; offer security; pay the first amount at filing; diarise every later term; calculate UK treaty relief separately; and obtain written advice immediately if the tax office refuses or a payment is at risk. That sequence respects the French timetable while leaving room to coordinate probate and HMRC work.
Conclusion
A UK heir can sometimes pay French inheritance tax in instalments when the estate includes an unsold French property, but the answer is conditional. The property must be considered within the full hereditary asset schedule, and the extended timetable generally depends on at least 50 per cent of the estate being made up of qualifying non-liquid assets. The request must be made with the inheritance declaration, the first payment remains important, interest is payable, and acceptable security must be offered.
An unsold house in full ownership does not automatically qualify for deferred payment. Deferral is tied to defined legal situations, such as qualifying bare ownership or a statutory life-interest arrangement. A UK-France treaty analysis may reduce double taxation, but it does not by itself suspend French filing and collection rules. The practical priority is to file on time, ask for the correct credit, document the property’s liquidity and value, and keep every party aligned around the approved schedule.
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