If you have inherited assets connected with France while living in the United Kingdom, the most urgent question may not be whether French inheritance tax is due. It may be how to pay it without selling a family home, liquidating investments at the wrong time or waiting for a UK tax credit that has not yet been documented. Brexit does not create a special exemption for a British heir. French tax can still apply to a French estate, to French-situs assets or, in some circumstances, to worldwide assets linked to a French tax resident or a beneficiary who has lived in France for the statutory period.

French rules do, however, allow a request for payment by instalments, known in French as paiement fractionné, and a separate form of deferred payment, known as paiement différé. These are tightly controlled credits rather than an informal arrangement with the notary. The application, the declaration of succession, the guarantee and the first payment must be coordinated. The France–UK estate-duty convention can also alter the final economic result, but treaty relief is not a substitute for meeting the French filing deadline.

This article explains the distinction, the maximum periods, the interest cost, the evidence expected from a UK heir and the practical response to a refusal or missed instalment. It is designed for a cross-border estate, not for the purchase of French property, a French company or a general tax return.

I. Can a UK heir qualify for French inheritance-tax instalments after Brexit?

A. When does French inheritance tax apply to a UK-linked estate?

The nationality of the heir is only one fact in the analysis. French inheritance tax is determined by the connection between the deceased, the beneficiary and the assets. The starting point is the territorial rule in Article 750 ter of the French General Tax Code. Where the deceased was tax resident in France at death, France may tax assets in France and abroad. Where the deceased was not resident in France, French tax may still apply to assets situated in France. Where the beneficiary is tax resident in France and has been resident there for at least six of the ten years preceding the transfer, the French rules can extend to assets received from outside France. The wording and exceptions must be read with the applicable international convention, so a UK address alone does not answer the question.

The current text of Article 750 ter of the French General Tax Code should be checked against the facts at the date of death. A French house, a French bank account, shares in a French company, a debt owed by a French debtor or rights connected with a French business may each require a situs analysis. Conversely, an asset held in the UK is not automatically outside the French computation merely because the beneficiary lives in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

The tax bill is calculated by reference to the taxable share received by each person, the relationship with the deceased, available allowances, prior gifts and the relevant progressive rate. The official Service-Public.fr guide to valuing and calculating inheritance tax explains the basic sequence: identify the assets and liabilities, determine the net taxable estate, apply the allowance and then apply the rate for the relationship. A child, spouse, sibling, distant relative and unrelated beneficiary do not receive the same treatment. A UK heir should therefore obtain a calculation of the French liability before designing a payment plan. A request to pay in instalments does not reduce the principal amount.

French terminology matters because several different people may be involved. The notaire is the French civil-law notary handling the estate and preparing or assisting with the succession documents. The déclaration de succession is the French inheritance-tax declaration. The service de l’enregistrement is the competent tax-registration office receiving or processing the declaration and the request for credit. The comptable public is the public accountant who decides the payment-credit request and deals with the guarantees. The notary can assemble the file, but the notary does not grant the credit on behalf of the tax authority.

The payment obligation is deliberately strict. Article 1701 of the General Tax Code states that succession duties are paid before the registration formality, subject to the statutory exceptions. Its warning is expressed in the official text as: “Nul ne peut en atténuer ni différer le paiement”. In English, a disagreement about the amount does not normally give the heir a right to withhold payment. If the valuation, relationship, allowance, situs or treaty credit is disputed, the dispute must be managed through the appropriate tax-claim route while the filing and payment rules are respected. A payment-credit request is not an automatic suspension of the tax deadline.

Article 1701 of the General Tax Code is particularly important for a British family who assumes that a pending UK probate process or a disagreement with a French valuation allows the whole French liability to wait. The French return, the evidence supporting the figures and the payment proposal should be filed in a controlled sequence. If the estate is complex, the tax calculation should identify which amount is undisputed, which amount is claimed under treaty relief and which amount is subject to a documented valuation argument.

There is also a collective risk. Article 1709 of the General Tax Code provides that the heirs, legatees or beneficiaries liable for succession duties may be jointly liable in the circumstances set out by the Code. For co-heirs, the official wording includes: “Les cohéritiers, à l’exception de ceux exonérés de droits de mutation par décès, sont solidaires.” This means that an agreement between siblings about who will fund the bill may not bind the tax authority. One heir’s request for instalments does not necessarily protect another heir from recovery action. The estate agreement should state who pays each scheduled fraction, who provides the guarantee, how interest is allocated and what happens if one person delays.

The Brexit element usually appears in the interaction with the UK, not in the basic French instalment mechanism. The official GOV.UK guidance on inheritance-tax double-taxation relief points to the historic France–UK estate-duty convention and the different rules that can apply to a death estate. It is separate from the income-tax treaty used for pensions, employment income or rental income. It is also separate from succession-law questions such as the law governing the will or the reserved share. A convention can allocate taxing rights or provide relief from double taxation; it does not turn a late French declaration into a timely one and does not make an instalment request automatic.

HM Revenue & Customs describes the practical evidence in its Inheritance Tax Manual guidance on the France–UK convention. Depending on the deceased’s fiscal domicile and the asset’s situs, the UK may waive tax, or the taxpayer may claim credit for tax paid in the other country. HMRC refers to evidence such as a copy of the French return and a French clearance certificate, often called a Certificat d’Acquittement. The certificate and the timing of the French payments can therefore matter to the UK file. A British executor should not assume that the UK credit can be claimed on the strength of a provisional French calculation alone.

The practical question is whether the estate has a liquidity problem rather than a tax problem. A French house may be valuable but not saleable before the declaration date. A UK portfolio may be invested, jointly held or subject to probate restrictions. A pension or life-insurance benefit may not yet have been paid. A family may need the assets to complete the administration before they can be sold. Those facts support a carefully evidenced application, but they do not replace the legal conditions. The tax office assesses the request against the statutory payment-credit rules and the sufficiency of the offered guarantee.

B. What is the difference between fractioned and deferred payment?

French law uses two different mechanisms. Paiement fractionné means fractioned payment: the principal is divided into several scheduled payments, usually beginning when the declaration is registered. Paiement différé means deferred payment: a defined part of the duty is postponed because the transfer has a statutory feature such as bare ownership, a preferential allocation or certain rights of a surviving spouse. Calling every request “deferred tax” can lead to the wrong form, the wrong interest calculation and the wrong expectation about eligibility.

The legal gateway is Article 1717 of the French General Tax Code. It creates a derogation from the ordinary rule in Article 1701: “le paiement des droits d’enregistrement et de la taxe de publicité foncière peut être fractionné ou différé”. The complete conditions are set out in the implementing provisions covering Articles 396 to 404 GD of the Code. The Légifrance provisions on fractioned and deferred payment must be read in their current version, especially where the death, the declaration or the application occurred after a regulatory change.

For an ordinary estate containing a mixture of a French property, bank funds and UK investments, the likely issue is fractioned payment. The official impots.gouv.fr explanation of paying inheritance tax states that succession duties are normally paid in full when the declaration is filed, but that payment can, subject to conditions, be deferred or fractioned. It describes several equal payments, normally ending no later than one year after the filing deadline. The period can extend to three years where at least 50% of the estate consists of qualifying illiquid assets.

Article 404 A sets the schedule in more precise terms. It says: “Les versements, à intervalle de six mois au plus, ne peuvent être supérieurs à trois.” In the ordinary case, the first payment is made under Article 402, with the last payment no later than one year after the deadline for filing the declaration. If at least half of the estate is made up of the non-liquid assets listed by the provision, the maximum period becomes three years and the number of payments can rise to seven. The list includes immovable property, an unlisted business, non-listed shares, certain receivables, intellectual-property rights, agricultural assets and works of art or collections. Having a house in France is not enough by itself: the 50% composition test and the precise valuation must be shown.

The link to Article 404 A of the General Tax Code is useful when the notary offers a vague “payment over several years”. A British heir needs to know whether the proposed timeline is the normal three-payment arrangement or the exceptional seven-payment arrangement. The number of instalments also affects the guarantee, the interest budget and the agreement between co-heirs. The maximum statutory timetable is not necessarily the timetable the public accountant will accept if the guarantee is incomplete or the estate’s composition is incorrectly described.

Deferred payment is narrower. Article 397 covers transfers involving bare ownership, a preferential allocation or the surviving spouse’s life rights in specified circumstances. Bare ownership means ownership without the present right to use or enjoy the asset; the person with the current enjoyment is the usufructuary. In a bare-ownership transfer, the duty may be calculated on the taxable value of the bare ownership and paid later when the usufruct ends or the bare ownership is sold, subject to the statutory limit. Article 404 B links the credit to the defined event and provides that payment can be deferred for no more than six months after the relevant reunion, sale or deadline.

Article 404 B also contains an important choice. In the relevant bare-ownership case, the beneficiary may choose taxation on the full ownership value at the opening of the succession, with a possible exemption from interest, rather than taxation on the bare-ownership value with interest under the deferred-credit route. That choice should not be made casually. In Cass. com., 13 March 2024, no. 22-16.190, the Commercial Chamber stated that the choice “implique un choix irrévocable du contribuable”. The case number is important: an election that looks cheaper on the first calculation may affect the later tax base and cannot simply be reversed when the property is sold.

Interest is part of the price of time. Article 401 of the General Tax Code uses a statutory formula based on the average effective fixed-rate consumer mortgage rate in the fourth quarter of the preceding year, reduced by one third, with only the first decimal retained. The provision says: “Ce taux est applicable pendant toute la durée du crédit.” The current tax authority page states that a 2% rate applies to requests made from 1 January 2026. That rate is not a permanent promise for future applications. The date of the request and the current administrative information should be recorded in the file. Interest is generally added to each fraction for fractioned payment and paid annually in a deferred-payment arrangement.

This cost is different from late-payment interest and penalties. Article 398 of the General Tax Code limits the payment credit to the principal and excludes penalties arising from an insufficiency or omission. Article 1727 separately provides: “Le taux de l’intérêt de retard est de 0,20 % par mois.” A late declaration can generate a separate surcharge under Article 1728, even if the underlying duty later receives a payment credit. The correct strategy is to file the declaration and credit request on time, not to wait for a sale and then ask the tax office to overlook the delay.

Article 402 confirms the cash-flow point: “Leur paiement doit intervenir dans le mois suivant chaque échéance.” It also requires the first fraction at the registration or merged registration formality, subject to the specific deferred-payment exception. A simple illustration makes the mechanics clearer. If the accepted principal is €120,000 and the estate qualifies for three equal fractions, the principal component is €40,000 at each scheduled date, plus the interest calculated under the applicable rule. That example says nothing about eligibility, treaty relief or the family’s ability to provide security. It simply shows why the request must be made before the declaration is submitted.

Treaty relief changes the final tax burden, not the existence of a French procedural timetable. Suppose the same asset is considered in both the French and UK death-tax calculations. A credit or exemption under the convention may reduce double taxation, but the French office may still require the French declaration, payment schedule and guarantee before issuing evidence of French discharge. The UK executor may need the French payment record to support the HMRC credit. If the French duty is paid over three years, the family should ask both advisers how the credit is claimed and whether an interim certificate or alternative evidence is available.

Finally, do not confuse this article’s payment question with a property purchase. A UK buyer acquiring a French house faces a separate acquisition process, not an inheritance-tax instalment request. A family considering an SCI, meaning a French civil real-estate company, faces a separate ownership and tax analysis. Those structures can change the assets in a future estate, but they do not repair a late succession declaration or automatically secure credit for a duty that is already due.

II. How should a UK heir apply, secure and challenge the payment plan?

A. What documents, guarantees and deadlines must be prepared?

The safest application is built backwards from the French declaration deadline. The exact deadline depends on where the death occurred and on the estate’s facts; a death in France and a death abroad do not follow the same timetable. The notary or tax adviser should confirm the deadline in writing, including any special rule for a death outside France. The official impots.gouv.fr payment guidance should be read alongside the current declaration instructions. A UK heir should not treat the UK grant of probate date as the French filing deadline.

The working file should contain at least:

• the death certificate and civil-status documents proving the relationship with the deceased;
• the will, any codicil, any lifetime-gift records and documents showing an election under the succession law;
• the notary’s inventory of assets and liabilities, with a separate schedule for France-situs and UK-situs assets;
• title documents, valuation evidence and mortgage balances for French and UK real estate;
• bank, brokerage, business-share, pension, life-insurance and digital-asset statements at the date of death;
• evidence of debts, funeral costs, loans, unpaid tax and prior gifts that affect the French calculation;
• the UK probate papers, an apostille where one is required, and sworn French translations for documents the French office cannot accept in English;
• evidence of tax paid or payable in the UK and the correspondence needed for the France–UK convention claim; and
• a liquidity schedule showing the cash available now, the assets that cannot be sold immediately and the date on which each source of funds is expected.

The request should be expressed as a request for crédit de paiement fractionné or crédit de paiement différé, not merely as a letter saying that the family cannot pay. Article 399 of the General Tax Code requires the request to be made with the declaration, attached to it or through the permitted electronic route, and to contain an offer of sufficient guarantees. The application should identify the legal mechanism, the proposed number and dates of payments, the principal amount, the treatment of interest, the assets offered as security and the person responsible for each payment. A copy should be sent to every co-heir and retained with proof of delivery.

The guarantee is often the decisive point for a UK heir. Article 400 provides that guarantees may include real security with a value at least equal to the sums whose payment is postponed, or a joint and several undertaking by an accepted surety. Its official wording begins: “Les garanties peuvent notamment consister en des sûretés réelles”. The current Article 400 text also permits the public accountant to require additional security and to ask for updated information about the asset supporting the guarantee.

Possible security can include a mortgage or other real right over an acceptable property, a pledge of qualifying assets, a bank guarantee or a solvent surety. A British-owned property is not automatically acceptable merely because its market value exceeds the tax. The French accountant may need a current valuation, title evidence, existing charges, insurance information, proof of the owner’s capacity and a route for enforcement. A UK bank guarantee may need specific wording, an appropriate term and confirmation that the institution will honour the obligation in France. The family should ask the notary or tax adviser to obtain written confirmation that the proposed security is capable of being accepted before relying on it.

Article 404 A can sometimes permit a legal mortgage specifically in the context of the fractioning covered by the provision. That does not mean that every French or UK asset can be substituted into the guarantee at the family’s preferred value. The amount secured should cover the principal still outstanding and the applicable interest or ancillary amounts required by the office. If the estate includes a French property, provide a recent valuation and the land-register or title information. If it includes unlisted UK shares or a family business, provide accounts, transfer restrictions, shareholder agreements and an explanation of why the asset qualifies as illiquid. If a portfolio is offered, show custody, ownership, market value and the expected value movement.

The notary’s advice should be documented. In Cass. 1re civ., 8 December 2009, nos 08-16.495 and 08-17.406, the First Civil Chamber examined a succession in which clients had chosen fractioned payment and a bank guarantee. The judgment states that the notary “n’a pas à répondre, pour le fractionnement du paiement des droits de succession choisi par ses clients et garanti par une caution bancaire” for accepted financial risks unrelated to a defect in the guarantee. The lesson for a British family is practical: the notary must explain the mechanism and its risks, but a payment credit does not insure the estate against a fall in the value of the securities used as security.

That duty to explain should not be confused with a promise that the request will be accepted. In Cass. 1re civ., 8 December 2021, no. 20-20.284, the court repeated the rule: “la preuve de l’exécution de son obligation d’information et de conseil incombe au notaire.” Keep the notary’s advice, the calculation, the guarantee proposal, the office’s questions and the final decision. If the family later argues that the available election, interest or guarantee risk was not explained, the contemporaneous file will matter.

The UK side needs the same discipline. HMRC’s guidance on someone living outside the UK warns that foreign assets, pensions and treaty relief can involve different rules, and that a treaty claim depends on which country taxes the same asset. The GOV.UK guidance for a death involving someone outside the UK should be placed in the UK executor’s checklist. Ask HMRC or the UK adviser what evidence will be needed once the French schedule is approved. A French Certificat d’Acquittement may only be issued after the relevant French tax has been paid, so the installment plan and the UK credit timetable should be coordinated rather than treated as separate projects.

Before filing, calculate three numbers separately: the French principal after allowances and treaty adjustments, the interest cost of the proposed credit and the cash needed for the first payment and the guarantee. Then run a stress test. What happens if a UK investment cannot be sold for six months? What happens if a co-heir refuses to sign? What happens if the French property valuation is reduced? What happens if the exchange rate moves between a sterling sale and a euro instalment? A plan that works only at the best exchange rate is not a reliable plan.

B. What happens if the tax office refuses, a co-heir disagrees or an instalment is missed?

A refusal should be obtained in writing. The family needs the decision date, the legal basis, the missing document or guarantee, the calculation used by the office and the time allowed for a response. A verbal statement that “the tax office does not accept UK assets” is not a sufficient record. Ask the service de l’enregistrement to specify whether the problem is the type of credit, the declaration, the value of the estate, the guarantee, the number of payments or a treaty point. Correcting one defect may be faster than launching a dispute about the entire succession.

There are two distinct disputes. The first concerns the tax itself: the taxable assets, deductions, relationship, valuation or treaty credit. The second concerns access to payment credit: whether the statutory conditions were met and whether the security is sufficient. Article 1701 means that contesting the amount does not, by itself, authorise the heir to defer the payment. Article 398 means that a payment credit cannot be used to spread penalties arising from an omission or under-declaration. The correspondence should therefore say precisely which part is accepted, which part is challenged and what payment is being made without waiving the claim.

If the public accountant asks for extra security, respond by the deadline with a revised valuation, a substitute asset, a bank commitment or a written explanation of why the requested addition is disproportionate. Article 400 expressly allows a request for additional guarantees when the existing security no longer appears sufficient. Do not allow a guarantee to expire while the family is negotiating. A replacement should be agreed before the original guarantee is released. If an asset offered as security is sold, transferred or materially reduced in value, obtain tax advice before completing the transaction.

A co-heir’s disagreement is a separate family-governance risk. Article 1709’s solidarity means that the tax authority may look beyond the private arrangement. The co-heirs should sign a funding agreement stating the share of principal, interest, bank charges, guarantee costs, exchange-rate risk and any indemnity if one person pays more than their economic share. The agreement should also address an heir who lives in the UK, an heir who holds the French property and an heir who receives cash or securities. A private agreement cannot alter the tax authority’s rights, but it can reduce the later contribution dispute between family members.

Each scheduled date should be diarised with a margin. Article 402 states that payment must occur within the month following each due date, but the family should not treat that period as permission to delay. Arrange the euro funds in advance, confirm the bank’s transfer limits, check the payment reference and obtain a receipt. If a transfer from the UK will arrive late, contact the office before the due date and ask what temporary measure is available. A telephone call should be followed by a dated written message. Keep evidence of the transfer instruction, the value date, the receipt and any exchange conversion.

If an instalment is missed, act immediately. Do not wait for a reminder, the sale of the French house or the next family meeting. Ask the public accountant whether the credit remains in force, what additional interest or penalty is claimed and what amount must be paid to regularise the schedule. The rules contain circumstances in which the benefit of a credit can be lost and outstanding duties can become immediately enforceable. The exact consequence depends on the credit, the default and the wording of the decision, so a British heir should obtain a written calculation rather than assume that paying the missed fraction alone cures the problem.

Article 1727 is relevant to the cost of delay because it states: “Le taux de l’intérêt de retard est de 0,20 % par mois.” Article 1731 may add a surcharge in the cases covered by that provision. Those amounts are not the same as the contractual interest of an accepted payment credit. The application should therefore distinguish credit interest, late-payment interest and a tax penalty in three lines. A vague demand for “interest” is not enough to review the bill.

A refusal or a disputed calculation can be challenged, but the route depends on the decision and the relief sought. A written request for review to the competent tax office may be appropriate for a missing document or guarantee. A formal tax claim may be needed for the amount or treaty relief. A court application may then be considered under the applicable procedural rules and jurisdiction. The limitation period, the competent court and the effect of any payment should be checked from the actual decision and the estate documents. A family should not copy a generic French tax appeal simply because it appears online; a payment-credit refusal and an assessment dispute are not necessarily the same proceeding.

The evidence needed for a challenge is concrete: the filed declaration, proof of timely filing, the credit request, proof of the first payment, the proposed and accepted guarantees, valuations, the office’s questions, the decision, the treaty documents, bank records and the notary’s advice. If the issue is the UK–France allocation, keep both the French and UK calculations and identify the same asset in each. If the issue is a French property value, keep the valuation date, method, comparable evidence and any later sale price. If the issue is the notary’s advice, preserve the written explanation and the question asked before the election was made.

The final check is strategic. If the estate has the cash to pay without damaging the family, early payment may reduce credit interest; Article 404 permits debts benefiting from the credit to be paid in advance, with interest stopping at payment. If the estate is genuinely asset-rich but cash-poor, a properly secured instalment request may prevent a forced sale. If the estate is exposed to both French and UK death taxes, treaty evidence may be as important as the payment schedule. The best route is the one that protects the filing deadline, keeps the guarantee credible, preserves the UK relief claim and gives every heir a documented timetable.

Conclusion

A UK heir can, in the right case, pay French inheritance tax in instalments after Brexit. The route is not based on nationality or financial difficulty alone. It depends on the French tax liability, the statutory fractioned or deferred-payment mechanism, a timely declaration, an acceptable guarantee and the ability to meet every scheduled payment. The ordinary fractioned route generally works through equal payments, with a longer timetable only where the estate satisfies the illiquid-asset test. Deferred payment is narrower and can involve an irreversible election about the value used for taxation and the interest cost.

The cross-border element must be handled at the same time. Article 750 ter determines the French starting point; the 1963 France–UK estate convention may prevent double taxation or provide a credit; HMRC will expect evidence; and a French discharge certificate may depend on actual payments. Keep the French principal, credit interest, late-payment interest and penalties separate. If the office refuses or a payment is missed, obtain a written decision, protect the tax claim and ask for a solution before the credit is withdrawn.

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For related cross-border succession issues, see the French inheritance and wealth-law practice page, how a UK heir can recover overpaid French inheritance tax and the UK executor and French notary document process.