{"id":2118695,"date":"2026-09-10T06:11:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T04:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T06:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T04:11:52","slug":"british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The letter is rarely labelled in English. It arrives as an <em>avis d&#8217;imp\u00f4t<\/em> (a tax notice) or as a <em>proposition de rectification<\/em> (a proposed reassessment), and the heading that matters is IFI \u2014 <em>imp\u00f4t sur la fortune immobili\u00e8re<\/em>, France&#8217;s annual tax on net real-estate wealth. It is not council tax, not <em>taxe fonci\u00e8re<\/em> (the local property tax on the building), and not UK inheritance tax. It is a yearly charge on the market value of real-estate assets, after certain debts, once that net value on 1 January exceeds \u20ac1,300,000. British owners meet it in two typical situations: a UK-resident family with a valuable French house, ch\u00e2teau or set of <em>SCI<\/em> shares (<em>soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile immobili\u00e8re<\/em>, a French civil real-estate company); or a household that has moved to France after Brexit and suddenly finds that a UK home, a French home and the shares in a family company are added together.<\/p>\n<p>Brexit did not repeal IFI. The France\u2013UK double tax treaty signed in London on 19 June 2008 is a convention on taxes on income and on capital gains. In Article 2 it lists, for the United Kingdom, income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax, and for France income tax, corporation tax, the social contribution on corporation tax, payroll tax, CSG and CRDS. It does not list a wealth tax. A British passport, a Withdrawal Agreement residence card, or a visitor card does not, by itself, take a French house out of the IFI net. What changes the bill is tax residence, the five-year inbound rule for new French residents, the way shares and usufruct (<em>usufruit<\/em>, the right to use the property and take its fruits) are valued, and the debts the statute actually allows you to deduct. This note is for the British owner or resident who has to decide whether to file form 2042-IFI, who has received a bill that looks too high, or who has been told that a family loan or an <em>SCI<\/em> current account cannot be deducted. Buying the house, and incorporating a trading company, sit outside this note; the person, the French tax home, the declaration and the challenge do not.<\/p>\n<h2>I. Do I have to pay French IFI after Brexit as a British owner?<\/h2>\n<h3>A. Who is taxed: French tax residents, new arrivals from the UK, and owners who still live in Britain<\/h3>\n<p>French law draws a hard line between people who have their tax home in France and people who do not. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036384999\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036384999\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 964 of the code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts<\/a> (CGI, the French tax code) creates the tax in these terms: \u00ab Il est institu\u00e9 un imp\u00f4t annuel sur les actifs immobiliers d\u00e9sign\u00e9 sous le nom d&#8217;imp\u00f4t sur la fortune immobili\u00e8re. Sont soumises \u00e0 cet imp\u00f4t, lorsque la valeur de leurs actifs mentionn\u00e9s \u00e0 l&#8217;article 965 est sup\u00e9rieure \u00e0 1 300 000 \u20ac : 1\u00b0 Les personnes physiques ayant leur domicile fiscal en France, \u00e0 raison de leurs actifs mentionn\u00e9s au m\u00eame article 965 situ\u00e9s en France ou hors de France. \u00bb In plain English: if you are a French tax resident and the net real-estate assets listed in article 965 exceed \u20ac1,300,000 on 1 January, France taxes those assets wherever they sit \u2014 including a house in Devon, a London flat, and a French farmhouse.<\/p>\n<p>The same <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036384999\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036384999\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article 964 of the CGI<\/a> then carves out people who do not have their French tax home in France: \u00ab 2\u00b0 Les personnes physiques n&#8217;ayant pas leur domicile fiscal en France, \u00e0 raison des biens et droits immobiliers mentionn\u00e9s au 1\u00b0 de l&#8217;article 965 situ\u00e9s en France et des parts ou actions de soci\u00e9t\u00e9s ou organismes mentionn\u00e9s au 2\u00b0 du m\u00eame article 965 , \u00e0 hauteur de la fraction de leur valeur repr\u00e9sentative de ces m\u00eames biens et droits immobiliers. \u00bb A British owner who remains tax-resident in the UK is therefore taxed only on French-situs real estate and on the real-estate fraction of company shares, not on the UK home. The French tax administration says the same thing on its non-resident pages: a person living outside France is taxable on IFI only in respect of real-estate assets and rights located in France and on shares to the extent they represent French property, if the household&#8217;s net taxable real-estate wealth exceeds \u20ac1.3 million. That is the rule that catches a second-home owner in Dordogne, a Paris apartment held through an <em>SCI<\/em>, or a family ch\u00e2teau whose shares have been split among siblings.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you are a French tax resident is not a matter of taste, nor of the sticker in your passport. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000051202565\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000051202565\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 4 B of the CGI<\/a> states: \u00ab 1. Sont consid\u00e9r\u00e9es comme ayant leur domicile fiscal en France au sens de l&#8217;article 4 A : a. Les personnes qui ont en France leur foyer ou le lieu de leur s\u00e9jour principal ; b. Celles qui exercent en France une activit\u00e9 professionnelle, salari\u00e9e ou non, \u00e0 moins qu&#8217;elles ne justifient que cette activit\u00e9 y est exerc\u00e9e \u00e0 titre accessoire ; \u00bb and, under c, those who have in France \u00ab le centre de leurs int\u00e9r\u00eats \u00e9conomiques \u00bb. One criterion is enough. The same article then bows to treaties: \u00ab Les personnes qui satisfont \u00e0 l&#8217;un au moins des crit\u00e8res fix\u00e9s aux a \u00e0 c du pr\u00e9sent 1 ne peuvent toutefois pas \u00eatre consid\u00e9r\u00e9es comme ayant leur domicile fiscal en France lorsque, par application des conventions internationales relatives aux doubles impositions, elles ne sont pas regard\u00e9es comme r\u00e9sidentes de France. \u00bb The 2008 treaty can therefore decide that you are a UK resident for income tax even if French domestic law would have treated you as French. That treaty fight is a residence fight. It does not, by itself, switch IFI off, because IFI is not one of the taxes listed in Article 2 of the convention.<\/p>\n<p>Article 2 of that 2008 convention is built as a list of taxes on income and on capital gains. The United Kingdom side names income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax. The French side names income tax, corporation tax, the social contribution on corporation tax, payroll tax, CSG and CRDS. There is no French wealth tax in that list, and no UK equivalent. A British owner who writes to HMRC or to the <em>service des imp\u00f4ts<\/em> (the local tax office) saying \u201cthe treaty prevents double taxation of my house\u201d is answering the wrong question. The UK does not levy a yearly wealth tax on the French cottage. France does. There is, in the ordinary case, nothing for the treaty credit to bite on.<\/p>\n<p>New arrivals get a temporary territorial limit, and it is one of the few Brexit-era moving points that still works in the taxpayer&#8217;s favour. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036384999\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036384999\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 964 of the CGI<\/a> goes on: \u00ab Toutefois, les personnes physiques mentionn\u00e9es au premier alin\u00e9a du pr\u00e9sent 1\u00b0 qui n&#8217;ont pas \u00e9t\u00e9 fiscalement domicili\u00e9es en France au cours des cinq ann\u00e9es civiles pr\u00e9c\u00e9dant celle au cours de laquelle elles ont leur domicile fiscal en France ne sont imposables qu&#8217;\u00e0 raison des actifs mentionn\u00e9s au 2\u00b0. \u00bb If you transfer your tax home to France after five full calendar years of being tax-resident abroad, France taxes you, for IFI, only on French-situs real estate and on the French-property fraction of shares, until 31 December of the fifth year after the year in which the French tax home was established. A British couple who leave London in 2026, become French tax residents that year, and still own a UK house, do not add the UK house to the IFI base during that inbound window. They do add the French house, the French <em>SCI<\/em> shares, and any other French real-estate rights. Service-public.fr, checked on 6 March 2026, repeats the same inbound rule for readers who have just transferred their tax home to France.<\/p>\n<p>The household is wider than many British couples expect. Article 964 provides that, except in the cases in article 6(4)(a) and (b) of the CGI, married couples are taxed jointly, as are partners bound by a <em>pacte civil de solidarit\u00e9<\/em> (PACS, the French civil partnership). Service-public.fr adds that the IFI household also includes a couple living together without marriage or PACS, and the real-estate of minor children whose legal administration you hold. A British husband who has moved to France while his wife remains in Kent can therefore find that the administration tries to join assets, or that a PACS signed in France pulls both estates into one IFI return. That is a residence-and-household question, not a nationality question; it is the same issue we have already mapped for <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/03\/british-couples-france-uk-tax-residence-proof-brexit\/\">British couples split between France and the UK who must prove tax residence after Brexit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Non-residents have a further, practical Brexit sting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385057\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385057\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 983 of the CGI<\/a> provides: \u00ab Les personnes poss\u00e9dant des actifs mentionn\u00e9s \u00e0 l&#8217;article 965 situ\u00e9s en France sans y avoir leur domicile fiscal ainsi que les personnes mentionn\u00e9es au 2 de l&#8217;article 4 B peuvent \u00eatre invit\u00e9es par le service des imp\u00f4ts \u00e0 d\u00e9signer un repr\u00e9sentant en France dans les conditions pr\u00e9vues \u00e0 l&#8217;article 164 D . \u00bb The exemption from that invitation is written for residents of another EU Member State or of an EEA State that has signed both an administrative-assistance convention and a mutual-recovery convention with France. The United Kingdom is no longer in that list. A UK-resident owner of a French house can therefore be asked to appoint a <em>repr\u00e9sentant fiscal<\/em> (a fiscal representative in France). That is not a tax in itself; it is a channel of notification. Ignoring the invitation is how deadlines are missed.<\/p>\n<p>In Paris and the rest of \u00cele-de-France the file does not travel to a \u201cBritish desk\u201d. A UK-resident owner files with the <em>Direction des Imp\u00f4ts des Non-R\u00e9sidents<\/em> (DINR, the tax office for non-residents), SIPNR, 10 rue du Centre, TSA 10010, 93465 Noisy-le-Grand CEDEX, which is the address given by impots.gouv.fr for paper IFI returns of non-residents. A British resident who lives in Paris files with the <em>service des imp\u00f4ts des particuliers<\/em> for the arrondissement of the tax home, in the same spring campaign as the income-tax return. Reassessments of IFI in the Paris region are often handled by the regional public-finance directorate&#8217;s judicial-tax unit; when the dispute later reaches a court, the Paris cases visible in the open case-law are heard by the <em>tribunal judiciaire de Paris<\/em>, 9th chamber. The pieces to have on the table before you write are the 1 January valuation, the loan statements, the <em>SCI<\/em> accounts, and the residence evidence \u2014 not a print-out of the treaty.<\/p>\n<h3>B. What goes into the IFI base: the French house, SCI shares, usufruct, trusts and the 30% main-home abatement<\/h3>\n<p>The base is a net value on 1 January, not a running average and not the price you paid in 2004. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385003\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385003\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 965 of the CGI<\/a> opens: \u00ab L&#8217;assiette de l&#8217;imp\u00f4t sur la fortune immobili\u00e8re est constitu\u00e9e par la valeur nette au 1er janvier de l&#8217;ann\u00e9e : 1\u00b0 De l&#8217;ensemble des biens et droits immobiliers appartenant aux personnes mentionn\u00e9es \u00e0 l&#8217;article 964 ainsi qu&#8217;\u00e0 leurs enfants mineurs, lorsqu&#8217;elles ont l&#8217;administration l\u00e9gale des biens de ceux-ci ; 2\u00b0 Des parts ou actions des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s et organismes \u00e9tablis en France ou hors de France appartenant aux personnes mentionn\u00e9es au 1\u00b0 du pr\u00e9sent article, \u00e0 hauteur de la fraction de leur valeur repr\u00e9sentative de biens ou droits immobiliers d\u00e9tenus directement ou indirectement par la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 ou l&#8217;organisme. \u00bb Direct ownership of a house, a flat, land, a building plot, a property under construction, an usufruct or a right of habitation sits in 1\u00b0. Shares sit in 2\u00b0, whether the company is French or foreign, but only for the fraction that represents real estate.<\/p>\n<p>That fraction is why a holiday-home <em>SCI<\/em> does not take the house out of IFI. Article 965 tells you to apply to the value of the shares, determined under article 973, a coefficient equal to the ratio of the market value of the taxable real-estate assets (and of shares representing those assets) to the market value of all the company&#8217;s assets. <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/09\/british-family-france-sci-holiday-home-shares-tax-challenge-brexit\/\">A British family that holds a French holiday home through an SCI<\/a> is therefore still looking at IFI on the real-estate fraction of those shares. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385005\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385005\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 966 of the CGI<\/a> stops the usual \u201ctrading company\u201d escape: \u00ab I.-Pour l&#8217;application de l&#8217;article 965 , n&#8217;est pas consid\u00e9r\u00e9e comme une activit\u00e9 industrielle, commerciale, artisanale, agricole ou lib\u00e9rale l&#8217;exercice par une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 ou un organisme d&#8217;une activit\u00e9 de gestion de son propre patrimoine immobilier. \u00bb A company whose activity is managing its own property portfolio is not, for this purpose, carrying on a commercial activity. A family <em>SCI<\/em> that owns the cottage and collects a few weeks of rent is in the IFI base. A company that actually runs an industrial, commercial, craft, agricultural or professional business can keep its operating premises out, under the professional-asset exemption in article 975, but that exemption is about the activity, not about the passport of the shareholder.<\/p>\n<p>Usufruct is the other trap in Franco-British families. After a death, a British widow is often advised to take a French usufruct of the family home while the children take the <em>nue-propri\u00e9t\u00e9<\/em> (bare ownership). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385009\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385009\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 968 of the CGI<\/a> starts from a severe default: \u00ab Les actifs mentionn\u00e9s \u00e0 l&#8217;article 965 grev\u00e9s d&#8217;un usufruit, d&#8217;un droit d&#8217;habitation ou d&#8217;un droit d&#8217;usage accord\u00e9 \u00e0 titre personnel sont compris dans le patrimoine de l&#8217;usufruitier ou du titulaire du droit pour leur valeur en pleine propri\u00e9t\u00e9. \u00bb The usufructuary is taxed on the full freehold value, not on a slice. The article then allows a split according to the age scale in article 669 only in listed cases \u2014 including an usufruct that arises under the surviving-spouse rights in the Civil Code, provided the right has not been sold or given away. A homemade split, or a reserved usufruct on a sale to the children that does not fit those cases, can leave the parent taxed on 100% while the children are also in the picture. That is a valuation fight, and it is not solved by an English will.<\/p>\n<p>UK trusts are not invisible. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385015\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385015\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 970 of the CGI<\/a> provides: \u00ab Les actifs mentionn\u00e9s \u00e0 l&#8217;article 965 plac\u00e9s dans un trust d\u00e9fini \u00e0 l&#8217;article 792-0 bis sont compris, pour leur valeur v\u00e9nale nette au 1er janvier de l&#8217;ann\u00e9e d&#8217;imposition, selon le cas, dans le patrimoine du constituant ou dans celui du b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaire qui est r\u00e9put\u00e9 \u00eatre un constituant en application du II du m\u00eame article 792-0 bis. \u00bb Real estate, or shares representing real estate, sitting in a UK trust can be pulled into the settlor&#8217;s IFI base, or into the base of a beneficiary who is treated as a settlor. The limited exception for irrevocable trusts whose exclusive beneficiaries are bodies of the kind listed in articles 795 and 795-0 A is not a family-trust escape. A British resident in France who still has a UK family trust holding a French farm, or shares in a company that holds one, needs the trust mapped for IFI as well as for the separate trust-reporting rules we have already set out for <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/08\/british-resident-france-uk-trust-declare-tax-succession-brexit\/\">British residents who must declare a UK trust in France<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The main home, if you are a French tax resident occupying it as your <em>r\u00e9sidence principale<\/em> (principal residence), is not exempt. It is abated. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000048806768\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000048806768\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 973 of the CGI<\/a> states: \u00ab Par d\u00e9rogation au deuxi\u00e8me alin\u00e9a de l&#8217;article 761 , un abattement de 30 % est effectu\u00e9 sur la valeur v\u00e9nale r\u00e9elle de l&#8217;immeuble lorsque celui-ci est occup\u00e9 \u00e0 titre de r\u00e9sidence principale par son propri\u00e9taire. En cas d&#8217;imposition commune, un seul immeuble est susceptible de b\u00e9n\u00e9ficier de l&#8217;abattement pr\u00e9cit\u00e9. \u00bb Service-public.fr, verified on 6 March 2026, repeats that the 30% abatement applies to the market value on 1 January 2026. A British retiree who has made the French house the family home can therefore declare 70% of that house. A UK-resident owner of a second home cannot. A couple cannot abate two homes. The abatement is also not a licence to invent a low value: article 973 I says that IFI assets are valued according to the rules for inheritance-tax valuations, and service-public.fr describes <em>valeur v\u00e9nale r\u00e9elle<\/em> as the price at which the property could have been sold on the market on 1 January.<\/p>\n<p>That 30% figure is where many bills go wrong in both directions. Owners forget it and overpay. The administration denies it because the occupant is a company, a child, or a tenant, or because the household already claimed it on another building. The open case-law on IFI is still thinner than the old ISF case-law, but first-instance courts are now applying articles 965 and 973 to live files. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courdecassation.fr\/decision\/68b8a14cd5a46e9090b17d8d\">tribunal judiciaire de Compi\u00e8gne, in its judgment of 2 September 2025, RG n\u00b0 24\/00911<\/a>, had before it a proposed IFI reassessment for 2020 and 2021 on <em>SCI<\/em> shares. The administration relied on article 973 II, which the court recorded as the \u00ab clause anti-abus \u00bb excluding certain debts from the valuation of shares. The court quoted article 965 in full on the net value at 1 January and on the real-estate fraction of shares, then applied the debt rules. That is the litigation posture a British family with an <em>SCI<\/em> should expect: not a debate about nationality, but a debate about 1 January value, the coefficient, and which debts still exist.<\/p>\n<h2>II. How do I calculate IFI, file the return and challenge a bill that looks wrong?<\/h2>\n<h3>A. How the tax is calculated, which debts you can deduct, and which 2042-IFI return you actually file<\/h3>\n<p>Once the net taxable value on 1 January is above \u20ac1,300,000, the scale does not start at \u20ac1,300,000. It starts at \u20ac800,000. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385041\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385041\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 977 of the CGI<\/a> fixes the tariff: the slice not exceeding \u20ac800,000 is taxed at 0%; the slice above \u20ac800,000 and up to \u20ac1,300,000 at 0.50%; above \u20ac1,300,000 and up to \u20ac2,570,000 at 0.70%; above \u20ac2,570,000 and up to \u20ac5,000,000 at 1%; above \u20ac5,000,000 and up to \u20ac10,000,000 at 1.25%; above \u20ac10,000,000 at 1.50%. Service-public.fr&#8217;s 2026 table matches that scale and adds the warning: you are subject to IFI when the net taxable value of non-professional real-estate wealth exceeds \u20ac1,300,000 on 1 January 2026, but in that case the tax is computed from \u20ac800,000. A household at \u20ac1,290,000 pays nothing. A household at \u20ac1,310,000 pays on the slice from \u20ac800,000.<\/p>\n<p>There is a smoothing rule at the threshold. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385041\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385041\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 977 of the CGI<\/a> also provides: \u00ab Pour les redevables dont le patrimoine imposable a une valeur nette taxable \u00e9gale ou sup\u00e9rieure \u00e0 1 300 000 \u20ac et inf\u00e9rieure \u00e0 1 400 000 \u20ac, le montant de l&#8217;imp\u00f4t calcul\u00e9 selon le tarif pr\u00e9vu au tableau du 1 est r\u00e9duit d&#8217;une somme \u00e9gale \u00e0 17 500 \u20ac-1,25 % P, o\u00f9 P est la valeur nette taxable du patrimoine. \u00bb Service-public.fr works an example at \u20ac1,350,000 on 1 January 2026: gross IFI \u20ac2,850, abatement \u20ac625, tax due \u20ac2,225. That is not a British-only concession. It is the statutory d\u00e9cote, and it is worth checking on any notice that has just crossed \u20ac1.3 million after a French renovation or a jump in local prices.<\/p>\n<p>Debts are where British files are most often rebuilt by the administration. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000037988599\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000037988599\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 974 of the CGI<\/a> allows deduction only of debts that exist on 1 January, contracted by a person mentioned in article 965-1\u00b0, actually borne by that person, and related to taxable assets: \u00ab I.-Sont d\u00e9ductibles de la valeur des biens ou droits immobiliers et des parts ou actions taxables les dettes, existantes au 1er janvier de l&#8217;ann\u00e9e d&#8217;imposition, contract\u00e9es par l&#8217;une des personnes mentionn\u00e9es au 1\u00b0 de l&#8217;article 965 et effectivement support\u00e9es par celle-ci, aff\u00e9rentes \u00e0 des actifs imposables et, le cas \u00e9ch\u00e9ant, \u00e0 proportion de la fraction de leur valeur imposable : 1\u00b0 Aff\u00e9rentes \u00e0 des d\u00e9penses d&#8217;acquisition de biens ou droits immobiliers ; \u00bb then repair and maintenance costs, improvement, construction, reconstruction or enlargement, taxes that fall on the owner rather than the occupier, and the cost of acquiring taxable shares in proportion to the real-estate fraction. Taxe fonci\u00e8re can therefore come in; <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/05\/french-taxe-fonciere-british-owner-challenge-property-tax-brexit\/\">a disputed taxe fonci\u00e8re bill<\/a> is a different tax, but the amount due as owner can be an IFI debt. Occupier&#8217;s taxes, including the remaining <em>taxe d&#8217;habitation<\/em> on a second home, are not IFI debts. Income tax on rental income is not an IFI debt.<\/p>\n<p>Bullet loans and loans with no term are written down by formula. Article 974 II provides that a loan whose capital is repayable at the end of the contract is deductible each year only for the original capital reduced by that capital multiplied by the number of years already elapsed and divided by the total term. A loan with no repayment date for the capital is written down by one-twentieth for each year since the funds were advanced. A British interest-only mortgage that looked fully deductible on day one is therefore not fully deductible in year ten. Family loans are narrower still. Article 974 III shuts out loans contracted, directly or through companies, from the taxpayer, the spouse, the PACS partner or the cohabitee, or from their minor children; loans from other ascendants, descendants, brothers or sisters are shut out unless the taxpayer proves that the terms are normal, including actual repayments on time. Loans from a company the family controls are shut out on the same \u201cnormal terms\u201d test. Article 974 IV then clips large files: where the market value of the taxable assets exceeds \u20ac5 million and deductible debts exceed 60% of that value, the excess debts are only half deductible, unless the taxpayer shows that they were not contracted with a mainly fiscal objective.<\/p>\n<p>Inside an <em>SCI<\/em>, article 973 II is the companion anti-avoidance rule. It disregards, when valuing the shares, debts contracted by the company to acquire a taxable asset for a person who controls the company, and debts contracted from such a person, in the cases it lists. That was the provision at stake in Compi\u00e8gne. The tribunal recorded that the taxpayers held all the shares in SCI THINIPRO, that the company had acquired property belonging to them, and that the financing included shareholders&#8217; current-account contributions rather than a bank loan. The administration treated the debt as caught. The court looked at the wider estate-planning operation, including a later <em>donation-partage<\/em> (a notarised gift-and-division) of 1 June 2022, the husband&#8217;s health, and the couple&#8217;s stated wish, as former farmers, to rebalance the spouses&#8217; estates and keep some liquidity for retirement. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courdecassation.fr\/decision\/68b8a14cd5a46e9090b17d8d\">tribunal judiciaire de Compi\u00e8gne, in the same judgment of 2 September 2025, RG n\u00b0 24\/00911<\/a>, then held: \u00ab Compar\u00e9 \u00e0 la charge fiscale \u00e9conomis\u00e9e au titre de l&#8217;IFI, le co\u00fbt de ces op\u00e9rations et les avantages recherch\u00e9s permettent de consid\u00e9rer que le redevable a apport\u00e9 la d\u00e9monstration que l&#8217;objectif principalement recherch\u00e9 n&#8217;\u00e9tait pas principalement fiscal au sens des dispositions cit\u00e9es ci-dessus. \u00bb The court granted extra relief of \u20ac5,965 of IFI for 2020 and \u20ac5,918 for 2021, plus late-payment interest. The lesson for a British <em>SCI<\/em> is not that current-account funding always survives. It is that the statute asks for a mainly non-fiscal purpose, evidenced in time, and that a first-instance court will weigh the notarial file against the tax saved.<\/p>\n<p>French tax residents can also cap the bill against income. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000037993664\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000037993664\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 979 of the CGI<\/a> reduces IFI, for a person with a French tax home, by the excess of (IFI plus income taxes due in France and abroad on the previous year&#8217;s income) over 75% of world income of the previous year, with the additions the article then makes. The Conseil d&#8217;\u00c9tat has treated that cap as a genuine legislative mechanism, not as a cash-flow favour. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/ceta\/id\/CETATEXT000043316315\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/ceta\/id\/CETATEXT000043316315\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">its decision of 31 March 2021, n\u00b0 440576<\/a>, it quoted the first sentence of article 979 I word for word: \u00ab L&#8217;imp\u00f4t sur la fortune immobili\u00e8re du redevable ayant son domicile fiscal en France est r\u00e9duit de la diff\u00e9rence entre, d&#8217;une part, le total de cet imp\u00f4t et des imp\u00f4ts dus en France et \u00e0 l&#8217;\u00e9tranger au titre des revenus et produits de l&#8217;ann\u00e9e pr\u00e9c\u00e9dente, calcul\u00e9s avant imputation des seuls cr\u00e9dits d&#8217;imp\u00f4t repr\u00e9sentatifs d&#8217;une imposition acquitt\u00e9e \u00e0 l&#8217;\u00e9tranger et des retenues non lib\u00e9ratoires et, d&#8217;autre part, 75 % du total des revenus mondiaux nets de frais professionnels de l&#8217;ann\u00e9e pr\u00e9c\u00e9dente, apr\u00e8s d\u00e9duction des seuls d\u00e9ficits cat\u00e9goriels dont l&#8217;imputation est autoris\u00e9e par l&#8217;article 156, ainsi que des revenus exon\u00e9r\u00e9s d&#8217;imp\u00f4t sur le revenu et des produits soumis \u00e0 un pr\u00e9l\u00e8vement lib\u00e9ratoire r\u00e9alis\u00e9s au cours de la m\u00eame ann\u00e9e en France ou hors de France (&#8230;) \u00bb. The Court then held that the legislator intended the charge for a given year to be payable out of the previous year&#8217;s income without overburdening ability to pay, and it dismissed an attempt to rewrite the 2019 cap around withholding-tax cash flows. A British resident in France with a large house and modest pension income may therefore have a cap claim. A UK-resident second-home owner does not: article 979 is written for the person \u00ab ayant son domicile fiscal en France \u00bb.<\/p>\n<p>The return is attached to the income-tax return. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385055\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000036385055\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article 982 of the CGI<\/a> provides: \u00ab Les redevables mentionnent la valeur brute et la valeur nette taxable des actifs mentionn\u00e9s \u00e0 l&#8217;article 965 sur la d\u00e9claration annuelle pr\u00e9vue \u00e0 l&#8217;article 170 . Ils joignent \u00e0 cette d\u00e9claration des annexes conformes \u00e0 un mod\u00e8le \u00e9tabli par l&#8217;administration, sur lesquelles ils mentionnent et \u00e9valuent les \u00e9l\u00e9ments de ces m\u00eames actifs. \u00bb In practice that is form 2042 plus form 2042-IFI and its annexes. Service-public.fr, on the 2026 declaration page, says you declare IFI with the income of the previous year \u2014 so in 2026, with 2025 income \u2014 in the same spring campaign as the income-tax return, online if the main home has internet access. The 2026 campaign for 2025 income is closed; the 2027 campaign for 2026 income is announced as starting in April 2027. Spouses and PACS partners must both sign. Unmarried cohabitees put both estates on one of the two returns. Non-residents who also file a French income-tax return send the paper file, if they are still on paper, to the DINR in Noisy-le-Grand. Non-residents with no French income-tax return file 2042-IFI plus 2042-IFI-COV. Payment is on the later tax notice: online is mandatory above \u20ac300.<\/p>\n<p>Late filing is expensive. Service-public.fr states that a delay after a formal notice (<em>mise en demeure<\/em>) attracts a 10% surcharge if you file within 30 days of that notice, and 40% beyond that; the 10% is raised to 40% where the filing follows the disclosure of undeclared foreign assets; late-payment interest runs at 0.20% a month from 1 July of the year the return should have been filed. An inaccurate value attracts the same monthly interest, with a 10% valuation margin if good faith is not challenged, and with a written, on-return explanation protecting you where you have said why a particular asset is omitted or valued as it is. Deliberate omission is another statute. None of those surcharges is a substitute for a claim on the merits. They are why a British owner who has just crossed \u20ac1.3 million should file a conservative 2042-IFI on time, then correct, rather than wait for a better valuation from a UK surveyor who has never seen a French <em>compromis<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h3>B. How to challenge an IFI notice or a reassessment, and which court hears the case<\/h3>\n<p>A challenge does not start in court. It starts with a <em>r\u00e9clamation contentieuse<\/em> (a formal tax claim) to the administration that issued the notice. If the administration has opened an audit, the first document is usually the <em>proposition de rectification<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000022177777\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000022177777\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article L. 57 of the livre des proc\u00e9dures fiscales<\/a> (LPF, the tax-procedure code) requires: \u00ab L&#8217;administration adresse au contribuable une proposition de rectification qui doit \u00eatre motiv\u00e9e de mani\u00e8re \u00e0 lui permettre de formuler ses observations ou de faire conna\u00eetre son acceptation. \u00bb You have a short period in which to reply; on request received before that period expires, article L. 11 LPF can add thirty days. A British owner who answers with a narrative letter and no 1 January comparables, no loan table and no <em>SCI<\/em> balance sheet has not used the right. The reply is the place to put the inbound five-year rule, the 30% main-home abatement, the article 974 write-down of an interest-only loan, and the evidence that a family loan was actually repaid.<\/p>\n<p>If the tax is already on a notice, the claim deadline is the end of the second following year. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000054553358\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000054553358\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article R.* 196-1 of the LPF<\/a>, in force, states: \u00ab Pour \u00eatre recevables, les r\u00e9clamations relatives aux imp\u00f4ts autres que les imp\u00f4ts directs locaux et les taxes annexes \u00e0 ces imp\u00f4ts, doivent \u00eatre pr\u00e9sent\u00e9es \u00e0 l&#8217;administration au plus tard le 31 d\u00e9cembre de la deuxi\u00e8me ann\u00e9e suivant celle, selon le cas : a) De la mise en recouvrement du r\u00f4le ou de la notification d&#8217;un avis de mise en recouvrement ; b) Du versement de l&#8217;imp\u00f4t contest\u00e9 lorsque cet imp\u00f4t n&#8217;a pas donn\u00e9 lieu \u00e0 l&#8217;\u00e9tablissement d&#8217;un r\u00f4le ou \u00e0 la notification d&#8217;un avis de mise en recouvrement ; c) De la r\u00e9alisation de l&#8217;\u00e9v\u00e9nement qui motive la r\u00e9clamation. \u00bb IFI is not a local direct tax. A notice notified in 2026 is, in the ordinary a) case, claimable until 31 December 2028. Missing that date is fatal to the ordinary claim, whatever the treaty says. Paying the tax does not kill the claim; it can even be the b) starting point where there was no assessment roll. A later court decision is not, under the last sentence of the same article, an \u201cevent\u201d of the c) kind.<\/p>\n<p>The claim is written, signed, and sent to the tax office named on the notice, with the notice, the computations, and the evidence. For a UK-resident owner that office is the DINR in Noisy-le-Grand. For a Paris resident it is the Paris <em>service des imp\u00f4ts des particuliers<\/em> that issued the avis. The claim can ask for discharge or reduction. It can also ask for a stay of payment, under the separate LPF rules on <em>sursis de paiement<\/em>, if you are not in a position to pay a six-figure IFI while the valuation is fought. Silence for six months is, in the usual LPF pattern, an implied rejection that opens the court. An express rejection letter does the same, and it starts the two-month period in which you must bring the case.<\/p>\n<p>IFI is not heard by the administrative court that hears a pr\u00e9fecture visa refusal. Live IFI litigation is before the <em>tribunal judiciaire<\/em> (the ordinary judicial court). The Compi\u00e8gne judgment of 2 September 2025 is a first-instance IFI judgment of that court, sitting in tax proceedings, after a proposed reassessment and a claim. Paris files of the same kind appear in the 9th chamber of the tribunal judiciaire de Paris. You do not write to the tribunal administratif de Paris about an IFI notice. You file, through an avocat, at the judicial court with territorial jurisdiction, within the period that runs from the rejection of the claim. The court can reduce the tax, as Compi\u00e8gne did, and it can deal with costs; it does not award damages for a wrong assessment. Article L. 207 LPF, which the Compi\u00e8gne court quoted, confines the successful claimant to moratory interest under article L. 208, not to damages.<\/p>\n<p>What wins, on the files that are actually being tried, is arithmetic tied to a statutory head of claim. Undervaluation of a Dordogne farmhouse is a market-value argument under article 973 I, to be evidenced with local comparables, the Patrim service, and the defects a French notaire would disclose, not with a UK estate-agent letter headed \u201cfor probate\u201d. A refused 30% abatement is a principal-residence argument: who lived in the house on 1 January, on whose return, and whether another property already took the abatement. A refused inbound exemption is a five-calendar-year residence argument, documented with UK tax returns, P60s, and the date the French tax home was established. A refused debt is an article 974 argument: existence on 1 January, link to a taxable asset, write-down of an interest-only loan, and proof of actual repayment of a family loan. An <em>SCI<\/em> share argument is an article 965 coefficient plus article 973 II. A trust argument is article 970. Mixing those heads in one emotional letter is how a good point is lost.<\/p>\n<p>Brexit adds no extra time. It does add extra documents. A UK-resident owner should expect the DINR to ask for a French fiscal representative under article 983, for a valuation that a French office can read, and for evidence that the household&#8217;s other French assets have been counted. A new French resident should expect the office to test the five-year inbound rule against the UK house, then, once the fifth 31 December has passed, to add that UK house to the worldwide IFI base. A British owner who has already been through a <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/04\/uk-owner-france-second-home-tax-bill-challenge-taxe-habitation\/\">second-home taxe d&#8217;habitation challenge<\/a> will recognise the pattern: the local tax and IFI are different statutes, but both are 1 January photographs, both are claimed in writing, and both are lost by waiting for a telephone call that never comes.<\/p>\n<p>If the notice is right on the law and wrong only on the figures, a corrected 2042-IFI or a claim limited to quantum is faster than a full-scale attack on liability. If the notice is wrong on residence, the inbound rule, or the inclusion of a UK asset during the five-year window, the claim should say so in the first paragraph, with dates. If the administration has already issued a motivated proposition de rectification, the observations under article L. 57 are the first pleading, not an informal email to the inspector. In \u00cele-de-France, keep the DINR or Paris SIP letter, the AR (recorded-delivery) slip, and a running table of 1 January values. Those are the papers the 9th chamber will want if the claim is rejected.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>IFI is a French annual tax on net real-estate wealth above \u20ac1,300,000 on 1 January. Brexit did not delete it, and the 2008 France\u2013UK treaty does not list it among the taxes it covers. A British owner who remains tax-resident in the UK is taxed only on French real estate and on the French-property fraction of shares. A British owner who has become a French tax resident is taxed on worldwide real-estate assets, subject to the five-year inbound limit that keeps foreign property out until 31 December of the fifth year after the French tax home was established. Shares in a family <em>SCI<\/em> that merely holds the house stay in the base; usufruct is taxed at full value unless a statutory split applies; a UK trust can be looked through to the settlor. The 30% abatement is for one principal residence occupied by the owner. Debts must exist on 1 January, sit on a taxable asset, and survive the write-down and family-loan rules. The return is form 2042-IFI, in the spring, with the income-tax return or, for a non-resident without French income, with 2042-IFI-COV to the DINR. A wrong bill is challenged by a written claim, usually by 31 December of the second year after the notice, then before the tribunal judiciaire, not the administrative court. The next useful step is to reconstruct the 1 January picture \u2014 residence, assets, debts, shares \u2014 before the filing date or before the claim deadline, rather than after a surcharge has already been posted.<\/p>\n<h2>Need a quick opinion on your case<\/h2>\n<p>Talk the IFI notice, the 2042-IFI figures, the SCI accounts and the residence position through with an avocat before you file, before you pay, or before the claim deadline expires. Our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with an avocat of the firm. Call <a href=\"tel:+33646605822\">+33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> (Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen), or reach us through our <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/formulaire-de-contact\/\">contact page<\/a>. We assist British owners and residents in Paris and across the Paris region as well as throughout France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British owners of French property, and Britons who have moved to France, can owe IFI once net real-estate wealth exceeds \u20ac1.3 million on 1 January. The 2008 treaty does not cover it. This note explains who is taxed, the five-year inbound rule, SCI shares, debts and how to challenge a bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":4159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80312,80314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2118695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment - Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, Real Estate and Business Law Attorney in Paris<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"British owners of French property, and Britons who have moved to France, can owe IFI once net real-estate wealth exceeds \u20ac1.3 million on 1 January. The 2008 treaty does not cover it. This note explains who is taxed, the five-year inbound rule, SCI shares, debts and how to challenge a bill.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, Real Estate and Business Law Attorney in Paris\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-10T04:11:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kohen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kohen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"29 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kohen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6254a643e6239d803134a01c800381bd\"},\"headline\":\"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-10T04:11:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":5969,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/nathan-cima-OHE90W2rQF4-unsplash.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"British Desk\",\"D\u00e9cryptage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"citation\":\"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment\",\"about\":[{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"British Desk\"},{\"@type\":\"Thing\",\"name\":\"D\u00e9cryptage\"}],\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-10T04:11:52+00:00\",\"speakable\":{\"@type\":\"SpeakableSpecification\",\"cssSelector\":[\".article-content > p:first-of-type\"]}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/\",\"name\":\"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment - Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, Real Estate and Business Law Attorney in Paris\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/nathan-cima-OHE90W2rQF4-unsplash.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-10T04:11:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/nathan-cima-OHE90W2rQF4-unsplash.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/nathan-cima-OHE90W2rQF4-unsplash.webp\",\"width\":6000,\"height\":4000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/10\\\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Kohen Avocats\",\"description\":\"Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, attorney specialized in real estate and business law in Paris, advises and assists companies and individuals in their real estate, commercial and contractual transactions. He also handles real estate litigation and the resolution of complex commercial disputes.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Kohen Avocats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/Logo-2-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/Logo-2-1.webp\",\"width\":2114,\"height\":1253,\"caption\":\"Kohen Avocats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6254a643e6239d803134a01c800381bd\",\"name\":\"Kohen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c5e76ef76bbbfdd2b4da984e2bf2fa4056fd51a27d25ce2c332047f1dfd6e00?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c5e76ef76bbbfdd2b4da984e2bf2fa4056fd51a27d25ce2c332047f1dfd6e00?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1c5e76ef76bbbfdd2b4da984e2bf2fa4056fd51a27d25ce2c332047f1dfd6e00?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kohen\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kohenavocats.fr\\\/en\\\/author\\\/kohenmlk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment - Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, Real Estate and Business Law Attorney in Paris","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment","og_description":"British owners of French property, and Britons who have moved to France, can owe IFI once net real-estate wealth exceeds \u20ac1.3 million on 1 January. The 2008 treaty does not cover it. This note explains who is taxed, the five-year inbound rule, SCI shares, debts and how to challenge a bill.","og_url":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/","og_site_name":"Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, Real Estate and Business Law Attorney in Paris","article_published_time":"2026-09-10T04:11:52+00:00","author":"Kohen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kohen","Est. reading time":"29 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/"},"author":{"name":"Kohen","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6254a643e6239d803134a01c800381bd"},"headline":"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment","datePublished":"2026-09-10T04:11:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/"},"wordCount":5969,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nathan-cima-OHE90W2rQF4-unsplash.webp","articleSection":["British Desk","D\u00e9cryptage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","citation":"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment","about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"British Desk"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"D\u00e9cryptage"}],"dateModified":"2026-09-10T04:11:52+00:00","speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".article-content > p:first-of-type"]}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/","url":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/","name":"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment - Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, Real Estate and Business Law Attorney in Paris","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nathan-cima-OHE90W2rQF4-unsplash.webp","datePublished":"2026-09-10T04:11:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nathan-cima-OHE90W2rQF4-unsplash.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nathan-cima-OHE90W2rQF4-unsplash.webp","width":6000,"height":4000},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/10\/british-owner-france-ifi-wealth-tax-declare-challenge-brexit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"British Owner or Resident in France After Brexit: How IFI (French Real-Estate Wealth Tax) Is Calculated, What You Must Declare and How to Challenge an Assessment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/","name":"Kohen Avocats","description":"Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, attorney specialized in real estate and business law in Paris, advises and assists companies and individuals in their real estate, commercial and contractual transactions. He also handles real estate litigation and the resolution of complex commercial disputes.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#organization","name":"Kohen Avocats","url":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Logo-2-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Logo-2-1.webp","width":2114,"height":1253,"caption":"Kohen Avocats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6254a643e6239d803134a01c800381bd","name":"Kohen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c5e76ef76bbbfdd2b4da984e2bf2fa4056fd51a27d25ce2c332047f1dfd6e00?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c5e76ef76bbbfdd2b4da984e2bf2fa4056fd51a27d25ce2c332047f1dfd6e00?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c5e76ef76bbbfdd2b4da984e2bf2fa4056fd51a27d25ce2c332047f1dfd6e00?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Kohen"},"url":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/author\/kohenmlk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/251031309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2118695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2118695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2118695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2118695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2118695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}