In our previous article, we saw how the first tool of Gift/Inheritance Tax optimization is taking advantage of the Tax Allowances provided for by the French Tax Code.
We saw that the amount of the Tax Allowances vary according to the relationship between the beneficiary of the gift and the donor.
We also saw that Tax Allowances renew every 15 years and that two parents may be able to transfer without taxes up to 600.000 € to their two children over a lifetime.
However, Tax Allowances are not the only tool that a family can use to reduce its Tax burden on the generational transfer of wealth.
In this article and the following ones, we will explore a few more techniques available under French Law that may be useful in order to reduce your tax bill upon transferring wealth to your descendants.
Today we will go through the tax-exempt money gift of 31,865 € (Don familial exonéré).
As you will see at the end of this article, this Tax-exempt money gift combined with the Tax Allowances that we explored in the previous article may grant to your descendants a substantial transfer of wealth without taxes.
Tax-exempt money gift (31,865 €)
In addition to the 15-year Tax Allowance of 100.000 € per child, over the same time period you may donate 31.865 € to each of your children without paying any taxes.
This exemption can be combined with the 100.000 € Tax Allowance, which means that at the end of the day you can donate 131.865 € per child every 15 years.
However, unlike the 100.000 € Tax Allowance, you have to comply with the following rules in order for this exemption to apply:
- The donor must be aged less of 80 years old
- The beneficiary must be over the age of majority (at least 18)
- The gift must be declared to the tax authority within 1 month from the date of the gift.
This Tax-exempt money gift is provided for by article 790 G of the CGI (Code Général des Impôts) and you can find more information on this subject here.
Note: Grand-parents too can make tax-exempt money gifts to their grand-children. If you donate to your grand-children (Petits-enfants), you may add to the 31.865 € Tax Allowance applicable to grand-parents donating to grand-children another 31.865 € of Tax-exempt money gift. This means that you can donate a tax-exempt sum of 63,730 € every 15 years to each of your grand-children.
At the end of the day, if we combine the Tax Allowances with the 31.865 € tax-exempt gift of money, a child can receive from his/her parents and grand-parents a substantial amount of money every 15 years.
Indeed, every 15 years, a of-age child can benefit from the following money gifts:
- 263,730 € from his/her parents (100.000 + 31,865 x 2)
- 254,920 from each of his/her grandparents* (63,730 x 4 €)
which totals a tax-exempt money gift of 518,650 € every 15 years.
*Aged less of 80
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Contact UsWe will explore other Inheritance and Gift Taxes tools in our following articles.
Stay tuned to learn about additional Inheritance and Gift Tax reduction techniques!
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CONTACT USThe opinion expressed in this article is for informational purposes only.
This article does not constitute legal advice.
In addition, it is important to remind that each client’s tax issue is different because each client’s personal situation is different.
Should you have a similar tax issue, please contact us for an initial discussion of your case.