Swiss account, holder in France

Swiss account, holder in France

My 85-year-old father is Swiss and lives in France, where he has owned a property and lived there for more than 20 years. However, having worked in Switzerland all his life, he has a Swiss bank account with a balance of around CHF 100,000. As far as I'm concerned, I've lived in Switzerland all my life. I'd like to know whether this Swiss bank account will be taxed by the French tax authorities when my father passes on.

V. Geneva

In 2015, France terminated the 1953 Franco-Swiss Convention against double taxation on inheritance. As a result, each country now applies its own rules of domestic law to international successions.

Article 22 of the European Inheritance Regulation (no. 650/2012), which is applicable in France, states that a person may choose the law of the State of which he or she is a national at the time he or she makes this choice or at the time of his or her death as the law governing his or her entire estate. It is therefore possible for a person of Swiss nationality to choose that the rules of partition under Swiss law will apply to his or her estate even if he or she resides in France.

However, the tax law governing inheritance remains that of the deceased's last place of residence on the date of death..In the case of real estate, the tax law of the place where the property is located generally applies.

Article 750 ter of the French General Tax Code (CGI) stipulates that movable and immovable property situated in France or outside France, in particular public funds, interest shares, property or rights making up a trust and the income capitalised therein, debts and generally all French or foreign transferable securities of any kind whatsoever are subject to transfer duties when the donor or the deceased is resident in France for tax purposes.

The sum of CHF 100,000 that you mention will be included in the estate and taxed by the French government in the same way as the rest of the assets that make up the estate; the rate of tax will depend on the total amount of the assets.

For all intents and purposes, it should also be noted that under Article 784 A CGI, inheritance tax paid abroad in respect of assets located outside France is deductible from the tax payable in France.