British citizens who own holiday homes in France are set to benefit from legislation that raises the inheritance tax threshold by 300 per cent.
The French IHT threshold is increasing from euro 50,000 to euro 150,000 per parent for each child.
Leggett Immobilier executive director Trevor Leggett says the change will bring big benefits for homeowners.
He says: “These changes will be of interest to British homeowners in France as they will benefit non-residents as well as residents. Any French asset, no matter where you die in the world, is taxed in France and the IHT threshold there has just been raised threefold.”
Scottish Life International technical manager Gerry Brown says many properties which would have been subject to French IHT will now be exempt.
Brown says: “Say you leave the property to three children equally, then each child will have an exempt amount that has been upped by euro 100,000 which is quite a substantial increase.”
He says that UK residents will also benefit from the reduction of administration, legal processes and the related costs.
Brown says: “It eliminates the hassle factor of filling out all the forms and agreeing things with the appropriate revenue authorities in France and engaging the services of a French lawyer to sort it all out. There would be a lot of incidental costs involved.”
