Wealth Planning

What Wealth Planning France Covers

The service is a structured review of how a private client’s overall position — income, real property, financial portfolio, operating businesses, and future succession — interacts with the French framework. Each engagement is partner-led, partner-reviewed, and delivered with the same regulated quality as a chartered accountancy mandate.

The work typically covers:

• Income-tax strategies — French income tax, treaty allocation, Prélèvement Forfaitaire Unique (PFU) on capital income, plus-value, the impatriate regime, exit tax
• IFI (Impôt sur la Fortune Immobilière) — French real-property scoping, valuation, deductible debt, partner-level reporting through SCIs
• Succession structuring — réserve héréditaire, quotité disponible, donation-partage, French and foreign wills, EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) optionality
• Asset structuring — holding vehicles, family holdings for operating businesses, intellectual property and digital asset classification, financial portfolio location
• Liquidity-event support — sale of an operating business, exercise of stock options or BSPCE, large capital gain triggering structuring decisions

Each engagement assesses the client’s full asset picture: real property, financial portfolio composition, operating business interests, retirement entitlements, art and collectibles where material, and digital holdings. We document the work in a written summary that the client can share with the broader team — investment manager, private banker, notaire, and foreign counsel.

The data and records we hold are sensitive. Each engagement operates under formal terms of confidentiality, and records are kept on European platforms compliant with French data-protection requirements (Loi Informatique et Libertés). Digital data is encrypted; physical records are kept in our Paris premises. Data security is a continuous focus of the firm’s internal operations.

When Wealth Planning France Is Most Useful

Five recurring situations justify a structured engagement:

• Relocation to or from France — incoming or outgoing change of residence, with the right approach to optimise the entry or exit position
• Acquisition or disposal of French assets — real property, operating businesses, financial portfolios — by a foreign or French resident
• Succession and donation work — managing the transfer of assets to the next generation under French civil and tax law
• Cross-border family situations — international couples, expats with non-French spouses, families with assets in multiple jurisdictions, evolving residency arrangements
• Liquidity event — sale of an operating business, exercise of share-based remuneration, large capital gain triggering immediate structuring decisions

For each situation, we combine a French diagnostic, a succession assessment, an asset allocation review against French rules, and — where relevant — coordination with the client’s foreign adviser, investment manager, or licensed private banker. We help identify the specific drivers of the client’s French exposure, develop a structured short-term and long-term plan, and align the plan with the client’s broader financial strategy. The objective is to create a comprehensive, holistic view of the client’s position rather than a series of disconnected technical answers. The approach is to assess the full picture, understand the family’s expectations, and meet those expectations within French rules.

Wealth Planning France: Services Offered

Our service is delivered as a regulated chartered accountancy engagement. The services include:

French Income-Tax Strategies

Each engagement starts with the client’s French income position. We review residency under domestic French rules and the applicable treaty, identify French-source and foreign-source income, model the impact of PFU versus progressive rates on capital income, and assess the interaction with foreign credits. Where the client is a returning or incoming expatriate, we evaluate eligibility for the régime des impatriés (Article 155 B Code général des impôts) and develop the specific implementation steps required for the regime to apply from the first month of employment.

IFI Structuring and Reporting

IFI applies to net taxable French real property exceeding €1.3 million. We scope the IFI base (direct ownership plus indirect holding through SCIs, partnerships, and certain regulated funds), value the assets, identify deductible debt, and assess structuring routes — démembrement de propriété, debt structuring, primary residence allowance, and where relevant, restructuring of indirect holdings. IFI reporting is filed alongside the annual return.

Succession and Donation Structuring

French succession law combines mandatory allocation rules (réserve héréditaire, quotité disponible) with progressive droits de succession. We quantify expected succession duty across the client’s heirs, identify opportunities to use donation allowances, structure donation-partage and démembrement transactions, and apply the pacte Dutreil where the client holds qualifying operating business shares. The engagement covers cross-generation structuring strategies — donation au profit des petits-enfants, démembrement, family holding — that adjust the duty profile over the long term.

Asset Structuring and Holding Vehicles

Asset structuring decisions are central to the engagement. We work on real-property holding (direct ownership versus SCI, IR versus IS election, plus-value immobilière), operating-business holding (family holdings, founder structures, employee share plans), and the location of financial portfolios — including life insurance contracts, securities accounts, and PEA accounts — under French rules. We help the client manage the trade-offs between current taxation, future allocation, and succession exposure.

Cross-Border Treaty Coordination

France maintains an extensive double-taxation treaty network covering income, and a narrower network covering succession duties. Treaty allocation is decisive in many cross-border situations: residency tie-breaker rules, allocation of capital gains on real property and operating business shares, withholding on dividends and interest, and pension allocation. The engagement coordinates with the foreign adviser to align both sides and identify any treaty-driven structuring opportunities.

Coordination With the Adviser Team

The engagement is not a stand-alone discipline. We coordinate with the client’s investment manager or asset manager (portfolio decisions), private banker (account and credit structure), notaire (succession deeds, real-property transactions, marriage contracts), and foreign adviser (home-country position). Interexco is not an investment intermediary and does not provide investment advice — the role of the firm is the regulated French structuring layer.

Wealth Planning in France vs. Internationally

The French framework is distinctive in several ways that matter for international clients. The differences below explain why generic cross-border content rarely fits a French situation without dedicated review.

Mandatory heirship. French civil law imposes réserve héréditaire — a mandatory share for children that limits testamentary freedom. Most common-law jurisdictions, including England and Wales and most US states, allow full testamentary freedom. The difference is material for non-French nationals.

Real-property wealth duty. France retains an annual duty on net real property (IFI) where the base exceeds €1.3 million. Most comparable jurisdictions either have no recurring net-worth duty (UK, US, Germany, Italy) or apply it on a different basis (Spain, Switzerland — cantonal). For a non-resident holding French real property above the threshold, IFI is an annual recurring obligation regardless of foreign residence.

Treaty network depth. France maintains one of the broadest income-treaty networks in Europe, but treaty coverage of succession duties is much narrower. A cross-border client may have clear allocation on income while facing potential double duty on succession. The difference shapes the broader approach.

EU Succession Regulation optionality. Under EU Regulation 650/2012 (Brussels IV), a resident of France may elect the law of their nationality to govern their succession. This option is unavailable in most non-EU jurisdictions and is decisive for many UK, US, and non-EU clients.

Holding structures. The Société Civile Immobilière (SCI) and the Société par Actions Simplifiée (SAS) holding are widely used in France with specific tax consequences (look-through for IR, opaque for IS, IFI transparency). The mechanics differ materially from US LLC, UK FIC, Italian società semplice, or Swiss holding structures, and require France-specific review.

For an international family with assets in France and elsewhere, the practical conclusion is that this work needs to be performed in France, by a French-regulated firm, coordinated with the home-jurisdiction adviser — not delegated to a generic cross-border template.

Why This Matters: The French Regulatory Landscape

The work operates inside a layered regulatory framework. The relevant entities and texts include:

• DGFiP (Direction Générale des Finances Publiques) — administers income duty, IFI, droits de succession, and droits de donation; publishes the official doctrine (BOFiP)
• Ordre des Experts-Comptables (OEC) — the regulator of the chartered accountancy profession in France; Interexco is a member firm
• CNCC (Compagnie Nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes) — the statutory audit regulator; relevant where the engagement intersects with operating business audit
• AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) — the financial markets regulator; supervises investment products, financial intermediaries, and certain regulated funds used in structuring
• Code général des impôts — the French framework, including income duty, IFI, capital gains, succession and donation duties
• Code civil — French civil law including réserve héréditaire and succession allocation rules
• EU Succession Regulation No. 650/2012 (Brussels IV) — allows residents of France to elect the law of their nationality to govern their succession
• Loi Informatique et Libertés — French data-protection framework that governs the firm’s handling of client data and digital records

The French corporate income duty is 25% standard (DGFiP, 2025), with a reduced 15% rate on the first €42,500 of profit for qualifying SMEs. For a private client holding an operating business through an IS-electing company, this rate matters: it shapes the choice between salary and dividend extraction, the structuring of a family holding, and the modelling of pacte Dutreil outcomes. For real property held through an SCI, the choice between IR (look-through) and IS election has long-term consequences on annual duty, plus-value treatment, and IFI reporting that need to be assessed at the structuring stage rather than at exit.

For private clients with a French-resident position and international investors with French assets, the regulatory landscape is the structuring landscape — every decision is constrained or enabled by it. The framework is also evolving: the BOFiP doctrine is updated each year, regulatory texts adapt to EU directives, and the broader fiscal environment is transforming under the impact of digital reporting, cross-border data exchange, and the international move on transparency. Staying current is part of the firm’s continuous focus.

Who Uses Our Wealth Planning Service in France

Our private-client base spans individuals and families with French connections requiring an integrated, partner-led engagement:

• Expatriate executives relocating to or from France, with cross-border positions, share-based remuneration, and pension entitlements
• French residents with significant assets requiring integrated structuring across real property, operating businesses, and financial portfolios
• Foreign residents holding French assets — real property, operating business shares, financial portfolios — and managing the associated French duty and IFI obligations
• Family offices managing multi-generational wealth with French connections, family holdings, and succession transitions
• International couples with cross-border family situations, multiple residencies, and asset structuring needs
• High-net-worth individuals (HNW) coordinating French structuring with international advisers
• Founders and entrepreneurs facing a liquidity event from the sale of a French operating business — pacte Dutreil structuring, holding restructure, post-sale wealth allocation

For each profile, the engagement is partner-led and coordinated with the client’s legal counsel, notaire, investment manager, and foreign adviser. Interexco is not a financial intermediary; we are a regulated French chartered accountancy firm focused on the structuring layer.

Engagement Process and Service Delivery

A typical structuring engagement runs through five stages:

1. Fact-finding and asset mapping. We collect a complete picture of the client’s assets, income sources, residency history, family situation, and existing structures. This stage covers French and foreign positions, operating businesses, real property, financial portfolios (including life insurance, PEA, securities accounts), and digital holdings.

2. Diagnostic and modelling. We model the current French position (income, IFI, prospective succession duty) and identify the structural questions: residency, allocation, holding structure efficiency, succession exposure, treaty position. The diagnostic surfaces both short-term issues (current-year filings) and long-term ones (succession horizon, business exit, generational transition).

3. Strategic recommendations. A written engagement summary sets out recommended structuring, timing, and coordination steps. The summary is shared with the broader team — private banker, investment manager, asset manager, notaire, and foreign adviser — so the strategies align across advisers.

4. Implementation. We coordinate the steps that require chartered accountancy or French filing — payroll set-up for the impatriate regime, IFI declaration, donation duty filing, SCI accounting, operating business restructuring. Steps requiring a notarial deed or investment execution are handled by the relevant counterpart. We help the client manage timing, deliverables, and supporting documentation across the operations.

5. Annual review and adjustments. A regular review keeps the plan aligned with life events, regulatory change, and evolving residency or family situations. Regular adjustments are the difference between a static recommendation and an integrated plan that continues to fit. The review is partner-led; we adapt the plan to changes in the client’s situation, in the BOFiP doctrine, and in the broader regulatory landscape.

For each engagement, partner involvement is continuous. Interexco does not subcontract the work to junior staff; the regulated quality of the engagement depends on senior review at every stage.

Sectors and Profiles Served

Wealth planning france covers the full range of private client situations. Our experience includes:

• Finance sector executives — banking, asset management, hedge fund, and private equity executives with carry, deferred compensation, and share-based remuneration
• Technology founders — French and international founders of technology companies, BSPCE plans, holding structuring around liquidity events
• Real-property investors — French and foreign investors with multi-property portfolios, SCI structuring, IFI exposure
• Industrial family businesses — multi-generational industrial holdings transitioning to the next generation under pacte Dutreil and donation-partage
• International families — cross-border families with French residents and non-resident family members, evolving residency, and asset allocation across jurisdictions
• Liberal professions — lawyers, doctors, and other regulated professionals with operating practice and personal asset structuring
• Industry leaders — senior leaders in industry, finance, and the digital sector, with the structured remuneration arrangements typical of leadership positions

For each profile, the engagement is tailored to the specific structuring landscape — but always delivered as a regulated French chartered accountancy mandate rather than as an investing service.

Risk and Quality Management

Wealth structuring involves risk: choices are made under uncertainty about future regulatory change, market conditions, family events, and the client’s own intentions. The firm manages that risk in three ways.

Documentation. Every recommendation is documented in writing with the underlying analysis, the relevant Code général des impôts articles, the BOFiP doctrine, and the assumptions on which the recommendation rests. The written record supports the broader adviser team and protects the engagement against later disputes. Each summary follows a consistent description template so that the client can review and identify the key points quickly.

Coordination. We work with the client’s investment manager, notaire, legal counsel, and foreign adviser at every stage. Structuring performed in isolation from the investment, legal, and notarial layers tends to fail at implementation. The coordination is the engagement.

Internal review and quality control. Each engagement is subject to internal review by a second partner and to the firm’s standard quality-management framework, which aligns with OEC and CNCC professional rules. The intent is to identify weaknesses in the analysis before the client receives it.

The practical conclusion: a regulated French chartered accountancy firm operating inside a clear engagement letter, with senior partner review and active coordination with the rest of the adviser team, is the right vehicle for wealth planning france — not a generic cross-border template, not an investment-led recommendation, not an isolated technical computation.

Why Interexco for Wealth Planning France

Interexco is a French-regulated chartered accountancy firm with over 40 years of expertise supporting private clients, family offices, and expatriate executives. The Paris headquarters at 30 Boulevard Haussmann is supported by offices in Lille, Milan (Italy), Tunis (Tunisia), and the Champagne region. The team of nearly 50 professionals works in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian.

The firm is registered with the Ordre des Experts-Comptables; our statutory audit practice is regulated by the CNCC. Interexco does not act as a financial intermediary; we operate as a regulated chartered accountancy firm, with the structuring depth that wealth planning france requires. We do not provide investing services, portfolio management, or share dealing.

This service runs alongside our corporate, audit, payroll, and real-property accounting practices. For a private client with a French operating business, French real property, and international assets, that integration is the operational answer to fragmented advice from multiple unrelated firms.

Speak With Our Private Client Team

If you are planning a relocation, structuring a succession, acquiring or selling French assets, or facing a liquidity event with French implications, speak with one of our partners about your situation. We work in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian, and routinely coordinate with French notaires, international counsel, investment managers, asset managers, and foreign advisers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does wealth planning france involve? The service involves the integrated review and structuring of a private client’s position under French law — including income duty, IFI, capital gains, succession and donation duties, and asset structuring across real property, operating businesses, and financial portfolios. The engagement combines French structuring with succession work and, where relevant, cross-border treaty coordination with the client’s foreign adviser. The engagement is a regulated chartered accountancy mandate, not investment management.

Who is subject to IFI in France? Impôt sur la Fortune Immobilière (IFI) applies to individuals — French residents and non-residents — whose net taxable French real property exceeds €1.3 million. For French residents, IFI applies to worldwide real property; for non-residents, it applies only to French real property. The duty is progressive with rates from 0.5% to 1.5%. Direct property holding and indirect holding through SCI both fall within scope, and a deduction is available for qualifying property-related debt.

How is succession taxed in France? French droits de succession are levied at progressive rates depending on the relationship between the deceased and the heir. The framework provides for allowances (currently €100,000 between a parent and a child, renewable every 15 years), progressive rates up to 45% in direct line and significantly higher for unrelated heirs, and specific reliefs — notably the pacte Dutreil for operating business shares, with up to 75% exemption under defined conditions. Treaty allocation may apply for cross-border situations, though the French succession treaty network is narrower than the income network.

What is the régime des impatriés in France? The régime des impatriés (Article 155 B Code général des impôts) is a favourable regime for individuals taking up French residence to work in France, having been non-resident for at least the five preceding calendar years. The regime exempts the impatriation bonus, partially exempts foreign-source investment income, and allows partial exemption of work performed abroad — for up to eight years. Implementation requires specific payroll set-up from the first month of employment and a documented contractual arrangement.

Can EU Succession Regulation help non-French nationals planning their French succession? Yes. Under EU Regulation 650/2012 (Brussels IV), an individual habitually resident in France may elect, in their will, to apply the law of their nationality to their succession instead of French law. This can be material for non-French nationals whose home jurisdiction provides for more flexible succession allocation than the French réserve héréditaire. The election must be made expressly in a will and is subject to specific procedural and substantive requirements.

Does Interexco act as investment adviser or notaire? No. Interexco is a regulated French chartered accountancy firm providing structuring services. We do not act as investment adviser — the choice of specific financial instruments is the role of regulated investment professionals such as portfolio managers, asset managers, and licensed investment intermediaries. We are not notaires either — succession deeds, real-property sale deeds, and marriage contracts are signed by notaires. Our role is to coordinate with both and to deliver the regulated French structuring layer.

How does the service coordinate with my existing investment manager? Interexco operates alongside the client’s existing investment manager, asset manager, or private banker rather than replacing them. We share the engagement summary, confirm the French treatment of the portfolio’s current and proposed positions (PFU, treaty allocation, IFI implications for any property funds), and flag France-specific issues — life insurance allocation, PEA eligibility, and the treatment of carried interest. The investment decisions remain with the client and their investment manager; the French structuring layer is the Interexco engagement.

What is the typical timeline of a structuring engagement? A diagnostic engagement runs four to eight weeks from fact-finding to written summary, depending on the complexity of the asset base, the number of jurisdictions involved, and the need for coordination with foreign advisers. Implementation steps — payroll set-up, IFI filing, donation, pacte Dutreil, SCI restructuring — follow the diagnostic and are scheduled in line with the client’s life events and the relevant filing deadlines.

Do you support family offices with French connections? Yes. We support single-family and multi-family offices with French-resident members, French assets, or French-incorporated holdings. The engagement combines structuring for the family principals with corporate and accounting services for the family-owned operating businesses and property vehicles, and coordination with the family office’s central investment and reporting function.