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Free tool · inheritance tax
French inheritance tax (droits de succession) is charged on each heir's share, and the rate depends almost entirely on your relationship to the person who died — not on the size of the estate. Choose a relationship and an amount to see the allowance, the rate and the tax due under the 2026 rules. The results can be startling, which is rather the point.
Enter one heir's share — not the whole estate — since the tax is worked out per person.
The Pimpernel difference
This calculator shows the raw exposure — but real estates have wrinkles a slider can't: assurance-vie sitting outside the rules, forced heirship reserving shares for children, a UK will colliding with French law, cross-border assets. That's exactly where a person earns their keep. Pimpernel can walk you through what your estate would actually face and how to soften it — properly, before it matters.
Why the rules are what they are, the assurance-vie workaround, forced heirship, and the will that protects against the traps — our succession guide covers the ground.
If you saw a brutal rate above, marriage or a PACS almost certainly changes it. Our guide explains which does what.
The allowances, bands and rates here are the standard 2026 figures for inheritances (not lifetime gifts) and are simplified for guidance — real cases involve reliefs, prior gifts, the family home, life-insurance rules and cross-border treaties that can change the answer significantly. Pimpernel are not notaires or tax advisers, and this is general information, not advice. Confirm your position with a notaire before relying on any figure.