France Crypto Inheritance Tax

French inheritance tax treats crypto like any other asset: fully within droits de succession, valued at death, taxed on the progressive scale after abatements. This article walks the death-side mechanics and the two points holders tend to miss — that the latent gain is extinguished at death (a genuine planning advantage), and that the heirs' real risk is not the tax but access to the keys. The lifetime-transfer counterpart is the gift-tax article, the wealth-tax question is the IFI, and the France crypto tax guide covers the income-tax baseline.

What inheritance does to crypto

• Crypto is fully within droits de succession: there is no succession exemption, and the standard barème applies.
• It is valued at fair-market value on the date of death, and the latent gain is not taxed at death.
• Standard abatements apply, notably €100,000 per child in the direct line. A roughly €5,000-per-heir crypto figure is practitioner-cited but its statutory basis is unsettled — verify with a notaire rather than relying on it.
• The direct-line scale is progressive, 5% to 45% after abatements.
• The heir's new cost basis is the death-date value; future gains are taxed under the normal PFU/150 VH bis regime.
• The real risk is access, not the tax: an unrecoverable wallet is an effective 100% loss.

Crypto is fully in scope

There is no crypto carve-out from French inheritance tax. On death, crypto-assets are included in the estate at their fair-market value on the date of death (jour du décès) and taxed on the standard droits de succession scale after the legal abatements. The same barème that applies to a bank account or a portfolio applies to a Bitcoin holding. This is different from the IFI, which excludes crypto — succession tax does not.

The latent gain is extinguished at death

This is the key tax point and a genuine planning advantage. The deceased's unrealised capital gain is not taxed on transmission: there is no PFU/income-tax event on the latent gain at death. Only the death-date value enters the droits de succession computation. Then:

• The heir's acquisition cost is reset to the death-date value.
• The heir is taxed under the normal PFU / 150 VH bis regime only on gains from that new basis when they later dispose.

So a holder sitting on a large latent gain transmits it without the income-tax/PFU charge that a lifetime sale would have triggered — only succession tax on the death-date value applies. This makes "hold and bequeath" materially different from "sell then bequeath the cash" (the latter triggers the 31.4% PFU first).

Abatements and the scale

The standard succession framework applies:

The relationship between the deceased and each heir determines the applicable abatement and scale (direct line vs siblings vs unrelated have very different treatment). Confirm the current abatement amounts and the exact crypto-specific abatement with a notaire — figures are set by law and the relationship-specific rules are detailed.

The real risk: access, not tax

The tax analysis is the easy part. The hard, and most consequential, problem is access. Heirs cannot inherit what they cannot reach: a self-custodied wallet with no recoverable keys is, in practice, taxed at an effective 100% — the value is in the estate (and may even attract droits de succession) but is unrecoverable.

Practical estate planning for crypto therefore needs, alongside the tax:

• A documented, secure key/seed/access plan that survives the holder.
• Coordination with a notaire so the succession can actually identify and reach the assets.
• Clarity on where assets are (self-custody vs exchanges — and the 3916-bis trail helps the estate locate foreign accounts).

A perfect tax plan over an unrecoverable wallet is worthless. Access continuity is part of the inheritance plan, not a separate IT chore.

Practical guidance

1. Treat crypto as fully succession-taxable at death-date value — no exemption.
2. Use the latent-gain extinction: transmission avoids the lifetime PFU on the unrealised gain.
3. Confirm abatements (direct-line €100,000; the noted €5,000-per-heir crypto abatement) with a notaire.
4. Document an access/recovery plan — the access risk dwarfs the tax risk.
5. Heirs: reset cost basis to death-date value for future PFU/150 VH bis on later disposals.

Where a tool fits

Waltio and Koinly help establish death-date valuations, the heir's reset cost basis for future disposals, and the account history that helps an estate locate assets. They do not handle the succession declaration or the access plan, which are a notaire and estate-planning matter.

Where Wag3s fits

Wag3s Folio establishes accurate point-in-time portfolio valuations (the death-date value) and a complete account inventory: the figures a notaire needs for the succession and the heir needs for the reset cost basis. The succession declaration, the abatement strategy, and the access-continuity plan stay with a notaire and estate adviser; Wag3s supplies the valuation and inventory they build on. See the Folio product page.

Further reading

• France Crypto Tax Guide 2026
• France Crypto Gift Tax (Donation)
• France Crypto and the IFI
• Crypto Capital Gains Calculation France (150 VH bis)
• Cerfa 3916-bis — Foreign Crypto Accounts
• Crypto Security for Finance Teams — key/access continuity

Worked example: inheritance tax with latent gain

Jean-Pierre holds 2 BTC acquired in 2019 at a total cost of €8,000. At his death in 2025 the BTC is worth €200,000. He has one adult child, Sophie.

Latent gain at death. Jean-Pierre's unrealised gain is €192,000. This amount is not subject to income tax or PFU on transmission. Only the death-date value (€200,000) enters the succession calculation.

Abatement. Sophie, as a direct-line heir, benefits from the standard €100,000 per-child abatement. The taxable base is €200,000 − €100,000 = €100,000.

Succession tax. Applying the 2026 progressive direct-line scale to €100,000:

• First €8,072: 5% = €403.60
• €8,072–€12,109: 10% = €403.70
• €12,109–€15,932: 15% = €573.45
• €15,932–€552,324: 20% = approximately €16,814 on the remaining €84,068

Total droits de succession ≈ €18,200 (approximate; exact computation requires the official table).

If Jean-Pierre had sold the BTC first. Had he sold the BTC for €200,000 while alive and then bequeathed the cash:

• PFU on the disposal: gain of €192,000 at 31.4% ≈ €60,288.
• Net cash to Sophie: €139,712, with a lower succession base.
• Total tax burden: €60,288 PFU + ~€7,900 succession tax ≈ €68,188 — roughly three times the in-specie inheritance route.

Sophie's future disposals. Sophie inherits the BTC with a cost basis of €200,000. If she later sells at €250,000, her taxable gain under 150 VH bis is computed on a €50,000 appreciation, not on the full €250,000 proceeds.

The access problem. Jean-Pierre held the BTC on a hardware wallet. Sophie cannot inherit what she cannot access. The entire analysis above is moot if the seed phrase was not documented, securely stored, and legally accessible to the estate. A notaire can help structure an access-continuity plan — a sealed envelope with a notaire, a trusted-third-party recovery service, or a multi-signature setup with a trusted party — before the holder becomes incapacitated.

Sources

• impots.gouv.fr — Déclarer une succession: the succession declaration and valuation at the date of death.
• BOFiP — ENR, successions : abattements sur la part nette de chaque ayant droit (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-50-20): the personal abatements, including €100,000 in the direct line.
• BOFiP — ENR, successions : tarifs des droits de mutation par décès (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-50-30): the progressive direct-line scale.
• Practitioner guidance on a ~€5,000-per-heir crypto abatement cumulable with the classic abatements: statutory basis unsettled — confirm with a notaire, do not rely on it.
• Légifrance — Article 150 VH bis CGI: the heir's post-succession disposal regime on the reset basis.