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. The two things people miss: the latent gain is extinguished at death (a genuine planning advantage), and the heirs' real risk is not the tax but access. This guide is the mechanics and the planning point.

TL;DR

• Crypto is fully within droits de succession — no succession exemption; standard barème applies.
• Valued at fair-market value on the date of death; the latent gain is not taxed at death.
• Standard abatements apply (notably €100,000 per child, direct line). A ~€5,000-per-heir crypto figure is practitioner-cited but statutory basis unsettled — verify with a notaire, do not rely on it.
• Direct-line scale: progressive 5% to 45% after abatements.
• Heir's new cost basis = death-date value; future gains taxed under normal PFU/150 VH bis.
• 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.

How vendor tools fit

Waltio and Koinly help establish death-date valuations and 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 — that is a notaire and estate-planning matter.

How Wag3s helps

Wag3s Folio establishes accurate point-in-time portfolio valuations (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. 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

Sources

• French droits de succession scale and abatements (direct-line €100,000; progressive 5%–45%); the no-latent-gain-at-death rule on transmission
• Practitioner guidance on a €5,000-per-heir crypto abatement cumulable with classic abatements (confirm with a notaire)
• Article 150 VH bis CGI (heir's post-succession disposal regime) — Légifrance