France rewards families who prepare before they move. Three subjects structure the arrival of a wealthy household as of 2026: the impatriate tax regime of article 155 B, the real estate wealth tax (IFI) above €1.3M, and succession. Al Qantara Institute maps each subject for families arriving in France, structures the position before residence moves, and holds the whole file to the single calendar of your relocation mandate.
We map your position, structure the arrival and hold every subject to one calendar, with one senior interlocutor from first meeting to settled residence.
Al Qantara Institute coordinates the work; the regulated professionals give the advice. We take on a limited number of families each year, so every file keeps senior attention. Within a standalone mandate, or as one workstream of our 360° family engagement, the wealth and tax practice covers four things.
Before anything is engaged, we map the subjects your arrival raises: the regime eligibility to be tested, the IFI position, the succession questions, the banking relationships. You see the whole board before the first meeting is booked.
We build your file once, completely: profile, assets, jurisdictions, contracts. Every working session then starts on substance rather than on your biography.
Tax milestones, residence dates, school deadlines and signature dates are sequenced in a single calendar with the rest of the mandate. The tax steps that must precede the move actually do.
Every position the move relies on, regime eligibility, IFI base, treaty reading, is confirmed in writing before your family transfers residence. For a first look at French banking practicalities, our Journal's guide to opening a French bank account is a sober primer.
Article 155 B of the French tax code (CGI) grants substantial income tax exemptions to eligible executives and employees who take up duties in France, for up to 8 years as of 2026. The conditions are strict and the arithmetic is personal: we confirm eligibility in writing before any plan relies on it.
The compensation linked to the impatriation itself, typically the premium paid for taking up duties in France, can be exempt from income tax, in whole or under a flat assessment, for up to 8 years as of 2026. How much of your package qualifies is a matter of contract drafting as much as of law, which is why we read the employment contract before you sign it.
Certain foreign-source investment income, dividends, interest and some capital gains paid from a state bound to France by an administrative assistance agreement, benefits from a 50% income tax exemption during the same window, as of 2026. We confirm which accounts and jurisdictions qualify.
The regime is reserved for people recruited or transferred to duties in a company established in France, and who were not French tax residents in the 5 calendar years before arrival, among other conditions as of 2026. Eligibility is confirmed in writing before the move is sequenced around it.
The date your family becomes French tax resident is set in practice by the residency route you choose. We sequence both together: see our Residency & Visas practice.
France taxes real estate wealth, not overall wealth. The IFI (impôt sur la fortune immobilière) applies when a household's net taxable real estate exceeds €1.3M, at progressive rates of 0.5 to 1.5% as of 2026.
The IFI is due when net taxable real estate exceeds €1.3M as of 2026, assessed at household level on 1 January each year. Debt secured on the property and certain charges reduce the base, and a 30% abatement applies to the main residence. We compute the base before you buy.
A family arriving in 2026 with property in Dubai and London owes the IFI on its French holdings alone until 2031. This window shapes what to buy in France and when, and we confirm the treatment year by year.
The IFI is an annual carrying cost that belongs in the acquisition arithmetic from the first visit, alongside acquisition costs of roughly 7.5 to 8.5% on existing property as of 2026. We budget both inside our Property & Installation practice.
French succession law and succession tax reach further than most new residents expect. The analysis has one natural moment: before the transfer of residence, not after. We place it there and prepare the full file it rests on.
French law reserves a fixed share of an estate for children (the réserve héréditaire), which may sit uneasily with arrangements valid in your current jurisdiction. Matrimonial regimes and testamentary choices are reviewed and settled before residence moves.
Once the deceased is a French tax resident, French succession tax can reach worldwide assets as of 2026, and heirs who have themselves been French residents for at least 6 of the previous 10 years can bring foreign assets into scope. We confirm how these rules apply to your family.
France's bilateral treaties allocate taxing rights country by country, and their succession provisions differ from their income tax provisions. Which treaty protects what is a question we answer in writing, before the move is calendared.
Possibly, if you take up duties in a company established in France and were not French tax residents in the 5 calendar years before arrival; the exemptions can run for up to 8 years as of 2026. Eligibility turns on contract drafting and personal facts, so we confirm it in writing before any plan relies on it.
Not at first. New residents owe the IFI on French real estate only for their first 5 years of residence as of 2026; foreign property enters the base afterwards. The computation of the €1.3M threshold and the year-six transition are confirmed in writing in your plan.
Before the move. Several of the arrangements that matter, from the impatriate election to matrimonial and succession structuring and treaty analysis, only work if they are settled before your family transfers residence. We sequence that work ahead of the visa calendar.
We map your position before the move, set the priorities in a written plan, and drive each subject to a written confirmation before your family transfers residence. One senior interlocutor holds it all to the calendar of your relocation mandate.
Yes, and it is often the better arrangement. We bring your advisers at home into the same file and the same calendar as the French work, so the two sides never run in parallel.
We map your position, structure the arrival and hold every subject to one calendar, with one senior interlocutor from first meeting to settled residence.
Tell us about your family's French project. A senior advisor will reply within one business day, in confidence and without obligation.
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