What the accredited-representative rule actually covers
The accredited tax representative regime created by Article 244 bis A of the French tax code is narrow. It targets the capital gain realised on a sale of French real estate by a non-resident seller whose share of the price exceeds €150,000. It does not reach into successions, donations, life insurance payouts, or ongoing rental income. Families ask about it on the day of an inheritance because they are told by the notaire that a non-resident file means more paperwork, and the term fiscal representative gets used loosely. On a succession, the notaire deals with the French tax office directly and no accredited firm is appointed for the estate.
What happens on a French succession
When a non-resident heir receives a French asset, the notaire opens a succession file, values the asset, applies the treaty between France and the deceased\'s country of residence, and computes the succession duties. The heir signs an acceptance, the duties are wired from the estate escrow, and the property is formally transferred through a deed of partition or an attestation. The representative obligation appears only later, if and when the heir decides to sell the property and the sale crosses the €150,000 per-seller threshold. At that point the standard Article 244 bis A rule kicks in, with the full cost basis based on the value retained in the succession declaration, which is often a very favourable basis because probate values in France are typically lower than market.
What happens on a donation
A donation of French real estate from a non-resident donor follows the same logic: the notaire drafts the deed, applies the allowances between donor and donee, collects the duties, and registers the transfer. No accredited representative is required for the donation itself. What changes is the clock on any future sale. A donee who becomes a non-resident owner of the donated property inherits the donation value as the starting cost basis, and holds the property from the donation date. If the donee later sells, the holding-period taper restarts from that date, which can pull a recently gifted property back into the taxable zone even though the original family had held it for decades.
Where a correspondence representative steps in
The practical link between a French inheritance or donation and the representative regime is the correspondence representative, not the accredited sale representative. A non-resident who inherits a rented French property, or who holds shares of an SCI after a family restructuring, acquires ongoing reporting obligations: rental income declarations, IFI wealth-tax returns if the net French real-estate exceeds the threshold, and occasional queries from the tax office. France asks non-residents to appoint a correspondence representative within 90 days of the triggering event, so the administration has a single point of contact on French soil. That representative does not carry the joint liability of an accredited sale representative; the role is lighter but the deadline is strict.
Cross-border estates and the tie-breaker rule
Cross-border estates run into a different question before the representative issue even arises: where was the deceased tax-resident at death. Most bilateral treaties with France include a tie-breaker hierarchy that decides the matter when two states both claim residence. The outcome of that analysis governs which country taxes which asset, and whether France taxes the estate only on its French-situated property or on the worldwide estate. Most non-resident heirs only face the narrow French scope, which keeps the file manageable. For families split across three or more jurisdictions, early advice from a specialised firm is essential; the notaire is not equipped to run the analysis alone.
Worked example
Elena lives in Toronto and inherits a half-share of an apartment in Lyon from her late mother, valued at €380,000 in the succession declaration filed by the notaire in 2026. No accredited representative is appointed, because the transfer is a succession, not a sale. The notaire levies the French succession duties on Elena\'s share (€190,000) under the France-Canada treaty, applying the mother-to-child allowance of €100,000 and the progressive scale on the balance. Three years later, Elena and her sister sell the apartment for €440,000. Elena\'s share of the sale (€220,000) crosses €150,000, and the accredited-representative rule applies on the sale. The cost basis is the €190,000 retained in the succession declaration, plus the portion of succession duties attributable to her share, plus any paid renovation invoice since then. The representative files the 2048-IMM with a modest taxable gain after taper, demonstrating how the two regimes never collide but chain neatly.
Pitfall to avoid
The most common mistake is forgetting to appoint a correspondence representative after inheriting a rental property. Families focus on the succession itself, wire the duties, and consider the matter closed. Twelve months later, the first French rental-income return is missed, late-filing penalties accrue, and the heir is scrambling to regularise a file that should have been opened on day one. The same trap catches owners of inherited SCI shares who do not realise they now have an IFI filing above the French real-estate threshold. Appoint a correspondence agent as soon as the succession is signed; pay a small annual retainer rather than a one-off catch-up bill.
Pro tip
Ask the notaire to state clearly in the succession declaration the basis for each asset: the valuation method, the comparables used, and the documented liabilities deducted. A well-documented declaration is the gift that keeps giving, because ten or fifteen years later, when a non-resident heir finally sells, the accredited representative can reuse that number as the starting cost basis without reconstructing the file from scratch. Vague valuations saved a few hundred euros of succession duties at the time; they quietly cost the family five-figure CGT bills at sale. The representative you appoint years later is only as good as the paper trail the notaire set up at the succession.
Key takeaways
- No accredited representative is needed for a French succession or a donation; the notaire handles both.
- The accredited-representative rule applies only on a later sale above €150,000 per seller.
- A correspondence representative is a separate, lighter role; appoint within 90 days of the triggering event.
- The cost basis on a future sale is the succession or donation value plus documented improvements since.
- Holding-period tapers restart from the donation date, which matters for recent inter-generational transfers.
Frequently asked questions
Do heirs of a French estate need to appoint a fiscal representative?
Not for the inheritance itself. French succession duties are filed through the notaire handling the estate. What non-resident heirs often need is a correspondence representative for any ongoing French-source income or for wealth-tax filings that follow, which is a different mandate with lighter formalities.
What about a donation of French real estate from a non-resident donor?
The donation is processed by the notaire with its own declaration and its own duties paid at signature. If the donor or the donee later sells the property as a non-resident above €150,000, the normal accredited-representative rule on the sale applies then, not at the donation stage.
What is the 90-day rule here?
It is the French tax office standard for appointing a correspondence representative when a non-resident starts receiving French-source taxable income or holds a French asset that generates ongoing reporting. The representative has to be in place within 90 days of the triggering event.
Can the notaire act as my correspondence representative after an inheritance?
A notaire can handle the succession itself but rarely accepts an ongoing correspondence mandate, because the role carries open-ended reporting obligations that sit outside the notaire's scope. Most families appoint an accredited firm or a chartered accountant for that part.