Tax policy directorate – Bureau a

PART III: 
TAXES ON ASSETS 
Assets may be taxed when transferred for valuable consideration (sale) or without valuable 
consideration (gift, inheritance). In these cases, the tax generally takes the form of registration duty. 
Assets may also be taxed by the fact of their ownership. In that case they are liable to an annual tax on 
their total value, in the form of wealth tax and property tax, the latter being assessed on real property 
only. As a local tax, property tax is considered in Part IV. 
Assets may also be liable to capital gains tax on disposal. As capital gains constitute income, their tax 
treatment is considered in Part I (taxes on income) of this handbook. 

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CHAPTER 1: 
REGISTRATION DUTIES 
I – REGISTRATION FORMALITY 
Traditionally, the registration formality involves a civil servant analysing a deed and assessing and 
collecting the duties provided for by law. Taxation is therefore a primary purpose, but registration also 
has civil consequences since it gives the deed a legal date and, in certain cases, is a condition of its 
validity. 
Civil registration may be combined with the property registration formality whereby transfers of real 
property are made a matter of public record. The combined registration formality most commonly 
applies to deeds relating to the sale of real property or real property rights
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. 
In principle, tax is assessed on the market value of the assets at the date of the deed or transfer, as 
expressed in the deed or in the estimated value declaration filled out by the parties and controlled by 
the authorities. The market value of an asset corresponds to the price at which it could be sold or 
bought under market conditions. 
Registration duties may be fixed, proportional or progressive depending on the type of deed or legal 
transaction subject to the formality. 
Fixed duties are constant for all deeds in a given category or not liable to proportional or progressive 
duties. They apply to judicial documents (criminal orders, court judgments), extrajudicial documents 
(drawn up by legal officers, auctioneers and valuers, gendarmes) and certain deeds liable to fixed duty, 
the amount of which varies according to the nature of the taxable transaction (innominate deeds, 
notarised deeds, divorces). 
Proportional duties represent a constant percentage of the value of the assets that are the subject of 
legal deeds or transactions. They apply mainly to sales of real property, certain corporate transactions 
and insurance policies. 
Progressive duties are those whose rate increases with the value of the assets concerned. They apply 
in particular to transfers without valuable consideration. 
In principle, duty is paid when deeds are presented for registration. In some cases, however, payment 
may be made by instalments or deferred. Duty on transfers without valuable consideration (duty owed 
when deeds of gift or declarations of estate are filed) may in some cases be paid in the form of art 
works handed over to the State, subject to ministerial approval. 
The tax normally accrues to the State, but départements and communes receive some of the revenue 
from duty on sales of real property. 
In 2015, registration duties yielded €20.8 billion for the government.
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Article 17 of Supplementary Budget Act 2013-1279 of 29 December 2013 extended this combined 
registration to donations of property without consideration that take place after 1 July 2014. 

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