Tax policy directorate – Bureau a

part of a capital increase;
- 
Acquisitions of shares (and associated rights) of companies under a safeguard 
procedure or in receivership 

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- 
Share purchases between companies that are members of the same group 
- 
Acquisitions in connection with mergers, demergers and partial contribution of an entire 
branch of activity 
- 
Transactions liable to the financial transaction tax 
- 
Acquisitions of shares under earlier incentive schemes to support employees taking 
over a firm.
For listed companies, transfer duty is payable only if the transfer is recorded by deed.
For shares classified as parts sociales, the rate is set at 3%, and relief equal to €23.000 divided 
by the total number of shares is applied to the value of each share; 
For transfers of participating interests in companies investing predominantly in real property
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, 
the rate is increased to 5% without any cap or relief.
Because of the many different types of company and share there are many special registration regimes 
that are not considered in the scope of this handbook. 
Irrespective of registration duty, capital gains on transfers of shares are likely to be liable to income tax 
(see the corresponding section in Part I, Income tax). 
D. INHERITANCE AND GIFT DUTIES 
Transfers without valuable consideration include transfers following death (inheritance) and transfers 
without consideration inter vivos (gifts). 
For duty on transfers without valuable consideration (DMTG), the following distinction has to be made in 
order to determine the basis of assessment: 
• 
Where the donor or deceased is or was domiciled in France for tax purposes, duty on transfers 
without valuable consideration is payable on all movables and real property situated in or 
outside France 
• 
Where the donor or deceased is not or was not domiciled in France for tax purposes:
- 
Where the beneficiary is domiciled in France at the transfer date or has been domiciled 
there for at least six of the previous ten years, duty on transfers without valuable 
consideration is payable on movables and real property situated in or outside France
- 
Where the beneficiary is domiciled outside France, transfer duty is payable only on the 
French assets he or she receives 
For certain assets, the rules for determining the basis of assessment differ according to whether the 
transfer is an inheritance or a gift. In the case of an inheritance, the deceased's debts at the date of 
death are generally deducted from the assets of the estate. 
In the case of a gift, debts incurred by the donor in order to acquire or in the interest of the transferred 
assets that are passed on to the recipient in the deed of gift are deductible from the basis on which duty 
on transfers without valuable consideration is assessed. 
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A company investing predominantly in real property is an unlisted legal entity whose assets mainly consist 
or consisted during the year before the transfer of the interests concerned of real property or real property rights 
situated in France or participating interests in other unlisted legal entities investing predominantly in real property. 
Rent-controlled housing bodies and semi-public companies that build or manage low-rental housing are not 
deemed companies investing predominantly in real property. 

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For inheritances since 22 August 2007, transfer duty following death does not apply to the surviving 
spouse, partners of a PACS (Civil Solidarity Pact) and, under certain conditions, brothers and sisters 
living under the same roof.
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Duty on transfers without valuable consideration is calculated by applying a progressive or proportional 
scale to the amount of the net share received by each beneficiary, where relevant minus relief, the 
amount of which varies according to the degree of kinship between the parties to the transfer. 
For the payment of duty on transfers without valuable consideration, when it comes to inheritances and 
gifts, the relief applied to the net portion of each taxpayer is:
• 
€100,000 (applicable as from 17 August 2012) for ascendants, surviving children and those 
represented should they predecease or renounce their inheritance or gift
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• 
€15,932 for brothers and sisters who do not fulfil the conditions for exemption from transfer duty 
without consideration (amount applicable as from 1 January 2011) 
• 
€7,967 for nephews and nieces (amount applicable as from 1 January 2011) 
In the case of a gift, the relief is set at: 
• 
€80,724 for donations between spouses and between partners of a PACS (amount applicable 
as from 1 January 2011) 
• 
€31,865 for gifts by grandparents to their grandchildren (amount applicable as from 1 January 
2011) 
• 
€5,310 for gifts from great-grandparents to great-grandchildren (amount applicable as from 1 
January 2011) 
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The brother or sister must be single, widowed, separated or divorced at the time of death, be over 50 
years of age upon inheritance or suffer from an infirmity that prevents them from meeting their own needs and have 
been constantly domiciled with the deceased during the five years before death. 
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The allowance for those with physical or mental disabilities is €159,325 as from 1 January 2011. 

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There are several different scales: