Giving or leaving assets to a foreign charity, or from abroad: French tax relief and inheritance tax

What does French law provide for a charity based in the European Union?

Articles read in their version in force on 5 November 2026.

• Gift and inheritance tax. The exemptions of articles 794 and 795 “also apply to gifts and bequests made to legal entities or bodies of the same nature” whose registered office is in the EU or the EEA, where they are approved; the assets received must be allocated to similar activities. Without approval, the charity produces the documents within the filing deadline for the estate or gift return (CGI, art. 795-0 A). Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein are covered (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-20, § 530).
• Income tax. A reduction of 66% of gifts, within a limit of 20% of taxable income, with a five-year carry-forward of the excess; 75%, up to €2,000, for certain bodies helping people in difficulty (CGI, art. 200, 1, 1 bis and 1 ter). For a non-approved charity based in the EU or the EEA, “the tax reduction obtained is clawed back” unless the taxpayer produces the supporting documents at the request of the tax authorities (art. 200, 4 bis). Businesses have their own regime; for such a non-approved charity, they must produce the supporting documents within the filing deadline for their return (art. 238 bis, 4 bis).
• IFI. 75% of gifts in cash or of full ownership of company shares admitted to trading on a French or foreign regulated market, the reduction being capped at €50,000, to a closed list of bodies (public-interest foundations, higher education and research, work-integration bodies in particular), extended to EU or EEA bodies that are approved or, failing approval, for which the donor produces the supporting documents within the return deadline (CGI, art. 978).
• Approval. The charity files, in French, its articles, accounts and activity reports for the last three years and a certificate of its tax status, translated (CGI, Schedule III, art. 281 K), before the gift or bequest (art. 1649 nonies). A first approval runs until 31 December of the third year following its notification; the list of approved bodies is published on impots.gouv.fr (BOI-SJ-AGR-60-10, § 154 to 157).
• Outside the EU. No tax reduction for a body whose registered office is outside the EU or the EEA, except certain international organisations (BOI-BIC-RICI-20-30-10-10, § 350); the gift and inheritance tax exemption requires a treaty or reciprocity agreement (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-20, § 680). A foreign charity operating in France through a declared establishment with separate accounts may receive eligible gifts strictly allocated to that establishment (BOI-RES-BIC-000070).

Why did France open its regime to EU charities?

• The Italian foundation owning premises in Munich. A State need not automatically recognise a foreign status, but it cannot refuse its exemption to a foundation meeting its conditions solely because of its seat; difficulties of verification are “merely administrative disadvantages” (ECJ, 14 September 2006, Centro di Musicologia Walter Stauffer, C-386/04, paragraphs 39, 40 and 48).
• The gift to a Portuguese care home. Gifts, in cash or in kind, fall within the free movement of capital; the donor's State cannot refuse the deduction without allowing the taxpayer to prove that the charity meets its conditions, but may refuse it if that proof is lacking. For a third country, refusal is in principle legitimate where the information cannot be obtained, in particular for lack of a treaty obligation to exchange it (ECJ, Grand Chamber, 27 January 2009, Persche, C-318/07, paragraphs 60, 69 and 70).
• A Belgian resident's bequest to a German association. The association, taxed at 80% because it had no seat in Belgium or in a State where the deceased had lived or worked, challenged the refusal of the reduced rate; the Court held that restriction contrary to Article 63 TFEU (CJEU, 10 February 2011, Missionswerk Werner Heukelbach, C-25/10, paragraph 37).
• Austrian universities. Restricting the deduction of gifts to domestic research and teaching institutions is an infringement (CJEU, 16 June 2011, Commission v Austria, C-10/10).

These judgments do not guarantee relief to every EU charity: each State chooses the causes it supports, and the charity must meet the French conditions. They concerned EU charities; for a third country, Persche accepts a refusal where the tax authorities cannot obtain the necessary information. For Switzerland (agreement of 30 October 1979) and the United States (treaty of 24 November 1978), the treaty answer covers only gift and inheritance taxes on charitable transfers; it provides no income tax or IFI reduction.

Swiss foundation, Swiss donor: which rules apply?

A gift or bequest to a Swiss charity. Article 795-0 A does not apply. However, an agreement of 30 October 1979, in force since 5 January 1982, exempts in France gifts and estates “made or passing to Swiss bodies with exclusively disinterested aims”, active in particular in the scientific, artistic, cultural or charitable field, provided the exemption is granted to their French equivalents (agreement, art. 1; BOI-INT-CVB-CHE-30). It is separate from the 1953 Franco-Swiss estate tax treaty, terminated in 2014.

Conversely, equivalent French charities are exempt from cantonal gift and inheritance tax in the cantons party to the agreement (art. 2): nineteen signatory cantons, including Vaud, later joined by Jura (1980), Ticino (1982), Geneva (1993) and Valais (2010), i.e. twenty-three cantons; Schwyz, Nidwalden and Solothurn are not parties (SR 0.642.034.91).

Income tax. A gift by a French resident to a Swiss foundation does not qualify for the article 200 reduction. Conversely, a Swiss resident may only deduct gifts to legal entities “having their seat in Switzerland” and exempt for public-benefit purposes, up to 20% of net income and from CHF 100 a year for federal tax (DBG/LIFD, art. 33a and 56(g)); the cantons apply the same seat test (StHG/LHID, art. 9(2)(i)). To support a French cause, the donor goes through an exempt Swiss structure.

What does the 1978 Franco-American treaty allow?

Gift and estate taxes. A transfer to an entity created in one State is exempt or fully deductible in the other if it would have been so for an entity of that other State, on three conditions: the entity has a tax-exempt status in its own State under which transfers to it are exempt or fully deductible; it is organised and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, educational or cultural purposes; and it receives a substantial part of its support from public contributions or public funds (treaty of 24 November 1978, art. 10). The last condition may exclude a foundation funded by a single family; and a transfer to a State or one of its political subdivisions, which may include a public university that is an arm of the State, is covered only if it is specifically limited to those purposes (art. 10(3)).

Income tax. In France, a direct gift to an American charity does not qualify for the article 200 reduction. In the United States, the deduction is reserved for entities “created or organized in the United States” (26 U.S.C. § 170(c)(2)(A)); the IRS excludes foreign organizations, except certain Canadian, Israeli and Mexican charities, and denies the deduction of a gift earmarked for a foreign charity, unless the U.S. organization approves the program and keeps control of the funds (IRS, Publication 526).

“Friends of” structures. Hence the U.S. associations exempt under section 501(c)(3) that receive gifts from American taxpayers and fund French institutions while keeping control of the funds. Each gift should in principle go through the entity of the country where the donor is taxed; any combination of French and U.S. relief must be checked case by case, and the IFI rules expressly exclude a second advantage for the same portion of a gift (CGI, art. 978, III). The firm handles the French side together with U.S. counsel.

What is the Giving Europe network?

Founded in 1995 by a group of foundations including the Fondation de France, Transnational Giving Europe has been called Giving Europe since February 2026 and covers nineteen countries, including France and Switzerland. The donor gives to the partner foundation in his or her own country, which issues a national tax receipt and transfers the gift to the foreign charity, previously vetted; a 5% contribution is retained on gifts up to €100,000 (giving.eu, accessed 5 November 2026). The receipt is no guarantee: relief remains subject to the law of the donor's country, and the firm checks that the route chosen actually delivers it.