Inheriting crypto-assets in France: estate return, valuation, private keys

How are the tokens reported and valued in the estate?

• Scope. French inheritance tax applies to property “located in France or outside France” where the deceased was tax-domiciled in France; otherwise only to property located in France, unless the heir is domiciled in France and has been for at least six of the last ten years (CGI, art. 750 ter). A foreign exchange or a hardware wallet makes no difference for a deceased domiciled in France.
• Value. Article 761 deals with real estate. For movable property, article 764 uses, unless evidence to the contrary is produced, the price of a public sale within two years of death, failing that the estimate in an inventory, failing that “the itemised and estimated declaration of the parties” (CGI, art. 764, I). Assets are valued “at their market value on the date of the taxable event”, assessed from the standpoint of any buyer (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-40-10-10, § 20 and 30, in French). The firm uses a euro price on the date of death from an identified source, and keeps the evidence.
• Deadline. Six months from death where it occurs in metropolitan France, one year in other cases (CGI, art. 641). Heirs in the direct line, the surviving spouse and a PACS partner are exempt from filing if gross assets, crypto-assets included, are below €50,000 and they have received no unregistered or undeclared gift from the deceased; the threshold is €3,000 for other heirs (CGI, art. 800).
• Audit. The right of reassessment runs until the end of the third year following registration if the return “sufficiently” discloses the tax due, otherwise until the end of the sixth year following death (LPF, art. L180; L186). Transactions on a public blockchain can be consulted: a token left out and moved later may be traced.

What about tokens for which nobody has the private key?

The deceased held tokens in a self-custody wallet; neither the recovery phrase nor the key can be found. The tokens still exist on the ledger, but nobody can transfer them. There is no administrative guidance on this point, and the firm has found no published court decision. Some legal writers argue that such assets remain taxable: this is a scholarly position, which the tax authorities have not adopted.

The firm’s analysis. The tokens form part of the estate. Their market value is assessed objectively, from the standpoint of any buyer (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-40-10-10, § 30), on the heirs’ estimate and subject to review by the tax authorities. In our view, a conclusively demonstrated impossibility of transfer may justify a nil or reduced value, provided the tokens are listed and the valuation is explained. Merely not knowing the key is not enough: a backup may exist or a third party may hold it. The file includes the known public addresses, the ledger history showing no movement and a record of the searches carried out. If the key resurfaces, correcting the return should be considered promptly with the notary, before the tokens are used.

Among heirs, intentionally concealing a key in order to appropriate the tokens may amount to estate concealment (recel successoral): the concealing heir is deemed to accept the estate outright and loses any share in the concealed assets (Civil Code, art. 778).

Must the deceased’s accounts held abroad be reported?

Persons domiciled in France report each year the crypto-asset wallets “opened, held, used or closed” with entities established abroad and, since 1 July 2026, unique and non-fungible crypto-assets held or used abroad (CGI, art. 1649 bis C). As regards accounts, those covered are accounts opened with a person who “habitually receives crypto-assets on deposit” (Annex III, art. 344 G decies). The heirs file the deceased’s income tax return for the year of death (CGI, art. 204, 2); each heir then reports the accounts they hold, use or close.

An omission costs €750 per unreported wallet or unique non-fungible crypto-asset, or €125 per omission or inaccuracy, capped at €10,000 per return, rising to €1,500 and €250 where the value exceeds €50,000 (CGI, art. 1736, X). See also the firm’s page on DAC8 and CARF.

What the courts have already decided

As at 5 November 2026, no published decision of the Cour de cassation or the Conseil d’État deals with the valuation of crypto-assets in an estate. Two decisions shed light on the subject.

• The nature of tokens. Bitcoin units, which are not immovable property within the meaning of article 516 of the Civil Code, “thus have the nature of intangible movable property”; the Conseil d’État annulled the guidance that treated gains on occasional disposals as non-commercial profits as a matter of principle (CE, 26 April 2018, no. 417809, published in the Lebon reports). The specific regime of article 150 VH bis followed in 2019.
• The limits of a posthumous agent. The powers of administration or management of an agent appointed under a posthumous mandate (mandat à effet posthume) do not allow the agent to oppose the sale by the heirs of assets covered by the mandate, which brings it to an end (Cass. 1re civ., 12 May 2010, no. 09-10.556, published in the Bulletin). A mandate organises the management of a portfolio; it does not shield it from a sale decided by the heirs.

International estates. In the States bound by Regulation (EU) no. 650/2012, the law of the deceased’s last habitual residence in principle governs the whole estate, unless the deceased chose the law of their nationality by will (choice of law, art. 21 and 22). The Regulation does not cover tax, which follows the tax domicile of the deceased and of the heirs (CGI, art. 750 ter), subject to tax treaties; for a deceased domiciled outside France, no provision states where a crypto-asset is “located”. See the page on estate planning in France for international families.