The heirs sold the house a few months after the death, at a price below the one they had declared. Can they obtain a reduction of the droits de succession (French inheritance tax, assessed on the value of each asset on the date of death) on that basis? Conversely, when the French tax authority reassesses a declared value, which comparables can it set against the taxpayer? Two decisions of the Commercial Chamber of the Cour de cassation (French supreme court for civil and commercial matters), handed down in January 2023 and June 2024, answer these two symmetrical questions. They recall that market value is fixed at a precise date and proved by comparables that are genuinely similar.
The facts
First case. A man died in 2014 leaving five residuary legatees. On 23 December 2014 they filed the inheritance tax return. On 29 November 2015 they lodged a claim with the tax authority to reduce the value of two properties, relying on the preliminary sale agreements signed with the buyers a little over six months after the death. The tax authority refused on 16 March 2016. The MONTPELLIER Court of Appeal, on 16 September 2022, found for the heirs: the properties had undergone no alteration, and “the prices at which these sales were agreed constitute an objective reference for determining their real market value on the local property market, whose variability could not be contemplated over such a short period in the absence of an exceptional event” (translated from the French).
Second case. On 8 March 2007 an individual bought from an SCI (société civile immobilière, a French property-holding company), of which he was the manager, a property in MANDELIEU-LA NAPOULE: a 392 m² villa on 2,925 m² of land, with fifteen main rooms, six bathrooms, a garage and a 90 m² swimming pool. The tax authority challenged the value declared for registration duties and for the wealth tax then in force (the ISF). The departmental conciliation commission proposed €5,026 per square metre, based on five of the eight comparables put forward by the tax authority: villas of 200 to 423 m² of living space, with a swimming pool, of similar standing, “notwithstanding the absence of any detail as to the area of their respective plots” (translated from the French). The AIX-EN-PROVENCE Court of Appeal adopted that value on 5 November 2019.
The decision
In the first case the Cour de cassation partially quashed the appeal decision (Cass. com., 19 June 2024, appeal no. 22-24.169), under article 761, first paragraph, of the French General Tax Code: “for the assessment of duties on gratuitous transfers, immovable property, whatever its nature, is valued according to its real market value on the date of the transfer” (translated from the French). By substituting for that value the price of a sale concluded after the death, “the Court of Appeal, which added to the law a condition it does not contain, breached the above provision”.
In the second case the Court also quashed the appeal decision (Cass. com., 25 January 2023, appeal no. 20-16.125), under article L. 17 of the French Book of Tax Procedures. It recalled that the tax authority may reassess a valuation that “appears lower than the real market value of the property transferred” (translated from the French), that value “having, as a rule, to be established by comparison, at the time of the taxable event, with intrinsically similar property”. It then censured the Court of Appeal for having relied “on grounds unfit to establish that the properties used as comparables were intrinsically similar to the property in dispute, since the area of the land of a property is one of the criteria for determining its value”.
Both decisions are unreported, but they apply settled rules and usefully complement each other.
What the expert takes from it
The valuation date is the date of transfer, not the date of resale. A price obtained six months after the death is valuable information, but it is not the value on the day of death. In between, the market may have moved, the conditions of sale may be particular (a quick sale to pay the tax, a single buyer, a property cleared or not), and the price of an isolated transaction is only one data point among others. The valuation report may mention this resale and explain why it confirms or contradicts the valuation, but it must first rely on transactions prior to or contemporaneous with the taxable event.
A comparable is described in full, land included. The 2023 decision says clearly that a list of villas “of similar standing” is not enough if the area of their land is unknown. For a house, the land is one of the parameters that make the price, together with the living area, the condition, the location and the planning constraints. The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (French property valuation charter, 6th edition, November 2025) recalls that the comparison method “rests on the analysis of recent transactions involving similar properties” and that “the prices observed are adjusted to take account of the differences between the reference properties and the property valued” (Title III, § 2.1.1). A comparable whose land area is unknown cannot be adjusted.
A tax valuation follows the same method as any other valuation. The Charter devotes a paragraph to valuation for tax purposes (Title II, § 8.14): the tax authority favours comparison, and the valuation may include discounts provided by law or accepted by the authority. A taxpayer who challenges a reassessment, or who prepares a return, gains from producing a report that follows these rules: a written valuation date, a precise description of the property, comparables identified with their land area, reasoned adjustments, stated assumptions and reservations (Title I, § 2.2). That is what makes it possible to discuss the authority’s comparables usefully before the conciliation commission or the court.
Further reading
The Market value page describes valuation at a past date, in particular for an inheritance or a gift, its timescale and its fee. On the same theme: Disguised gift: French tax reassessment of a family sale and French wealth tax: building land with environmental constraints. The decisions are available on Légifrance: 19 June 2024 and 25 January 2023.
What next
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