French wealth tax (IFI): what value to declare for my house and SCI?

Your property assets are close to or above €1,300,000 and you have to file the French wealth tax on property (impôt sur la fortune immobilière, IFI). The question comes back every spring: what value to enter for the house, the let flat, the shares in the family SCI (société civile immobilière, a French property-holding company)? Too low a value exposes you to a reassessment with late-payment interest; too high a value means paying tax you do not owe, year after year. This guide explains how the value is determined, what the French General Tax Code says and what a valuation report brings, before the return or after a tax reassessment notice.

What happens in practice

IFI is declared with the income tax return, on a dedicated schedule, for the assets held at 1 January. You enter each property with its value and the deductible debts, and the tax is calculated on a progressive scale. The taxpayer values the assets; the tax authority does not propose a figure.

The tax authority then has a period in which to check. It compares the declared values with the sales recorded in the area, which it knows of through the deeds signed before notaires (French civil-law notaries). If it considers the value insufficient, it sends a reasoned tax reassessment notice (proposition de rectification) with its comparables. You have thirty days to reply. If the disagreement persists, the dispute can be brought before the departmental conciliation commission, then before the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire).

The assets concerned are wide-ranging: main home, second homes, let property, land, and the property fraction of company shares, in particular family SCIs.

What French law says

The tax base. IFI is payable by persons whose net property assets exceed €1,300,000 at 1 January (article 964 of the French General Tax Code). It applies to property held directly and to company shares up to the fraction representing the property they hold (article 965).

The value. Assets are valued under the rules applicable to inheritance tax (article 973, I), that is at their true market value on the date of the taxable event. The Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil and commercial matters) restates that this value is assessed “taking account of every element that makes it possible to obtain a figure as close as possible to that which would have resulted from the normal interplay of supply and demand” (translated from the French) (Cass. com., 9 July 2025, appeal no. 24-13.540).

The 30 % allowance. A 30 % allowance is applied to the market value of the property occupied by its owner as a main home (article 973, I, paragraph 2).

Debts. Debts relating to taxable assets are deductible, in particular the outstanding capital on loans that financed the purchase or works, under the conditions of article 974.

The scale. The tax is calculated in bands from €800,000 of net assets, at 0.5 % up to €1,300,000, 0.7 % from €1,300,000 to €2,570,000, then higher rates (article 977).

Checks. The tax authority may reassess a value it considers below the true market value (article L. 17 of the French Tax Procedures Code, Livre des procédures fiscales), under the adversarial procedure (article L. 55). The departmental conciliation commission can be seised (articles L. 59 and L. 59 B). Additional tax carries the late-payment interest of article 1727 of the General Tax Code and, in case of deliberate breach, a 40 % surcharge (article 1729).

Proof. A taxpayer who argues that the property has a particular feature, for instance land zoned as building land but unusable, must prove it as at the date of the taxable event (Cass. com., 6 May 2026, appeal no. 25-13.442).

What a valuation report changes

The report establishes the market value at 1 January of the year concerned, with dated, identified and adjusted comparable sales, following the definition in the Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter, 6th edition, November 2025, Title III, § 1.1) and in the European Valuation Standards 2025 (EVS 1). For a main home, it states the value before the allowance; the 30 % allowance is then applied in the return.

For SCI shares, the report rebuilds the restated net asset value: market value of each property, other assets, liabilities including partners’ current accounts, then the unit value of a share. It then justifies each discount by reference to the articles of association and the company’s situation, without double counting. The Charte lists this valuation among the specialities of certain property valuation experts (Title II, § 8.5).

The report is used in three ways: to set the declared value, to reply to a tax reassessment notice, and to support the taxpayer’s position before the conciliation commission or the court. What it does not do: it does not prepare the return, which is for you, your accountant or your adviser; it does not guarantee that there will be no check. It does ensure that the value rests on a method, which changes the nature of the debate with the tax authority.

A worked example

A couple in Fouesnant have for three years declared their seafront house at €800,000, or €560,000 after the 30 % allowance. The rest of their assets put the marginal band at 0.7 %. The tax authority sends a reassessment notice adopting €1,100,000, or €770,000 after the allowance, for each of the three years. The additional tax base is €210,000 per year, or €1,470 of tax per year and €4,410 over three years, plus late-payment interest.

The valuation report, prepared at 1 January of each year with the sales of the time, arrives at €900,000, then €940,000, then €980,000, the market having risen over the period. After the allowance, the additional tax bases are €70,000, €98,000 and €126,000, or €490, €686 and €882 of tax: €2,058 in total, against €4,410 claimed. The report also shows that the value originally declared rested on a serious comparison, which sets aside the idea of a deliberate breach. The reply to the reassessment relies on these figures, reference by reference.

Common mistakes

• Applying the 30 % allowance to a main home held through an SCI, when it is the shares that are declared.
• Using the purchase price, the insurance value or the cadastral value, none of which is the market value.
• Taking the date of the return rather than 1 January, in a market that has moved.
• Applying a blanket 30 % discount to SCI shares without justifying it: this is the typical case of reassessment.
• Not keeping the evidence for the value adopted, when the tax authority can check several years later.

What to gather

• Title deed, property tax notice, plans, floor areas, surveys and certificates.
• Current leases for let property and rents received.
• Loan amortisation schedules at 1 January.
• Articles of association, latest balance sheet and partners’ current accounts for each SCI.
• IFI returns for previous years.
• Reassessment notice and the tax authority’s comparables, if you have received one.

Timeframe and fee

To set the value of a property before the return, a desktop valuation on documents, without a visit, may be enough when the property is well documented: from €325 (5 h), in the format the Charte provides for the desktop opinion (Title II, § 8.6). To reply to a reassessment notice or for an unusual property, the market value report with a visit, described on the Market value page, is delivered three weeks after the visit, from €975 (15 h). For shares in an SCI holding a single property, the valuation described on the Business and company shares page is most often billed from €1,300. All these amounts exclude travel, charged at €65 per hour or part hour from PONT-L’ABBÉ, VAT not applicable (article 293 B of the French General Tax Code), 50 % deposit on ordering. The schedule is on the Fees page.