France–Poland — The Riviera Private Wealth Brief

0Executive summary

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus

1The France–Poland convention — 1975, modernised 2019

The relationship rests on a single instrument of unusual longevity. The convention of 20 June 1975, signed at Warsaw between the French Republic and what was then the People's Republic of Poland, entered into force on 12 September 1976 and has never been amended by avenant; a Polish family buying on the Riviera today does so under a text negotiated half a century ago. Its modernisation arrived all at once. Both states listed the convention under the multilateral instrument signed on 7 June 2017, in force for Poland on 1 July 2018 and for France on 1 January 2019, and the consolidated presentation now carries the BEPS-era apparatus: an anti-abuse preamble, the principal-purpose test — under which a treaty advantage can be refused where obtaining it was a principal object of an arrangement — a corresponding-adjustment rule for associated enterprises, an updated mutual-agreement procedure, a 365-day holding condition for the reduced dividend rate, and the 365-day property-rich gains clause examined in section II. Those effects run, for withholding taxes, from 1 January 2019 and, for other taxes, from taxable periods beginning on or after 1 July 2019.

Residence does the sorting. A person within the tax of both states is assigned by the tie-breakers of article 4: permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality, then mutual agreement, with entities resolved to the seat of effective management. The convention covers taxes on income and on fortune (article 2 §§1–2) and extends to identical or analogous taxes instituted after its signature (article 2 §4) — the footing on which the French wealth tax, unknown in 1975, is examined in section I. The authentic texts are French and Polish, each equally authoritative; no official English text exists, and this brief quotes the French consolidation, as the Polish ministry's own synthesised text presents the same instrument from the other side.

The Polish side keeps its own accents. Poland levies no general wealth tax, taxes inheritances and gifts under a regime of its own with substantial relief within the close family, and protects children through the zachowek — a monetary claim against the estate rather than a share of it in kind. This brief states Polish law at orientation level only; its verified ground is the French side and the convention, and the Polish reading belongs with the family's advisers in Warsaw.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus · 1975 convention (CML consolidation) arts. 1, 2, 4; MLI arts. 6, 7, 35; BOI-INT-CVB-POL (2012 vintage — the text prevails)

2The market seen from Poland

Seen from Poland, the Riviera's €3M+ villa market opens on its largest register. The Saint-Tropez peninsula recorded 1006 qualified sales for €7,049M across 2014–2025, at a €4.9M median and a €85.5M ceiling. Cannes and its hills — the Super Cannes quarter on the Vallauris side included — contributed 306 sales for €2,066M at a €4.9M median, while Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat remains the narrowest and most expensive: 178 sales for €2,375M at a €6.5M median and a €200.0M ceiling. The past 36 months alone account for €3,970M across the three.

Source: DVF (« Demandes de Valeurs Foncières », DGFiP), villa sales ≥ €3M, 2014–2025, estate-deduplicated — the same convention as the published Riviera Intelligence hub, so this brief and the public pages cannot disagree. DVF through 2025-12-31.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus · DVF register, estate-deduplicated

IBuying in France as a Polish resident

The process and its costs

The acquisition follows the standard French sequence: offer, compromis de vente with a ten-day cooling-off period, deposit of customarily 10%, conditions precedent, and the authentic deed before the notaire, who collects the duties and registers title. The notaire acts as a public officer rather than as the buyer's counsel, and Polish buyers typically retain their own advisers in addition. Because no succession or gift treaty stands behind this pair, what the deed creates is what French law will later read; the structure questions of section I bis deserve to be answered before the compromis is signed.

The cost of owning

CGI article 964 institutes the annual tax on real-estate wealth above €1,300,000 of taxable assets. For persons not domiciled in France the base comprises French-situs property together with the fraction of any company's shares representing French property (article 965), and the treaty position is settled rather than absent: the convention reaches taxes on fortune, extends to analogous taxes instituted after 1975 (article 2 §4), and assigns the wealth held in French immovables to France (article 22 §1). Poland, for its part, exempts what France may tax (article 23 §1 a) and levies no general wealth tax of its own, so the IFI is a French cost of carry rather than a double charge. Notably, article 22 §4 works in the family's favour on everything else: all other elements of a Polish resident's fortune — portfolios above all — are taxable in Poland alone, and France has no claim on them while Polish residence lasts.

For the family weighing a full move to France, the calendar is set by the domestic statute rather than by the treaty. A person taking French tax domicile after five calendar years outside France is taxable, for the five years that follow, on French real-estate assets only (article 964, 1°, al. 2) — a window the code grants every inbound family, and one best planned against the residence tests of section III before the move rather than after it.

Recurring charges follow the property. Taxe foncière runs at communal rates; for furnished secondary residences, communes in the zone tendue — a category that includes the marquee Riviera communes — may vote a surtaxe on the taxe d'habitation for second homes, and the annual occupancy declaration is required of all owners. Because these rates are communal and year-specific, this brief's edition cycle re-verifies them rather than freezing them.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus · CGI arts. 964–965; 1975 convention arts. 2 §4, 22 §§1, 4, 23 §1 a; cost scales stated for orientation, itemised at engagement

I bisStructures, as questions

The structure question

Holding structures are presented here, in keeping with this line's doctrine, as questions for analysis rather than as recommendations. For a Polish buyer the analysis carries one organising fact: with no succession treaty in the relationship, French domestic law reads the structure on every future event, and it reads through most of them.

Debt against the IFI — what the code anticipates

The financing conversation runs as it does elsewhere on this coast: a loan from the buyer's bank, secured on a pledged portfolio, so that liquidity remains invested while the debt reduces the taxable base. The mechanics are lawful and the code anticipates them. Acquisition debt owed to a bank is deductible from the IFI base under CGI article 974, while financial assets sit outside that base altogether — and for a Polish resident doubly so, article 22 §4 of the convention keeping non-property wealth with Poland alone. The boundaries are three. Loans repaying capital at term are deemed to amortise, the deduction declining pro rata over the loan's life, and by one twentieth a year where no term is fixed. Where taxable property exceeds €5M and debts exceed 60% of its value, the excess is deductible only as to half, unless the borrower shows the loan was not contracted mainly for tax. And the debt must be real — actually drawn, actually serviced, at market terms; routed through a shareholder account of an SCI it ceases to count for valuing the shares (article 973). Leverage moderates the IFI in its early years and fades by design, a calendar best examined before the compromis rather than after.

What the acquisition decides for succession — and for gifts

No succession or gift convention stands between France and Poland: the administration's own coverage table, re-issued in April 2026, records the 1975 convention for income and fortune and nothing besides. French domestic law therefore applies in full. The villa, and shares of companies whose French real estate predominates, fall within French duty whatever the owner's domicile (CGI article 750 ter, 2°); where the deceased was French-domiciled the worldwide estate is reached (750 ter, 1°); and where an heir has had French domicile for at least six of the ten years preceding the transmission, that heir's worldwide inheritance is reached as well (750 ter, 3°) — a clause of direct interest to families whose children study or settle in France. Article 784 A then credits death duty paid abroad, but only against the French tax on assets situated outside France; on the villa itself the French charge is undiminished. Poland, for its part, taxes inheritances and gifts under its own statute, with substantial relief within the close family — the interaction of the two systems, uncushioned by any treaty, is precisely what the pre-acquisition consultation prices.

Where French duty applies, the scale is that of CGI article 777: progressive to 45% in the direct line beyond €1.8M per share, after the €100,000 per-child allowance of article 779, with the surviving spouse exempt in succession. Before either state determines the duty, the civil law determines who inherits, and here the relationship is well equipped: both states apply EU Regulation 650/2012, so a Polish national habitually resident in France may elect Polish law for the succession as a whole. The election changes the mechanics more than the protection — Polish law gives children the zachowek, a monetary claim of a fraction of the intestate share, where French law reserves a share of the estate itself — and because Polish law thus carries a reserve mechanism of its own, the compensatory levy of article 913, alinéa 3 of the Code civil, written for foreign laws that allow none, is not in principle engaged. The fiscal allocation described above is unaffected by the election. The choice of law, the matrimonial regime carried into the purchase, and the calendar of any gifts are questions for counsel on both sides, best answered before the compromis.

The démembrement — bare ownership gifted, use retained

The structure commonly proposed alongside the loan divides ownership itself: the buyer retains the usufruct, the use of the villa and its income for life, and gifts the bare ownership to the next generation. The code values the split by age. Under the scale of CGI article 669, bare ownership represents 60% of full value where the usufructuary is between 61 and 70, and 70% between 71 and 80; the gift bears duty on that fraction alone, at today's value, and the reunification of full ownership at the usufructuary's death is not a further taxable transmission. Article 751 sets the conditions — a notarised gift, made more than three months before death, valued on the article 669 scale — and article 968 keeps the full value within the usufructuary's IFI base, so the wealth tax is unmoved. For a Polish family the setting is domestic rather than conventional: France taxes the gift as a transfer of French property, no treaty machinery applies, and the Polish treatment of the same transmission is examined with counsel in Warsaw alongside the choice-of-law election noted above.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus · CGI arts. 669, 750 ter, 751, 777, 779, 784 A, 968, 973–974, 990 J, 1649 AB; Code civil art. 913; 1975 convention arts. 13 §1, 22 §4; EU Reg. 650/2012

IISelling as a Polish resident

France taxes first, and the 1975 text now speaks with modern wording: article 13 §1 assigns gains on French immovables to France and, since the multilateral instrument took effect, reaches gains on shares and comparable interests — participations in partnerships and trusts included — that drew more than half their value from French real estate at any time in the 365 days before the sale. For a Polish-resident seller the French charge runs under CGI article 244 bis A: the taxable gain is reduced by an ownership-duration allowance of 6% for each year of ownership beyond the fifth and 4% for the twenty-second (article 150 VC), the income-tax component then applying at 19% (article 200 B) and extinguishing after 22 years, while the social levies extinguish after 30 and follow the seller's social-security affiliation — for owners within the European social-security coordination, generally the reduced solidarity levy of 7.5% rather than the full social charges, verified at engagement. Taxable gains above €50,000 bear in addition the progressive surcharge of article 1609 nonies G, which reaches 6% at the levels this market transacts. Poland being a member state of the European Union, the accredited fiscal-representation requirement borne by third-country sellers does not arise (article 244 bis A, IV bis).

Poland then steps back rather than taxing again. Gains article 13 allocates to France sit outside the credit list of article 23 §1 b, so the exemption method of article 23 §1 a applies: Poland exempts the gain, retaining it only for the progression of its rates, and the French assessment settles the matter. How the exemption is returned in the Polish declaration, and how it meets Poland's own holding-period rules for domestic sales, belongs with the family's Polish advisers. The same is true whether the villa or the shares of a property-rich company were sold — on this pair, the wrapper changes the buyer pool and the French mechanics, not the allocation.

Leaving after the sale — a note on the exit tax

Families who sell and then move away from France sometimes ask whether an exit charge applies on departure. The answer is narrower than the name suggests. France's exit tax (CGI article 167 bis) is aimed at securities, not at property: it concerns persons who were French-domiciled for at least six of the ten years before leaving, and taxes the unrealised gains on substantial securities holdings — positions whose combined value exceeds €800,000, or stakes of 50% or more in a company's profits, the second criterion catching a controlling holding whatever its value — as they stand on the day of departure. A villa already sold has settled its own tax under the regimes above, and the sale proceeds themselves are not within the charge. Shares of a family SCI follow the property rather than the portfolio: so long as the company keeps the ordinary income-tax regime, gains on its property-rich shares remain within the real-estate regime (CGI article 150 UB) and outside the exit tax — the French right to tax a later sale being preserved instead by article 244 bis A. A company that has opted for corporation tax changes the classification, and with it the analysis; the option belongs on the pre-departure checklist. The residence clock matters equally: a person who leaves before six years of French domicile within the preceding ten stands outside the latent-gains charge altogether, so the family that tried France for a few years and moved on typically departs untouched; gains already placed under a tax deferral follow their own rules and are reviewed at engagement. Where the machinery does apply, payment is generally deferred, and the assessment lapses automatically where the securities are still held two years after departure — five where the portfolio exceeded €2.57M — or upon a return to France.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus · 1975 convention arts. 13 §1, 23 §1; CGI arts. 150 UB, 150 VC, 167 bis, 200 B, 244 bis A (incl. IV bis), 1609 nonies G

IIIRenting — as tenant and as owner

Renting as a tenant

A rental year before purchase remains the classic first step, and it carries one caution worth stating clearly: French tax domicile under CGI article 4 B turns on the location of the foyer, the principal place of stay, and the centres of professional and economic interest — none of which defers to a lease. A Riviera villa that becomes the family's effective home can establish French residence, with worldwide consequences, well before any purchase, and with it the residence cascade of article 4 of the convention. The choice between furnished seasonal lettings and the one-to-three-year civil lease determines exit flexibility, and is best matched to the trial's real purpose.

Renting the villa out

French-source rental income of non-residents — the furnished lettings common at this price point included — is taxed under the minimum-rate regime of CGI article 197 A, at no less than 20% up to the second-bracket ceiling and 30% above it, unless the taxpayer demonstrates a lower worldwide effective rate; social levies apply in addition, at a rate that depends on the owner's social-security affiliation, for Polish-affiliated owners generally the reduced solidarity levy, verified at engagement. The convention's allocation is direct: article 6 makes the income taxable in France as the state where the property stands, and article 23 §1 a then withdraws it from the Polish base, Poland retaining it for the progression of its rates alone. How the exemption is returned on the Polish side belongs with the family's Polish advisers.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus · CGI arts. 4 B, 197 A; 1975 convention arts. 4, 6, 23 §1 a

4What changed

Edition 1 — baseline (July 2026). The instruments as they stand: the convention of 20 June 1975, in force since 12 September 1976, unamended by any avenant, as modified by the multilateral instrument on the positions deposited by Poland on 23 January 2018 and by France on 26 September 2018 — positions the consolidation itself notes may later be modified by either state, a point this brief will track. The administration's convention-coverage table (BOI-ANNX-000306), re-issued on 29 April 2026, records the Poland row unchanged: income and fortune, no succession or gift instrument. The administration's substantive commentary on the convention dates from 12 September 2012 and predates the multilateral instrument; this brief follows the consolidated text. On the Polish side, the finance ministry's published treaty table lists the 1975 convention and its synthesised MLI text with no successor instrument in preparation on the public record. Watch items for edition 2: annual Loi de finances movements on the IFI and transfer duties; communal surtaxe votes on the Riviera arc; Polish legislation on inheritance and gift tax, on the family foundation, or towards any wealth tax; and any opening of renegotiation between the two states.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus

5Questions, answered

Does a Polish resident pay French wealth tax on a Riviera villa?

Yes, once French real-estate assets exceed €1.3M, whether held directly or through the property fraction of company shares (CGI art. 964). The 1975 convention covers taxes on fortune and assigns the wealth in French immovables to France (art. 22 §1), while everything else in a Polish resident's fortune stays with Poland alone (art. 22 §4). Poland levies no comparable wealth tax, so the charge is confirmed by treaty yet never doubled.

Who taxes the gain when a Polish resident sells a French villa?

France, as the state where the property stands (art. 13 §1), under CGI article 244 bis A with the ownership-duration allowances — the income-tax component extinguishing after 22 years and the social levies after 30. Poland exempts the gain with progression (art. 23 §1 a) rather than crediting, so the French assessment settles the matter.

Does selling through a company change the answer?

Not on the allocation. Since the multilateral instrument took effect, gains on shares that drew more than half their value from French real estate at any time in the 365 days before the sale are taxable in France (art. 13 §1), and at death property-rich shares remain within French duty under CGI article 750 ter. The wrapper changes the buyer pool and the mechanics, not the taxing state.

Is there a France–Poland succession or gift convention?

No. The administration's convention-coverage table records income and fortune for Poland and nothing more. French duty therefore follows domestic law alone: the villa and property-rich shares are reached whatever the owner's domicile (CGI art. 750 ter), an heir six-of-ten-years French-resident brings worldwide reach, and the credit of article 784 A is confined to tax paid on assets situated outside France.

Can a Polish owner's heirs keep Polish succession law?

Largely, yes. Both states apply EU Regulation 650/2012, so a Polish national habitually resident in France may elect Polish law for the succession as a whole. Polish law protects children through the zachowek — a monetary claim of a fraction of the intestate share — rather than the French réserve in kind; because a reserve mechanism exists, the compensatory levy of article 913, alinéa 3 of the Code civil is not in principle engaged, and the fiscal allocation is untouched: French duty still reaches the villa.

Is rental income from France taxed if the owner lives in Poland?

Yes, by France: the convention makes income from immovable property taxable in the state where it stands (art. 6), and France applies the minimum-rate regime of CGI article 197 A, at no less than 20% and 30%, with social levies in addition. Poland exempts the income with progression (art. 23 §1 a) rather than crediting.

Does a French exit tax apply after selling and leaving?

Rarely, and never on the villa itself. The charge (CGI art. 167 bis) reaches only persons French-domiciled for six of the ten years before departure, and only their unrealised gains on securities — above €800,000 in value, or stakes of 50% or more of a company's profits; the sold villa and its proceeds stand outside, as do family-SCI shares kept under the ordinary income-tax regime (art. 150 UB). Where it does apply, payment is generally deferred and the assessment lapses after two years — five above €2.57M — or upon return to France.

Does a bank loan reduce French wealth tax on a Riviera villa?

Yes. Acquisition debt owed to a bank is deductible from the IFI base under CGI article 974, and pledged financial assets remain outside the French tax altogether — the convention keeps a Polish resident's non-property wealth with Poland alone (art. 22 §4). The deduction is bounded: interest-only loans are deemed to amortise each year, and where property exceeds €5M and debt exceeds 60% of its value, the excess counts only as to half unless a mainly non-tax purpose is shown.

What is the Chiron Legal Corpus?

The Chiron Legal Corpus is the research library behind this brief, maintained by this office's offshore legal-research partner: an extensive cross-border collection of consolidated statutes, tax-authority doctrine, treaty instruments and case law, including the French primary sources in full text. Every statement of law in these pages is verified against it, re-checked against Légifrance and BOFiP at each edition, and stamped with its review date section by section.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus

6Methodology, sources & qualifications

Method. Legal statements are verified against the Chiron Legal Corpus, the research library maintained by this office's offshore legal-research partner — an extensive cross-border and international collection of consolidated statutes, tax-authority doctrine, treaty instruments and case law, including French primary law held in full text and re-checked against the official sources at each edition. The review of 19 July 2026 covered Légifrance (CGI arts. 4 B, 150 UB, 150 VC, 167 bis, 197 A, 200 B, 244 bis A incl. IV bis, 669, 750 ter, 751, 777, 779, 784 A, 964–965, 968, 973–974, 980, 990 J, 1609 nonies G, 1649 AB; Code civil art. 913 — consolidated texts) and the treaty instrument in its official French presentation: the convention of 20 June 1975 as consolidated with the multilateral instrument on the positions deposited in 2018, published by the French administration. The authentic texts are French and Polish, each equally authoritative; no official English text exists. The administration's commentary on the convention (BOI-INT-CVB-POL) dates from 12 September 2012 and predates the multilateral instrument; this brief follows the consolidated text. The convention-coverage position is taken from the administration's table of 29 April 2026 (BOI-ANNX-000306); the Polish treaty-status position from the Polish finance ministry's published table. Polish domestic law is stated at orientation level from secondary sources and is never load-bearing for a legal claim. Market data: DVF (DGFiP), villa sales ≥ €3M, estate-deduplicated, register through 2025-12-31. Items flagged "at engagement" — communal rates, social-levy affiliation, the Polish return of exempted income, the deed-level gain base — are stated at mechanism level pending case-specific verification.

Qualification. This brief documents published law and public transaction data; it is research rather than personalised legal or tax advice, and individual circumstances — residence history, nationality, matrimonial regime, the chain of title — change outcomes. For a live transaction, this office coordinates the appropriate French counsel (avocat fiscaliste, notaire) and executes the property side.

Law reviewed as at 19 July 2026 — verified against Légifrance and BOFiP through the Chiron Legal Corpus

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Wydanie polskie