The issue of inheritance tax is at the heart of a new report, which aims to change things to adapt to current society. In particular, he suggests reviewing the case of blended families, which are increasingly numerous in France.
Eric Coquerel, LFI deputy and president of the finance committee of the National Assembly, asked the Court of Auditors for a inheritance tax report. The document was submitted on September 25, 2024 and judges “possible” to reform the system so that it is better adapted to current society by lowering inheritance taxes for certain people. To compensate for this loss of revenue for the State, certain measures which allow the wealthiest not to pay a large part of these duties would be reduced.
Concretely, this reform would benefit heirs who are in “collateral line”, that is to say who receive an inheritance from a brother or sister, a cousin, ‘an aunt or uncle or niece or nephew. But above all, children of blended families would also be affected when their father-in-law or mother-in-law succeeds. For the Court of Auditors, the objective is to “better take into account family and societal developments”reports Capital.
Currently, direct heirs, in other words children and grandchildren who inherit from a parent, are entitled to a reduction of 100,000 euros. The inheritance is then taxed in a very progressive manner depending on its value: a rate of 5% applies for a taxable portion of less than 8,072 and this can go up to 45% for more than 1,805,677 euros. On the other hand, for “collateral” legatees, the franchise is much lower, and the taxes are higher. For example, for stepchildren, the reduction is only 1594 euros, and the tax amounts to 60%. And this is what can be changed, according to the report. The franchise could thus be raised, while taxes could be lowered. Enough to reduce inheritance costs for all collateral heirs, including stepchildren.
The Court of Auditors has not yet calculated how much such a development would cause the State, which receives these famous inheritance tax taxes, to lose. However, she defends a “balanced reform”. In order to compensate for this loss, she suggests looking into the case of tax loopholes which concern the inheritances of the wealthiest. The first is the Dutreil Pact which allows you to benefit from a 75% exemption from gift or inheritance tax on family business transfers, and the second concerns life insurance contracts which also benefit from taxation. advantageous.