«Alexis, we’ve been living in Melbourne for two years and we plan to stay. My parents are getting older in France. What will happen, tax-wise, when I inherit from Australia?»
Australia hosts 27,614 French citizens registered with the consular register as of December 31, 2025, an increase of +7.63 % over one year This is the strongest growth in our panel after the Emirates. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth concentrate the majority of this community.
It is a destination where the treaty framework is both modern and incomplete. The income tax treaty, signed on June 20, 2006, is recent and well-structured. But there is no neither inheritance agreement nor bilateral social security agreement between France and Australia — a rare accumulation of absences, and one with serious practical consequences.
At the house of Balmont Conseil, We treat Australia as a long-distance case: back-and-forth trips are costly, delays are long, and asset decisions must last for several years without adjustment.
1. Why seek expertise in wealth management In Australia?
Four issues, two of which relate to absences.
- No inheritance agreement. There is no division of the right to tax on death between France and Australia, and no conventional credit is organized.
- No social security agreement. France has concluded such agreements with around forty countries; Australia is not among them. This has consequences for your pension rights as well as your social security contributions.
- A recent and favorable income agreement. The one dated June 20, 2006 provides in particular for an exemption from withholding tax on certain dividends and a capped rate of 10 % on interest, with several cases of exemption.
- An Australian death tax that dare not speak its name. Australia does not levy inheritance tax, but its capital gains tax includes specific mechanisms for inheritance, some of which are triggered specifically when the beneficiary is not a resident. This should be verified with a qualified advisor in Australia.
2. The France ↔ Australia framework in five verified points
Here is the applicable framework, verified in official sources as of September 15, 2026. This is one of the rare destinations where three out of five routes are unfavorable.
| French registered in the register | 27,614 as of December 31, 2025 (+7.63 % over one year), one of the strongest increases in the panel. |
| Income Convention | Yes — Convention of 20 June 2006 (Official Journal of 21 June 2009). Pensions and annuities are taxable in the State of residence (Article 17), with reciprocal exemption for war and veterans' pensions. Interest is capped at 10% (Article 11), with exemptions for government bonds and certain financial institutions. |
| Convention on Successions | None. Australia is included in the list of conventions concluded by France only with regard to income tax. |
| Exit tax — deferral of payment | Automatic payment deferral. The good news in this case is that Australia and France have clauses for the exchange of information and assistance in recovery on all the taxes concerned. |
| CSG and CRDS on capital income | 17.2 %. The exemption from CSG and CRDS applies to members of a social security scheme in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom. Furthermore, there is no none bilateral social security agreement between France and Australia. |
The absence of a social security agreement is a verified fact, not a supposition. The official list of bilateral social security agreements in force, published by the Centre for European and International Social Security Liaison, includes around forty countries. Australia is not on this list. This affects the coordination of your pension rights as well as your contributions.
The absence of an inheritance agreement makes article 750 ter of the CGI directly applicable. Article 3 makes all assets received by an heir domiciled in France for at least six of the last ten years taxable in France. Conversely, if you inherit from relatives domiciled in France while in Australia, France will tax the deceased's worldwide estate under Article 1 of the same article.
The automatic exit tax deferral is the favorable element. Unlike Canada, Israel, or Andorra, a move to Australia requires neither guarantees nor a tax representative. This represents a significant cash outflow from a substantial securities portfolio.
3. Our services: 360° support for expatriates and investors
Three construction sites, calibrated for the distance.
Modeling of two-way transmission
A Franco-Australian case raises the question of transfers in both directions: what you will transfer from Australia, and what you will receive from France. Article 750 ter of the French General Tax Code addresses both cases, albeit in different paragraphs.
We model both scenarios, with and without allocation under Article 784 A of the French General Tax Code (CGI), to obtain the actual net cost. This is the only way to determine whether the subject requires corrective action or not.
- Hypothesis "I am transferring from Australia": effect of 3° of article 750 ter on each heir.
- Hypothesis "I inherit from Australia": effect of the 1st on the worldwide estate of the deceased.
- Limits of the imputation provided for in article 784 A of the CGI.
Coordination of pension rights
In the absence of a bilateral social security agreement, your periods of employment in France and Australia are not automatically combined. This does not mean that your French rights are lost, but that they are calculated separately and according to their own rules.
We establish the status of your rights acquired in France, how they will be settled from abroad, and any possible arbitrations — buybacks of quarters, choice of the settlement date, tax implications of the payment.
Remote management of French heritage
Time zone differences and distance make day-to-day monitoring difficult. We handle the French tax return calendar, the taxation of rental income at the minimum rate for non-residents under Article 197 A of the French General Tax Code (CGI) — with the option for the average rate when more favorable — and the real estate wealth tax.
Regarding savings accounts, we examine what should be kept and what should be adjusted. One Luxembourg life insurance contract This offers the advantage of a stable framework, independent of your residence, which is important when adjustments are costly to make.
The Australian tax treatment of a French contract falls under Australian law: it is checked with an authorized professional on site, and we help you to ask them the question in the appropriate terms.
4. Methodology: our way of working
We work in four stages, and you know where you are at each stage.
- The initial assessment. We assess your actual situation: composition of assets, project timeline, situation of each member of the household, and tax domicile of your heirs — because it is theirs that dictates, not yours.
- The applicable reference framework. We establish, source by source and with its date, the framework that concerns you. What we do not know, we write "to be confirmed" — never anything else.
- The arbitrations. We present you with the numerical options, along with their respective consequences, and you decide. Heritage engineering comes after the decision, not before.
- The follow-up. An annual review, offered free of charge, which verifies that the framework has not changed — the conventions are modified, the attractiveness schemes are eliminated, the thresholds change.
5. What the firm offers you
This is what specifically distinguishes our intervention.
- Sources, not claims. Each item in your file has its reference number and date. You can check. This is the only way to work on a subject where most of the information available online is outdated.
- A single point of contact in France. We coordinate with your local advisors, we do not replace them: the internal tax regulations of the host country are handled by a qualified professional on site. Our role is to maintain overall consistency and to defend the French side of the case.
- Fees that are easy to understand. Firm fees: €500 including VAT per hour. Annual follow-up is included. No hidden kickbacks, no performance-based billing.
Frequently Asked Questions in Australia
Are there inheritance taxes in Australia?
Australia does not levy inheritance tax. This does not mean that death is fiscally neutral: the Australian system handles the transfer through its capital gains tax, with specific rules depending on the beneficiary's status.
These rules fall under Australian domestic law and should be verified with qualified local counsel. We will not state them on their behalf—but we know they must be established, and we do so systematically.
If I inherit from my parents who remained in France, what happens?
If the deceased was domiciled in France, paragraph 1 of article 750 ter of the general tax code makes all of his assets, located in France as well as abroad, taxable in France, regardless of your own residence.
Your relocation to Australia does not exempt you from French inheritance tax on this estate. In the absence of a treaty, no treaty mechanism exists to remedy this outcome.
Do my French quarters count towards my Australian pension?
No. There is no bilateral social security agreement between France and Australia, unlike the forty or so countries with which France has such agreements. The periods are not cumulative.
Your French pension rights remain valid and will be settled according to French rules, regardless of your Australian career. We will determine their status and settlement options.
Will the exit tax cause me a cash flow problem?
No, on this point Australia is well positioned. It has, along with France, the two required clauses — exchange of information and assistance in recovery — which allows for automatic payment deferral, without guarantee or tax representative.
What remains are the reporting obligations and the annual monitoring until the tax relief is granted, which we take care of.
Will I have to pay CSG tax on my French rent from Australia?
Yes, at the full rate of 17.2 %. The exemption from CSG and CRDS is reserved for persons affiliated to a compulsory scheme of a State of the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.
Australia does not fall under any of these cases, and no bilateral agreement supplements it.
In summary
Australia combines a modern income convention, an automatic exit tax deferral, and two notable absences: no inheritance convention, no social security agreement.
The necessary work therefore focuses on the transfer—in both directions—and the coordination of pension rights. These are two subjects that require extensive preparation, which is fortunate: the distance makes late corrections difficult.
Firm's fees: €500 including VAT per hour. Annual follow-up is offered.
Let's review your situation
A thirty-minute consultation is all it takes to assess your estate planning and the status of your pension rights. You can also start with a Free X-ray of your contracts.
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