Two identical gifts, a few months apart, and €43,200 of extra taxable base. That is the mechanical effect of the scale in article 669 of the French General Tax Code (CGI — Code général des impôts): for a 45 m² Paris flat valued at €432,000, the bare ownership transferred to your child is taxed on 60% of the property's value if the gift is made before your 71st birthday — and on 70% if you let the date slip by.
This scale, reproduced everywhere, is purely a tax device: it moves in ten-year steps and ignores the property's yield as well as your actual life expectancy. The economic value of the usufruct — the one that matters when splitting a sale price or weighing a wealth-planning decision — can differ from it by several points, considerably more for a high-yield property. Knowing which reading applies to which transaction is the key to a well-calibrated transfer.
Before the usufructuary's 71st birthday, the gifted bare ownership is taxed on 60% of the property's value; from age 71, on 70% (article 669 I of the CGI).
What this article covers
This article details the tax scale for life usufruct (article 669 I of the CGI) and fixed-term usufruct (669 II), gifting bare ownership with the €100,000 allowance, what happens to the property on the usufructuary's death (articles 1133, 751 and 774 bis of the CGI), the economic-value method for usufruct, a worked example on a Paris flat, and the common mistakes involving the IFI wealth tax, capital gains and fixed-term usufruct.
The article 669 usufruct tax scale: the official table
Splitting ownership (démembrement) separates full ownership into two distinct rights: the usufruct — using the property and collecting its income — and the bare ownership, the right to dispose of the property, which becomes full ownership again when the usufruct ends. To assess gift and inheritance tax, article 669 I of the CGI apportions the property's value between usufructuary and bare owner on a fixed basis, according solely to the usufructuary's age on the day of the transfer.
| Age of the usufructuary | Value of the usufruct | Value of the bare ownership |
|---|---|---|
| Under 21 | 90% | 10% |
| Under 31 | 80% | 20% |
| Under 41 | 70% | 30% |
| Under 51 | 60% | 40% |
| Under 61 | 50% | 50% |
| Under 71 | 40% | 60% |
| Under 81 | 30% | 70% |
| Under 91 | 20% | 80% |
| Over 91 | 10% | 90% |
This scale has been in force, unchanged, since 31 December 2003. The 2026 Finance Act (Act No. 2026-103 of 19 February 2026) touched neither this scale, nor article 774 bis, nor the parent-child allowance of article 779; the only related novelty is a €15,932 allowance for transfers to stepchildren, subject to conditions of effective care.
Where successive usufructs exist, the statute is clear: "only usufructs open on the day of the transfer of that bare ownership are taken into account". A usufruct that might open later — a surviving spouse's, for instance — does not enter the calculation.
Fixed-term usufruct: 23% per ten-year period
Article 669 II of the CGI governs usufructs created for a fixed term. Such a usufruct "is valued at 23% of the value of the full ownership for each ten-year period", with no pro-rating and regardless of the usufructuary's age: 8 years are worth 23%, 12 years are worth 46%. The value can, however, never exceed that of the life usufruct of the same usufructuary — a 30-year usufruct granted at age 85 is still valued at 20%, not 69%.
Gifting bare ownership before 71: the tax mechanics
Gifting bare ownership while reserving the usufruct is the classic scheme for early transmission: the parent keeps the use of the property — or its rents — for life, and gift tax is computed only on the value of the bare ownership under the scale, never on the full ownership.
The €100,000 allowance and the age brackets
Against this reduced base, the €100,000 allowance per parent and per child is applied (article 779 I of the CGI), renewable every 15 years (article 784 of the CGI). If the property is jointly owned, each parent transfers their half and applies their own allowance.
Timing counts double: each decade the usufructuary crosses adds 10 points to the taxable bare ownership — 50% before turning 61, 60% before 71, 70% thereafter — and age is assessed on the day the deed is signed. Gifting at 69 or 70 rather than at 71 therefore locks in a taxable base of 60% instead of 70%. To measure what a lack of planning would cost, our guide to the calculation of inheritance tax on real estate in 2026 details how a full-ownership transfer is taxed.
On the usufructuary's death: tax-free reunification — and its exception
On the usufructuary's death, the bare owner automatically becomes full owner. Article 1133 of the CGI states the principle: "Subject to the provisions of article 1020, the reunification of the usufruct with the bare ownership gives rise to no tax or duty where that reunification occurs through the expiry of the term set for the usufruct or through the death of the usufructuary". The value of the usufruct thus leaves the taxable estate without ever having borne any duty. Two limits nonetheless frame that principle: the reserve of article 1020, stated at the head of the text, and the presumption of article 751 of the CGI, detailed below.
An exception has existed since the 2024 Finance Act (article 26 of Act No. 2023-1322 of 29 December 2023): article 774 bis of the CGI targets the quasi-usufruct over a sum of money. Where the deceased had reserved the usufruct of a sum gifted in bare ownership, the restitution debt owed to the bare owner is no longer deductible from the estate: its value bears inheritance tax in the bare owner's hands, the duties paid on the initial gift being, in principle, creditable against those due. The rule applies to estates opened since 29 December 2023, including earlier quasi-usufructs. Outside its scope remain the surviving spouse's statutory usufruct (article 757 of the Civil Code) as well as the usufruct arising from a gift between spouses (article 1094-1), debts contracted over the sale price of a property whose usufruct the deceased had reserved (unless the aim was mainly fiscal) and, per the tax authority's guidance of 26 September 2024, split life-insurance beneficiary clauses among others. Classic split-ownership real estate is not affected.
IFI and capital gains: who declares what
For the French real estate wealth tax (IFI — impôt sur la fortune immobilière), the principle of article 968 of the CGI is unambiguous: property subject to a usufruct enters the usufructuary's assets at its full-ownership value; the bare owner declares nothing. Apportionment under the 669 scale is the exception, reserved in particular for the surviving spouse's statutory usufruct (article 757 of the Civil Code); a usufruct from a gift between spouses (article 1094-1) remains taxed 100% in the usufructuary's hands.
Where the split-ownership property is sold jointly, each holder is taxed on their own capital gain: the price is apportioned between usufruct and bare ownership according to their actual value on the day of the sale. Where the seller held the full ownership before the split, the tax authorities accept apportioning the acquisition price using the 669 scale, at the usufructuary's age on the day of the sale — a mere option, the economic valuation remaining permitted provided the same method is applied to both rights (BOI-RFPI-PVI-20-10-10). For the holding-period allowances, see our guide to the calculation of real estate capital gains in 2026.
Usufruct tax scale or economic value: what is your usufruct really worth?
The article 669 scale is an assessment rule, not a valuation. It moves in ten-year steps — a 61-year-old usufructuary is worth as much as a 70-year-old — and ignores two decisive parameters: the property's yield and actual life expectancy, which differs between women and men at equal age.
The economic method: discounting income over life expectancy
The economic value of a usufruct is the discounted sum of the net income the usufructuary will collect over the expected duration of their right. This method, accepted by the tax authorities for capital-gains purposes (BOI-RFPI-PVI-20-10-10) as well as in civil valuations, uses three parameters: the property's net income, a discount rate and life expectancy. According to INSEE (the French national statistics institute, 2025 Demographic Report, Insee Première No. 2087), life expectancy at birth reaches 85.9 years for women and 80.3 years for men; at 60, a woman can still expect 27.9 years on average.
Simulation — 60-year-old female usufructuary, property with a 3% net yield
Take — this article's own simulation — a €432,000 property producing 3% in net rents (€12,960 per year), a 60-year-old female usufructuary (INSEE life expectancy: 27.9 years) and a discount rate set at the average mortgage rate (3.26% across all terms in June 2026, Observatoire Crédit Logement/CSA). The discounted sum of the rents comes to around 55% of the full-ownership value: nearly five points above the 50% of the tax scale, and each extra half-point of net yield widens the gap by around nine points. Conversely, for a low-yield property or a reduced life expectancy, the economic value can fall below the scale.
Which value should you use? For gift and inheritance tax, the 669 scale is mandatory: it is the statutory assessment rule. To split a sale price or weigh a wealth-planning decision, the economic value can — and often should — prevail, the scale being only an accepted practical shortcut there. The reasoning also applies to split ownership of company shares; on the choice of structure, see our comparison of the SCI under corporate tax vs income tax.
Case study: gifting the bare ownership of a Paris flat
Profile: 70-year-old owner, one child, a 45 m² older flat in Paris valued at €432,000 (based on €9,600/m², the Q1 2026 price of older flats in Paris according to Notaires de France, Notaires-INSEE index).
You are 70 and want to pass the flat on to your daughter while keeping the rents. Two timings: sign the gift before your 71st birthday, or postpone it until after.
| Item | Gift before the 71st birthday | Gift from age 71 |
|---|---|---|
| Full-ownership value | €432,000 | €432,000 |
| Reserved usufruct (art. 669 scale) | 40%, i.e. €172,800 | 30%, i.e. €129,600 |
| Bare ownership transferred (gross base) | 60%, i.e. €259,200 | 70%, i.e. €302,400 |
| Parent-child allowance (art. 779 I) | − €100,000 | − €100,000 |
| Taxable base after allowance | €159,200 | €202,400 |
| Difference in taxable base | — | + €43,200 |
The duties are then computed on the taxable base, using the progressive gift-tax rates for the direct line. Waiting until the 71st birthday adds €43,200 to the base — an extra cost all the more pointless given that, on death, the reunification of the usufruct with the bare ownership will happen free of any duty (article 1133 of the CGI), provided the gift was validly made, by notarial deed, more than three months before the death (article 751 of the CGI).
Two precautions complete the scheme. The declared market value must be sincere and reflect the property's actual condition, energy performance included: inheriting an energy sieve is not worth the same as a renovated property, as this analysis of inheriting an energy-inefficient property in France details. And if the transfer later leads to a division, the calculation of the buyout payment in a divorce or inheritance will rest on the same requirement of a sincere valuation.
The four common mistakes on the usufruct scale
Mistake No. 1 — Waiting until your 71st birthday to gift
The inversion is frequent: no, gifting before 71 does not mean "a 30% usufruct is retained". Before turning 71, the usufruct is valued at 40% and the taxable bare ownership at 60%; it is from the 71st birthday that the usufruct drops to 30% and the base climbs to 70%. If you are approaching 61, 71 or 81, each "round" birthday costs 10 points of taxable base.
Mistake No. 2 — Believing that on the usufructuary's death there is "never any duty"
The principle of article 1133 of the CGI remains true for split-ownership real estate. But since 29 December 2023, the quasi-usufruct over a sum of money is an exception (article 774 bis): the bare owner's restitution claim is subject to inheritance tax, the duties already paid on the gift being creditable in principle.
A second, far older and often overlooked limit: the presumption of article 751 of the CGI. Property whose usufruct the deceased had reserved and whose bare ownership belongs to one of their presumptive heirs — or to their descendants, to the deceased's donees or legatees, or to an interposed person — is deemed, unless proven otherwise, to form part of the estate: it is then taxed at its full-ownership value in the bare owner's hands. The presumption is set aside where the split of ownership results from a valid gift, recorded in a notarial deed and made more than three months before the death. That is exactly the pattern in our case study — but the safety net only holds if that time limit is respected: a gift of bare ownership signed within the three months preceding the usufructuary's death tips the property back into the taxable estate. Gifting early is therefore not merely cheaper: it is also what locks in the exemption of article 1133.
Mistake No. 3 — Pro-rating a fixed-term usufruct by year
A fixed-term usufruct is worth neither "2.3% per year" nor any annual pro-rating: the scale counts 23% per ten-year period started, with no fraction (article 669 II of the CGI). A 12-year usufruct is worth 46%, just like a 20-year one, and the value is capped at the life-usufruct value of the same usufructuary.
⚠️ Warning: several online sources suggest otherwise, but the 2026 Finance Act did not reform the usufruct scale — it has been unchanged since 31 December 2003. Another frequent confusion: the €100,000 allowance applies per parent and per child — €200,000 for a couple gifting to one child — and renews every 15 years (article 784 of the CGI), not "per household".
Mistake No. 4 — Thinking the IFI is split between usufructuary and bare owner
As a principle, no: the usufructuary declares the property for the IFI at its full-ownership value and the bare owner declares nothing (article 968 of the CGI). Apportionment under the 669 scale remains the exception — the surviving spouse's statutory usufruct (article 757 of the Civil Code) in particular — and does not extend to a usufruct from a gift between spouses (article 1094-1).
Compare the tax scale with the economic value before you gift
Mon Simulateur Immobilier split-ownership simulator
Work out in a few seconds the value of the usufruct and the bare ownership under the article 669 scale of the CGI — life usufruct by age or fixed-term at 23% per decade — and compare it with the real economic value of the usufruct, estimated from the exact age, the property's net yield and INSEE life expectancy.
To go further: the inheritance-tax calculator to cost out the full transfer, and the IFI calculator to measure the impact of split ownership on your taxable wealth.
Conclusion
The article 669 scale of the CGI looks simple — ten points per decade — but it drives differences of tens of thousands of euros in taxable base depending on the date of the gift. Three rules structure the decision: gift the bare ownership before an age threshold (a 60% base before 71, 70% after); remember that reunification on death is exempt for real estate provided the gift was made more than three months before the death (articles 1133 and 751), but no longer for a quasi-usufruct over a sum of money (article 774 bis); and do not confuse the scale's tax value with the usufruct's economic value, the only one that reflects yield and actual life expectancy.
Before fixing the date and scope of your gift, put figures on both readings. The Mon Simulateur Immobilier split-ownership simulator confronts the 669 scale — life and fixed-term — with the economic value of your usufruct to time your transfer correctly.
