Quote:
Originally Posted by stomachmonkey
My thoughts as well.
But what I would question depends on the size of the estate.
Does the total fall under the tax free IRS threshold?
Do the French care who pays the obligations? Must it be the decedents estate or can anyone pay?
How does who pays impact French taxes and the ultimate value of the remaining estate once obligations are paid?
In a nutshell I think your bigger concern is ultimately French tax code.
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Again, my understanding only.
The size of the estate does not matter, except for French tax purposes, and IRS regulations are not involved as the estate is from a French citizen/French resident.
There is
no federal inheritance tax, so there is
no tax free IRS threshold.
There is a lot of mixing of terms when looking of information about this issue. Many sites use the terms "inheritance tax" and "estate tax" interchangeably, but they are
distinctly different. Reading articles about inheritance tax limits always winds up being about
estate tax restrictions unless it specifically deals with individual state inheritance laws.
Bottom line,
estate taxes are assessed on the value of a deceased's assets and are the responsibility of the
estate to pay. Estates are subject to
federal and
state taxation.
Inheritance taxes are assessed on assets received
from a deceased's estate, are the responsibility of the
beneficiary to pay and they apply in only (now) eight states in the US. No
federal tax on assets received by an individual from the estate of a deceased.