In December 2009, a grandfather transferred assets held abroad to his grandson, without informing the tax authorities. A year later, he made a real estate donation to her by notarial deed, but still does not mention the first donation in 2009 to the notary. It will be in 2014, while the grandson in question faces a procedure of regularization of foreign assetsthat the donation will be mentioned to the administration. He ultimately finds himself taxed on the value of the assets on the day of this revelation, significantly higher than in 2009on the basis of article 757 of the General Tax Code. The grandson will contest, but in vain: after several complaints, the commercial chamber of the Court of Cassation proves him wrong in its judgment of April 2, 2025 (appeal no. 23-15.834).
A thing that could have happened to many families: there are numerous donations made during his lifetime and “forgotten” to be declared. But as this case clearly shows, it can only be unfavorable for you…
Undeclared manual donation: why it will always be unfavorable to you
Article 757 of the CGI is implacable: for a manual donation revealed to the administration, transfer taxes are calculated on the value of the property on the day of its declaration, or on its value on the day of the donation if this was higher. Administration always retains the higher of the two. In the case of this grandson, he and his grandfather should have reported this manual gift explicitly in the 2010 notarial deed.
Let’s take a concrete example. Parents passed on shares in a family company worth 80,000 euros to their child in 2012, without declaring it. In 2026, when the estate is settled, these shares will be worth 350,000 euros. It is this value of 2026 which serves as the basis for calculation. After the direct line deduction of 100,000 euros, the taxable base is 250,000 euros. The fees due will be more than 48,000 euros, to which late payment interest and an increase of 40% may be added if the administration considers that the omission was deliberate. If the donation had been declared in 2012, the tax base would have been zero : the parent-child allowance was 100,000 euros, the 80,000 euros fell entirely under the allowance.
This is why, even if you know that the donation is not taxable, it is imperative to declare it.
No deadline protects an undeclared donation
A preconceived idea persists: after 15 years, a donation would no longer be taxable. It comes from a real mechanism: the reductions on donations are renewed every 15 years. A parent can thus give up to 100,000 euros to their child without rights (and a grandparent up to 31,865 euros), then start again 15 years later. But this counter only runs from the moment where the first donation was declared and recorded. A silent donation never causes this deadline to run: it remains taxable years later, without any prescription.
It is often during the settlement of an inheritance that these gifts rise to the surface. Either because an heir mentions it in the declaration of succession, or because a conflict between heirs pushes one of them to reveal what another received to reestablish inheritance equality. Once the donor dies, it is no longer possible to defer payment of duties: they must be paid in the month following the revelationon a value which has sometimes increased considerably since.
Declaring early: the only real protection
Since January 1, 2026, the declaration of a manual donation must be made online at impots.gouv.fr, within the month following the remittance of funds. This is the only way to avoid this type of problem, and taxation that is heavier than it would have been.
