Assurance Vie For Expats In France | Things To Know

For internationally mobile families settling in France, financial planning is rarely straightforward. Wealth is often spread across countries, currencies, tax systems and legacy structures built before relocation. This is where Assurance Vie plays a central role.

Assurance vie for expats in France is often one of the most effective ways to combine tax-efficient investing with succession planning under a single structure, while retaining the flexibility needed for currency management and long-term cross-border considerations. It is not simply an investment account. It is a French-recognised life assurance investment structure designed to combine tax efficiency, estate-planning flexibility, investment management, and cross-border adaptability. When structured correctly, it becomes a central pillar of long-term financial planning in France.

Assurance Vie for Expats in France: Tax, Estate and Investment Planning

Assurance-vie is widely used in expat financial planning in France because it brings together tax efficiency, estate structuring, and long-term investment management within a single regulated framework. It addresses multiple planning needs at once rather than solving a single investment issue in isolation.

Tax Efficiency Over Time

A defining feature is that investment changes inside the policy do not create an immediate taxable event. Portfolios can therefore be rebalanced, adjusted as markets move, and de-risked approaching retirement without tax being triggered each time funds are switched.

Tax is only assessed when withdrawals are made, and only on the gain element, not the capital returned. This enables tax-efficient withdrawals to be structured over time, particularly in later retirement, without unnecessary friction. Many clients plan withdrawals around the 8-year rule, where the French tax treatment becomes more favourable when structured correctly. Depending on the underlying holdings and withdrawal profile, French taxation can also involve social charges, which is one reason sequencing and portfolio design matter.

Assurance Vie Estate Planning and Inheritance Benefits

Assurance vie operates outside the mechanics of many standard estate assets in France, allowing structured beneficiary planning alongside French succession rules. For many expat families, this becomes an inheritance planning tool as much as an investment structure, particularly where beneficiary outcomes need to be clear, efficient and coordinated across borders. It allows named beneficiaries, flexible distribution planning, significant tax allowances per beneficiary, and faster transfer of capital than many estate assets.

For families with children, particularly those with cross-border connections, this structure becomes a central element of succession planning.

Cross-Border Alignment

Expats frequently arrive in France with wealth still tied to structures in their previous country of residence. Over time, this can create tax inefficiencies, currency exposure mismatches and estate complexity.

Using assurance vie allows wealth to be aligned with the country of residence while still maintaining international investment exposure within a coherent cross-border wealth planning framework.

Multi-Currency Flexibility

Expat-focused contracts often allow holdings in multiple major currencies such as GBP, EUR and USD. There is no requirement to convert everything into euros immediately, and investment currency can be matched with future spending plans. Currency planning has a meaningful long-term impact on overall outcomes.

Investment Freedom

Unlike many domestic bank contracts that restrict investors to in-house fund ranges, international assurance structures can offer global funds, passive and active strategies, alternatives and specialist exposures, and diversified portfolios built around objectives rather than product limits. This supports long-term investment discipline without unnecessary tax friction.

Portability In Case Of Life Changes

International families rarely remain static. Depending on provider and structure, assurance contracts can often be adapted if relocation occurs, helping maintain continuity of planning rather than starting again in a new jurisdiction.

Case Study | Paul And Jane’s Move To France

Paul (64) and Jane (61) relocate to France after selling a UK business and preparing for retirement:

Initial Position

Business sale proceeds total £3,000,000, with £1,500,000 deferred over five years. From this, £1,000,000 is allocated to the purchase of a French home. Proceeds from previous property sales and liquid assets, including ISAs, amount to £2,000,000. Defined contribution pension assets total £1,000,000. Both will receive full UK State Pensions. They have two children. Their objective is to establish tax-efficient retirement income and a clear, structured approach to wealth transfer.

Key Planning Considerations

Without appropriate structuring, assets would remain spread across jurisdictions, currency exposure would be uncoordinated, estate planning would rely on default rules, investment income outside tax-efficient wrappers could become inefficient, and pension and non-pension assets would not be sequenced effectively. Addressing these areas was central to building a coherent long-term plan.

Strategy Implementation

UK State Pensions provide a baseline income foundation. The defined contribution pension is placed into an internationally compatible pension structure and used as bridging income during the early years of retirement. Drawing on pension assets during this phase supports lifestyle spending, gradually reduces UK-linked exposure, helps mitigate long-term UK inheritance tax exposure, and allows time for assurance vie tax benefits to mature.

Two assurance policies are established using capital from the business sale and liquid investments. These are structured to define beneficiary allocations for the children, allow active portfolio management without triggering tax events, support and facilitate future withdrawals once full tax benefits are in place following year eight, and integrate with the family’s broader estate planning.

Across pensions and assurance policies, assets are diversified globally, currency exposure is balanced, risk is adjusted over time, and withdrawals are sequenced between pension and assurance structures

Resulting Position

Income needs are met through a structured combination of pension and assurance withdrawals. Investment assets are managed within tax-efficient structures, estate distribution is clearly defined, and wealth is aligned with French residency. The family’s financial arrangements now operate as a coordinated plan rather than a collection of separate accounts.

Common structuring points that matter in practice

The outcome is often determined less by the existence of the contract and more by how it is implemented. Three areas tend to make the biggest difference: selecting a contract that provides suitable investment access and reporting, avoiding unnecessary currency conversions early on, and aligning beneficiary design with the family’s wider estate objectives.

Our Verdict

Assurance Vie is not simply an investment account. It is a planning structure that connects tax, investment and estate considerations under one framework. For expats building long-term lives in France, its value comes not from the product alone, but from how it is structured within a broader financial plan.

About The Wealth Genesis

The Wealth Genesis provides bespoke financial advice for expats throughout France. We start with your current position, your objectives and what you want your wealth to achieve, then structure your financial planning accordingly. As a whole-of-market adviser, we are not tied to any specific products, providers or investment funds, and we do not accept remuneration directly from them.

Our focus is on building long-term relationships and giving clients confidence that their finances are organised properly, supporting retirement, lifestyle planning and the efficient transfer of wealth to loved ones.

If you would like to understand how an assurance vie structure, or other aspects of financial planning as a French resident could fit into your broader plan, you can schedule an initial discovery meeting using the diary below.