Inheritance and gifts

For French fiscal residents only

Donating Air Liquide shares during your lifetime is a good way to add value to your family’s savings, while also passing on your investment culture and confidence in the Group.

We provide you with useful information for a better understanding.

Plan your inheritance with a donation

Making a donation during your lifetime is a simple process that reduces inheritance fees and offers several tax advantages. At any time, you can definitively plan the total or partial allocation of your assets.

Assets distributed in this way are not revalued upon the grantor’s death. Donations are drawn up with a notary as an authenticated deed.

Give your shares as hand-to-hand gifts

Traditionally, this is a gift of money, furniture, jewelry or securities passed from hand to hand. As a general rule, a hand-to-hand gift—or what the gift was used to acquire—must be added to the grantor’s estate in order to be revalued and included in the allocation of the grantor’s assets. An unofficial note or an act signed by a notary can be used to prove acceptance of the gift.

However, within one month, the grantor must notify the recipient’s local tax authorities of the gift using French tax form 2735. This condition allows you to value the securities passed on at their price on the day the gift was made.

Direct registered shareholders, please download the hand-to-hand gift form:

Hand-to-hand gift form [fr]

Tax exemption for donations and hand-to-hand gifts and hand-to-hand gifts

Every 15 years^(a) you can make a donation entirely tax free of an amount up to:

€100,000 for each child by each parent.
€80,724 for your spouse or civil partner.
€31,865 for each grandchild.
€15,932 for each brother or sister.
€7,967 for each nephew or niece.
€5,310 for each great-grandchild.

(a) Was every 10 years, for donations made until August 17, 2012.

Give Air Liquide shares as customary gifts

A customary gift is a present given on a special occasion (wedding, birthday, holiday, etc.). It can be in the form of securities, but must represent a relatively small share of the grantor’s assets.

If it respects these conditions, the gift does not need to be included in the grantor’s estate and is not taxed by fiscal authorities. Gifts do not need to be declared. In this case, the shares given have a purchase price of zero.

Direct registered shareholders, please download the customary gift form:

Customary gift form [fr]

Did you know?

“I want to gift my Air Liquide securities but I don’t want the recipient to sell them”:

In this case, the gift can be bound by a “resale prohibition”, which means the grantor can be sure that the recipient cannot sell without their consent.

“I want to give my Air Liquide shares to my children but continue to receive the dividends”:

A gift en démembrement allows the grantor to retain the income (dividend) while passing on the bare ownership of the securities to the recipients.
When the grantor dies, the recipients receive the usufruct and therefore enjoy full ownership of the securities without having to go through further administrative steps.

“I want to give the usufruct on my Air Liquide shares for a limited period”:

A temporary usufruct gift allows a recipient (such as a charity) to collect dividends for a specified time period.

Find out more

MORE, the 2013 Sharehoder's Guide [FR]

www.impots.gouv.fr
French tax authority website: downloadable tax forms, including the form 2735 to declare a hand-to-hand gift. French language only.

www.notaires.fr
French Notary Council’s website: useful information, legal assistance, etc., in French and English.