Transfer of managerial assets: strategy and tools 2026

The transfer of a manager's assets is the most complex and tax-heavy transaction of his life.

Why the transfer of assets from the manager is a separate subject

The transfer of a manager is distinguished from that of a wealthy individual by its specific complexity: the manager's assets are concentrated on a single asset – his business – whose value is illiquid, volatile and intimately linked to his presence.

Double transmission: business AND personal assets constituted

A 55-year-old SME manager typically has two distinct assets.

The risks of an unanticipated transfer: maximum taxation and family conflicts

In the absence of a transmission strategy, the death of the manager triggers an inheritance taxed at the progressive scale on the entire net assets, after only €100,000 deduction per child.

The 15-year rule: why starting early is the only truly powerful lever

The main lever for wealth transmission is time.

Mapping the manager’s transferable assets

Before defining a transmission strategy, it is essential to map precisely what will be transmitted, how, and with what taxation in the absence of optimization.

Professional assets: company securities, business assets, professional real estate

Professional assets cover the securities of the operating company (or the holding company if a holding structure has been set up), business assets held directly, and professional real estate (premises held personally or via an SCI).

Personal assets established: life insurance, PER, real estate, financial investments

The manager's personal assets include the main residence (which benefits from a 20% reduction in the event of transfer if the spouse or certain heirs reside there), rental real estate investments (transferable under normal rights, but whose bare ownership can be given to a reduced basis via dismemberment), life insurance contracts (the capital of which is partially outside the inheritance), the PER (excluding the inheritance before the age of 70 under certain conditions), and financial portfolios (PEA closed in

Assets outside inheritance: identifying what escapes inheritance tax

Certain assets transferred upon death are partially or completely exempt from inheritance tax.

Company transmission tools

Four major tax tools make it possible to organize the transfer of the business under optimized tax conditions.

The Dutreil pact: exemption of 75% from duties on professional titles

The Dutreil pact (articles 787 B and 787 C of the CGI) is the most powerful business transfer mechanism in French tax law.

Dutreil pact simulation — company valued at €2 million, two children beneficiaries — 2026 data

The saving of €520,000 illustrated in this simulation is conditional on rigorous compliance with conservation and management commitments.

Donation-transfer: transmit before selling to purge the added value

The donation-transfer consists of giving the company's shares to one's children before transferring them to a buyer.

Family Buy-Out (FBO): buying the family business with leverage

Family Buy-Out is a family transmission technique that combines donation and buyout by loan.

Contribution-transfer (art. 150-0 B ter): defer taxation and reinvest via holding company

The contribution-transfer (article 150-0 B ter of the CGI) is the preferred mechanism when the transfer is made to a third party — not to heirs.

Tools for transmitting personal assets

Alongside company-specific tools, the manager's personal assets are transmitted via common law systems whose anticipated and coordinated use can reduce the inheritance tax burden very significantly.

Progressive donations and reductions: the 15-year strategy

Progressive donations constitute the simplest, safest and most effective lever for wealth transfer — provided they are initiated early enough.

Progressive donation simulation — couple, 2 children, legal allowances and Sarkozy donation — 2026 data

Ces donations peuvent porter sur des sommes d'argent (les plus simples à mettre en oeuvre), sur des valeurs mobilières (PEA, portefeuille CTO), ou sur des biens immobiliers — en pleine propriété ou en nue-propriété. La donation de la nue-propriété d'un bien immobilier en conservant l'usufruit est particulièrement efficace : l'Taxable base est réduite (selon le barème de l'article 669 CGI en fonction de l'âge de l'usufruitier), le donateur conserve la jouissance et les revenus du bien jusqu'à son décès, et les donataires récupèrent la pleine propriété sans droits supplémentaires au décès.

Dismemberment of property: transmitting value while retaining income

Le démembrement de propriété est l'outil de transmission le plus souple pour un dirigeant qui souhaite préparer la transmission sans perdre les revenus de ses actifs. En donnant la nue-propriété de ses titres de holding ou de ses biens immobiliers à ses enfants, tout en conservant l'usufruit, il transmet la valeur économique future de ces actifs à une assiette fiscalement réduite — la valeur de la nue-propriété augmente mécaniquement avec l'âge de l'usufruitier (article 669 CGI). À 60 ans, la nue-propriété représente 40 % de la valeur en pleine propriété — une Taxable base réduite de 60 %. À 70 ans, elle monte à 30 % de la pleine propriété. Chaque année de retard dans l'initiation du démembrement augmente mécaniquement l'Taxable base. Le dirigeant conserve l'intégralité des revenus (dividendes de la holding, loyers du bien immobilier) jusqu'à son décès, après lequel ses enfants récupèrent la pleine propriété sans droits supplémentaires.

Life insurance: excluding inheritance and reduced taxation per beneficiary

Life insurance is the only French asset that allows capital to be transferred outside of inheritance with specific advantageous taxation.

Simulation assurance-vie vs succession classique — capital €600,000, 3 enfants bénéficiaires — données 2026

PER: excluding inheritance before age 70 and beneficiary clause

The retirement savings plan (PER) benefits from inheritance treatment similar to life insurance if it has not been liquidated before death.

Protection of the spouse in the transmission strategy

The protection of the surviving spouse is a dimension often sacrificed for the benefit of intergenerational tax optimization.

Marital regime and inheritance rights of the surviving spouse

The matrimonial regime conditions the rights of the surviving spouse to the manager's assets.

Life insurance beneficiary clause: optimize transmission to the spouse

The beneficiary clause of life insurance is the most flexible tool for protecting the surviving spouse.

Donation between spouses and marital benefits

The donation between spouses - also called donation to the last living person - allows the surviving spouse's inheritance share to be increased beyond their legal share.

SCI and holding company: protecting the spouse while organizing the transmission to the children

The family SCI or the asset holding company makes it possible to simultaneously organize the protection of the spouse and the transmission to the children via the dismemberment of securities.

Build the strategy according to the family and asset profile

There is no universal transmission strategy.

Manager with child(ren) successor(s): Dutreil + FBO + dismemberment

Lorsqu'un ou plusieurs enfants souhaitent reprendre l'entreprise, la combinaison optimale articule trois dispositifs. Le pacte Dutreil réduit l'Taxable base de 75 % sur les titres transmis. Le FBO permet aux enfants repreneurs d'acquérir les titres non donnés via une holding de reprise financée par emprunt, remboursé par les dividendes de la société opérationnelle. Le démembrement de la fraction des titres donnés — nue-propriété aux enfants, usufruit conservé par le dirigeant — permet au dirigeant de continuer à percevoir les dividendes jusqu'à son décès tout en réduisant l'Taxable base des droits. Pour les enfants non repreneurs, l'équilibre successoral peut être assuré par d'autres actifs (assurance-vie, immobilier, liquidités) ou par une soulte versée par les repreneurs.

Manager with planned transfer to a third party: contribution-transfer + donation before transfer

When the transfer is made to a third party (investment fund, industrial buyer), the strategy combines the contribution-transfer to defer the taxation of the capital gain and prior donations to reduce the transferable basis.

Manager without identified family successor: holding capitalization + progressive donations

In the absence of an identified family successor, the transmission strategy focuses on the capitalization of the assets in a holding company then on its progressive distribution via inheritance allowances.

Manager with complex mixed professional/personal heritage: multidisciplinary approach

Managers whose assets include several companies, real estate assets held in different structures, dispersed financial investments and family assets transmitted by inheritance require a coordinated multidisciplinary approach.

Taxation of transmission: what to anticipate

The taxation of the transfer of assets from the manager operates on several levels simultaneously.

Gift and inheritance tax: scale, reductions and effective rates

Les droits de donation et de succession entre parents et enfants sont calculés sur la valeur nette transmise après abattement de €100,000 par parent et par enfant (en 2026). Le barème progressif s'applique sur la Net taxable base : 5 % jusqu'à 8 072 €, 10 % de 8 072 € à 12 109 €, 15 % de 12 109 € à 15 932 €, 20 % de 15 932 € à 552 324 €, 30 % de 552 324 € à 902 838 €, 40 % de 902 838 € à 1 805 677 €, 45 % au-delà. Ces taux s'appliquent par transmission et par bénéficiaire — chaque enfant est taxé séparément sur sa part. Une transmission de 1 M€ à un seul enfant génère environ 274 000 € de droits (après abattement de €100,000). La même transmission à deux enfants de €500,000 chacun génère environ 2 × 80 000 € = 160 000 € de droits — l'égalité de répartition entre héritiers est fiscalement neutre ou avantageuse selon la progressivité du barème.

Capital gains on sale: exemption regimes and deferral systems

La cession des titres d'une société génère une plus-value mobilière imposable à la flat tax de 30 % (PFU) par défaut, ou au barème progressif sur option. Pour les dirigeants cédant leur société après y avoir exercé leurs fonctions, un abattement fixe de €500,000 s'applique sur la plus-value en cas d'option au barème (départ à la retraite dans les 24 mois précédant ou suivant la cession, conditions d'ancienneté remplies). Cet abattement se cumule avec l'abattement pour durée de détention renforcé (85 % après 8 ans pour les titres de PME acquis avant 2018). L'apport-cession (article 150-0 B ter) permet de différer l'imposition en capital par le réinvestissement via holding.

IFI and transmission: reduce the trim before transmission

The IFI affects net real estate assets greater than €1.3 million on January 1 of each year.

Global simulation: transmission with and without optimization on assets of €3 million

Overall simulation — assets €3 million (company securities €2 million + AV €600 thousand + real estate €400 thousand), 2 children — 2026 data

The simulation illustrates the total challenge of the transfer of assets from a manager with assets of €3 million: a saving of €695,625 in rights compared to a non-optimized transfer, or 23% of the total value of the assets preserved by a coordinated strategy.

The strategic transmission calendar

The transfer of assets from the manager is a strategy to be built over 15 to 20 years, not an operation to be carried out urgently.

Indicative strategic calendar — to be adapted according to age, family situation and stage of the business

15-20 years ago : poser les fondations

This is the most neglected phase — and yet the most decisive.

10 years ago : activer les abattements et initier le démembrement

This phase is that of the execution of the first structuring operations.

5 years ago : préparer la sortie fiscale

This is the preparation phase for the most structuring operations.

The year of transmission: coordinating operations and advice

The year of effective transmission — donation, transfer or death — is the year where the quality of the preparation is revealed.