What is meant by your fiscal household
Explore how the tax applies to property, relationships and families
IFI wealth tax is assessed on households, not businesses. To recap it applies to anyone whose assessable property estate has a value in excess of €1.3 million as of January 1, 2026, but subject to the five-year exemption on foreign assets and other deductions such as, importantly, 30% of French residents' main home value.
Assessment is based on the net property wealth of the household – le foyer fiscal. This could be:
A single person,
A couple living together whether married, pacsed, in a civil partnership or cohabiting and any under-18s for whom they are the legal guardians. Cohabiting (concubinage notoire in French) means a stable and continuous shared life. Note that there are differences here from the definition of le foyer fiscal for French income tax, which does not automatically include an unmarried partner unless a couple have children together and declare jointly.
Your spouse is included even if you were only married in the previous year and he or she is opting for a separate income tax declaration for the year.
Married couples are taxed on the total of their eligible property assets, regardless of their marriage regime.
The only dependents included are minors for whom you or your partner/spouse have legal rights to administer their property. The property of any adult children attached to your household for income tax purposes is not included (they make their own IFI declaration if applicable.) Nor is any property belonging to disabled adults living under your roof at your expense.
Note that in some instances where couples do not live together they may be assessed separately. This includes couples who have a séparation de biens marriage regime and are no longer living under the same roof, or others with different marriage regimes undertaking judicial separation or divorce proceedings who have been legally authorised to have separate main residences.
In cases like these, the estate of any children is split between the parents.
When you live with someone in concubinage, either person can make the wealth declaration and there is a specific line in the declaration for this purpose.