Valley International / leaving france
Your assurance-vie after you leave France
The contract does not know you have left. What changes is the rate applied when you eventually take money out.
A French assurance-vie contract — the wrapper described in French assurance-vie explained to someone who has no equivalent — is unaffected by your departure in its own terms: it keeps its opening date, its accumulated seniority and its investment choices — departure resets none of it. What changes is the tax applied when you withdraw. Article 125-0 A of the French tax code, which governs withdrawals, continues to apply to gains taken by a non-resident, generally through a withholding deducted at source by the insurer, at a rate the applicable tax treaty with your new country of residence may reduce or remove, while French social levies are in principle no longer due once you are non-resident.
Withholding at source, and the treaty that can change it
The insurer, as a French institution, withholds French tax on the taxable gain at the moment of a withdrawal, calculated under the same regime that would apply to a resident, before paying you the balance. The applicable tax treaty between France and your new country of residence may then reduce that withholding, eliminate it, or leave it as a credit against tax due in your new country, and which of those applies depends entirely on how that specific treaty deals with this category of income, which is not uniform across treaties. Getting that answer before instructing a withdrawal is what avoids receiving a smaller sum than expected.
The eight-year anniversary keeps counting
Departure does not pause seniority: a contract that reaches its eighth anniversary while you are non-resident benefits from the improved treatment in the same way it would for a resident, subject to the treaty question above applying to the French side of the calculation. There is no reason to surrender a contract on leaving in order to lock in an anniversary; the anniversary is not at risk.
Whether your new country recognises it at all
This is the question a French adviser cannot answer and that a non-resident holder has to raise locally. Some countries tax the whole gain on withdrawal without reference to the French regime; others may look through the contract to its underlying investments and apply an entirely different characterisation, in the least favourable case treating it as an offshore arrangement subject to punitive reporting. A contract that was efficient in France can become inefficient, or simply administratively heavy, in the country you move to, and checking this before departure is far easier than untangling it at the first foreign filing.
The reporting obligation moves with you conceptually, not literally
While you remain a French resident, no separate declaration is needed for a French assurance-vie held with a French insurer; it is not a foreign contract. Once you have left, the same contract sits from the perspective of your new country of residence, and that country's own reporting rules for foreign investment products, if any, now apply, entirely independent of French law. That obligation, and any penalty attached to it, belongs to the new jurisdiction and is not something this firm advises on directly.
Frequently asked questions
Does my assurance-vie stay open if I leave France?
Yes, without any action required. The contract keeps its opening date, its accumulated seniority and its investment choices — none of it resets on departure — and there is no requirement to close or transfer it. What changes is only the tax treatment applied when you make a withdrawal, which follows the non-resident rules and depends on the treaty with your new country rather than on anything about the contract itself.
Will I still pay French tax on withdrawals once I am non-resident?
Generally yes, through a withholding the insurer deducts at source under article 125-0 A of the French tax code, at a rate the applicable tax treaty with your new country of residence may reduce or remove. French social levies are, in principle, no longer due once you are non-resident, which is a genuine improvement over the resident position. The exact outcome depends entirely on the specific treaty in force with your destination, which is not the same from one country to the next.
Should I surrender my contract before I leave to lock in the eight years?
No, and doing so would usually be a mistake. Seniority does not stop accruing when you leave, so a contract approaching its eighth anniversary reaches it whether you are resident or not, and benefits from the improved treatment in the same way. There is no French mechanism that resets or endangers seniority on departure; the only genuine question is the treaty-dependent rate applied to a later withdrawal.
Will my new country of residence tax the contract differently?
Quite possibly, and this is the question a French adviser cannot answer alone. Some countries simply tax the gain on withdrawal without reference to the French regime; others look through the contract to its underlying investments, and in the least favourable cases treat it as an offshore product subject to heavy reporting. This has to be checked in the country you are moving to, before departure, because a contract that was efficient in France can become inefficient or administratively burdensome elsewhere.
ÉTHIQUE ET PATRIMOINE, a French simplified joint-stock company (SAS), registered office at 41 rue Saint-Ferdinand, 75017 Paris, France, Paris Trade Register no. 803 414 796, VAT no. FR 40 803 414 796, registered with ORIAS under number no. 24001817 (www.orias.fr) — Financial investment adviser (CIF) no. 18002418, member of ANACOFI-CIF, a professional association approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and Anacofi-Courtage for its brokerage activity. Presence: Paris, Montpellier, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai and Dubai.
Review my assurance-vie before I leave
Book a callWritten by Stéphane Molère, Président d'Éthique et Patrimoine — page last reviewed on 2026-08-30 — rules quoted are those in force at that date.