French-Swiss tax lawyer
Preparing your move to Switzerland, organizing a cross-border succession, or structuring wealth between France and Switzerland.
When should you consult a French-Swiss tax lawyer?
You are preparing your move to Switzerland
Sale of a business, transfer of residence in the coming months, a choice between Geneva, Vaud or Zug.
- Securing the exit tax and the deferral of payment
- Anticipating a gift to your children before you leave
- Coordinating the timing with your buyer or your private banker
- Ideally 12 to 24 months before departure
Your family is split between the two countries
Assets in France and Switzerland, heirs in both countries, property in the Lake Geneva region or in Haute-Savoie.
- French-Swiss succession since the end of the treaty in 2015
- Gift, split of ownership, choice of tax domicile at the time of death
- Coordination with French and Swiss notaries
- Anticipating double taxation on the inheritance
You work in Switzerland from France
Cross-border worker or resident in both countries, remote work beyond 40% of your time under the amendment in effect since 2026, accounts and life insurance policies in both countries.
- Bilateral treaty and taxation of income
- The 2026 remote-work amendment and the 40% threshold
- Social security and filings in both countries
- Regularization of foreign accounts if needed
A different situation? A first conversation lets us map out what is at stake.
Reading your situation through two systems
French-Swiss matters are not handled piece by piece.
If you address the exit tax without the succession, or tax residency without the transmission, you leave blind spots behind you that will cost dearly ten years later. A decision made today in Geneva calls for others in Lyon, and the other way around.
We take up your situation as a whole: your wealth, your family, your plans, the mandates already entrusted to your other advisors. Then we read it through both systems:
- France-Switzerland bilateral treaties
- Cantonal regimes
- Tax timelines
- Case law of both tax authorities
Where each authority applies its own logic, we look for the right alignment, not theoretical optimization.
You do not leave us when the matter closes. A gift changes what is at stake. A court ruling shifts the ground. One child settles in Geneva, another returns to France. We remain present at every turn, because French-Swiss private wealth taxation plays out over ten, twenty, thirty years, not over a single transaction.
Lalé Kilic, French-Swiss tax lawyer in Lyon
Nearly twenty years of practice in international private wealth taxation. A first career in major American law firms in Paris, before founding L.L.V. FIDEUROPE AVOCATS in Lyon. 60% of our clients are international, mainly between France, Switzerland and the United States.
- Member of the Lyon Bar, listed in the international lawyers directory
- IFORA training for chartered accountants on international matters
- French-Swiss seminars in Lyon, Geneva and Annecy
- Member of the GESICA international lawyers network
In person in Lyon, Paris, Annecy or Geneva. Video conferencing in French and in English.
Full background
Your questions on French-Swiss taxation
The questions that come up most often on situations between France and Switzerland.
01 How can you avoid double taxation between France and Switzerland? +
The 1966 France-Switzerland tax treaty provides mechanisms to prevent the same income from being taxed twice, but they vary with your situation. For salaries, the place of taxation depends on the canton: for eight cantons, including Vaud, the 1983 agreement provides for taxation in your State of residence; for the others, including Geneva, the salary remains taxed at source in Switzerland, and France then eliminates the double taxation through a tax credit offset against the French tax due. For wealth, the rules depend on the type of asset: real estate where it is located, securities where you reside. Double taxation arises mainly in mixed situations: dual residence, remote work beyond the threshold, assets split across both countries.
02 How far in advance should you plan before transferring your residence to Switzerland? +
Ideally between 12 and 24 months before departure. This window makes it possible to secure the exit tax and its deferral of payment, to structure a gift to your children while still a French tax resident, to choose the canton suited to your wealth and your plans, and to coordinate the timing if a sale is under way. Later, the options narrow. Earlier, the room for decision stays wide.
03 Which canton should you choose to settle in Switzerland? +
The choice depends on your wealth, your professional plans and your family. Geneva appeals for its French-speaking international environment, Vaud for its balance between taxation and quality of life, Zug for some of the lowest tax rates in Switzerland. The answer is not simply a matter of the top marginal tax rate. It takes in the bilateral treaties, your professional activity, your family and the transmission to come.
04 How does the exit tax work when leaving for Switzerland? +
The exit tax applies to the unrealized capital gains on your company shares at the moment you leave France. Unlike a move within the European Union, the deferral of payment is not automatic for Switzerland: you must elect for it and provide guarantees. The tax can then be written off if you keep your shares for two years after departure, or five years if their value exceeds 2.57 million euros. The mechanism remains favorable, but it requires rigorous filing and year-by-year monitoring.
05 The French-Swiss remote-work amendment: who is affected by the 40% threshold? +
Signed in 2023 and in effect since 1 January 2026, the amendment allows French residents working in Switzerland to work remotely from France for up to 40% of their annual working time without shifting the right to tax. This 40% rule already applied under a transitional agreement; the amendment makes it permanent. Beyond 40%, the right to tax may shift or be shared between the two States. The threshold is based on actual working time, which calls for particular attention to leave, public holidays and business travel.
06 How do you organize a succession between France and Switzerland since 2015? +
Since the France-Switzerland inheritance tax treaty ended in 2015, no bilateral treaty protects your heirs from taxation in both countries. Double taxation of the estate becomes likely if nothing is anticipated. The planning is done during your lifetime: gifts, the splitting of ownership between usufruct and bare ownership, the choice of tax domicile at the time of death, structuring through a company. These tools exist and work, provided they are put in place several years ahead. This is precisely the heart of our French-Swiss practice.
Let’s take up your situation, on both sides
Choose the format that suits you.
Any information you share is covered by professional secrecy. A first confidential conversation, with no obligation, in person in Lyon, Paris, Annecy or Geneva, or by video in French or in English.