Declaring a manual gift of jewelry: the procedure to follow

A piece of jewelry given outside of a customary present must be declared. The procedure changed on 1 January 2026: here is what to do, in what order, and with what figure.

Who declares, and when

The declaration is the responsibility of the beneficiary of the gift, not the giver. It must be made within the month following the disclosure of the gift to the tax authorities.

A point often misunderstood: declaring is not synonymous with paying. Below the available allowance, no tax is due — but the declaration remains necessary, because it is this that starts the fifteen-year period at the end of which the allowance is replenished. An undeclared gift means an allowance that never recharges, and a value that will resurface at the time of the succession.

Online declaration, now the rule

Since 1 January 2026, the declaration is made online, from the beneficiary's personal space on impots.gouv.fr, in the section dedicated to gifts. Paper form no. 2735 is no longer accepted for the generality of gifts.

The five exceptions where paper is still required

• the beneficiary is a minor or protected adult, and the donor is not their legal representative;
• the declaration requires the offsetting of duties already paid abroad (Article 784 A of the CGI);
• the gift concerns assets exempt under the Dutreil scheme (Articles 787 B and 787 C);
• it is a gift of money assigned to the acquisition or energy renovation of the principal residence (Article 790 A bis);
• the asset had previously been transmitted in direct line and has returned to the donor's estate.

In these cases, form no. 2735-SD is filed in two copies with the competent service, accompanied by payment of any duties.

At what value should jewelry be declared?

This is where our expertise comes in. A manual gift is declared at the market value of the asset on the day of the gift: the price at which it could be sold, not its purchase price at the time or its insurance value, which is structurally higher as it corresponds to a replacement as new.

Declaring a fanciful value exposes you to a reassessment; declaring too high a value means paying unnecessary taxes or using up an allowance for nothing. A written professional valuation settles the question, and serves as supporting evidence if the administration has doubts.

Keep the record, even without taxes to pay

We systematically recommend keeping three elements together: the declaration receipt, the dated valuation of the jewelry, and a photograph of the piece. Twenty years later, at the time of the estate division, this file will be worth all the family memories — because it is the condition of the jewelry on the day of the gift that will serve as reference, as explained on our page about the report to the succession.

Updated on 25 July 2026 — allowances and declaration procedures change regularly; check the rule in force on the day of your donation.