Have you considered the approach set out in the post below? You are of course required to declare an inheritance, but it may be worthwhile testing the waters to see if your tax office will accept the pragmatic Mention Expresse route. If they dont, well you’re no worse off, but if they do you save yourself a lot of stress..
I share @Salma ’s understanding that a declaration of an inheritance received by a French resident is obligatory.
However I’m sure I’m not the only one who appreciates one of the ‘endearing’ features of life in France, being the ‘daylight visible’ between the strict law of the land - and its actual application. There are enough examples available (@PeterJ ‘s example is timely) of (some) tax offices advising, or tacitly accepting, that they don’t want to go to the time and trouble of opening a dossier, on a case with zero French tax at stake. They presumably have bigger fish to fry. Accordingly those offices do not seem to require a declaration of inheritance from UK estates with no French assets.
Personally what I think I would probably do if I ever find myself in this situation is to attach a wording in the ‘Mention Expresse’ section of my income tax return, to show good faith, and to give the tax office the opportunity to ask for more information - should they wish. There is littl…