As of: February 24, 2024, 4:57 a.m
By: Carina Blumenroth
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The matter of money is often a bit opaque.
What you need to consider when receiving a gift or inheritance.
Anyone who has money usually thinks about what should happen with it while they are still alive.
Do you spend it all, donate a large part or do you simply inherit it?
Another option is donation, where you can bequeath money to specific people during your lifetime.
Sometimes you have to pay taxes for this.
What you need to consider and what exemption limits there are.
Donation or inheritance: What does the tax office actually need to know?
There are allowances for inheritance or donations.
What you should consider.
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The tax office must find out about the windfall within three months of a gift or inheritance.
If the money is given away, both the person giving it and the person receiving the gift must contact the tax office.
This goes informally to the responsible tax office.
You must provide the following information:
Surname
Tax identification number
Profession
Address of the heir and testator
Date and place of death of the testator/time of donation
value or object
Legal reason
degree of relationship
Information about previous donations by the testator or donor
Finanztip.de provides information on when you do not have to inform the tax office
Inheritance is based on a will opened by a court or a notary and does not contain any real estate, business assets, corporations or foreign assets.
The donation was certified by the court or notary - for example in the case of real estate.
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Tax allowances for gifts or inheritances for close relatives
degree of relationship |
Allowance in euros |
|---|---|
Spouse or registered life partner |
€500,000 |
Children |
€400,000 |
grandson |
€200,000 |
parents and grandparents |
€100,000 |
Divorced people, siblings, nieces/nephews, children-in-law, parents-in-law, step-parents |
€20,000 |
All other people |
€20,000 |
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The above-mentioned allowances apply to both inheritances and gifts.
The special feature of the latter is that the same allowances apply again every ten years.
If someone has a lot of assets, with the right planning, a lot of assets can be distributed tax-free.
Please also note that authorities and banks can report a possible inheritance.
Even if a court or a notary is involved, the data is forwarded to the tax office.
What happens to the household contents: further allowances
The
MDR
reports that there are additional allowances.
For household goods, for example, a maximum of 41,000 euros.
On cars and other movable objects a maximum of 12,000 euros.
By the way, if you inherit a property in addition to cash assets and want to live in it yourself, it is tax-free, even if the tax-free amount has been exceeded.