Lawyer with expertise in inheritance tax and gift tax in Berlin

A consultation in inheritance law always also contains a consultation in inheritance tax and gift tax. Especially if your will includes people you aren’t related to, there is a need for caution. But often a tax requirement can still be avoided through long-term planning. I will gladly help you with this.

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Frequently Asked Questions in inheritance tax law

Do only heirs have to pay taxes?

Any acquisition by reason of death, gifts by reason of death and gifts among the living result in inheritance or gift tax according to § 3 Inheritance and Gift Tax Code. Reach out without obligations…

Do a wife and a girlfriend have to pay the same amount?

Depending on degree of relation the heirs or giftees are separated into tax classes I, II or III. These tax classes are unrelated to the income tax classes I-VI. They apply only to inheritance tax and gift tax.

Do only Germans have to pay taxes in Germany?

To owe taxes in Germany, it is enough that the decedent, donor or acquirer has their residence or usual home in Germany. Citizenship doesn’t factor into this.

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Lawyer Christian Janssen from Berlin

Law school: at Hamburg University
Clerkship: at Kassel District Court
Licensed as lawyer via the bar association Berlin since 2015

Rechtsanwalt Janssen aus Berlin berät bei Themen rund ums Testament

Who inherits what in a community of heirs?

The federal fiscal court already clarified in a ruling on November 10^th 1982 that in the case of several heirs the inheritance is to be taxed for each joint heir according to their inheritance share. For that reason, it is irrelevant, which objects or assets are given to individual heirs in case of a dissolution contract (BFH, Az. II R 85-86/78). The entire inheritance is first determined and then associated to the heirs in quota for the purpose of taxation. This is true even if the decedent has determined specifically who will inherit what. Even a dissolution contract for the heirs doesn’t change this, as the financial court Munich recently confirmed in a ruling from 16.06.2021, case sign 4 K 692/20.

Does the inherited home have to be taxed?

The privately owned home can be inherited without tax. For this, the conditions of § 13 Abs. 1 Nr. 4c ErbStG have to be met:
– The house must be wholly owned by the decedent until their death
– It must be used for residential purposes for them alone, with a spouse or with a child (exception: moving to a care facility for health reasons)
– The heir must have defined the house as their centre of life either before or after succession.
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I will prepare your tax return, check your tax assessment, lodge an appeal, and handle the proceedings before the tax court.

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