Steuer: Finanzamt fordert Steuer – obwohl der Erbe leer ausgeht

In Germany, inheriting money, property, or stocks often brings a financial windfall to the beneficiary. However, the situation becomes more complex when an inheritance is left empty. Even if the heir has no debts, an unclear inheritance situation can result in the inheritance amount being zero euros after all formalities are completed.

The clarification of this issue was recently provided by the Federal Finance Court (case II R 1/22). The scenario emerged when a deceased person, who passed away in 2006, had initially planned to leave his estate to a man, his mother, and another woman, dividing it equally among them. However, to bypass the legal inheritance order, he left a handwritten will stating this distribution.

Upon the testator's death, the rightful heirs of the deceased person applied to the relevant district court for a probate certificate. Since the court was unaware of the handwritten will and its contents, the probate certificate only listed the legal heirs, each receiving half of the inheritance.