Steuer: Finanzamt fordert Steuer – obwohl der Erbe leer ausgeht

When an heir receives no inheritance, the Finanzamt (German tax authority) could demand inheritance tax, even though the estate is empty. The Bundesfinanzhof (German Federal Finance Court) clarified this matter in case II R 1/22. The deceased in this case had left a handwritten will, dividing the estate equally among a man, his mother, and another woman.

However, the court was unaware of the will and designated the statutory heirs as beneficiaries, each receiving half of the estate. Eight years later, the testament surfaced, and the man received his share, as did his mother and the other woman. In 2017, the man was informed that the deceased was entitled to a compulsory share of €250,000 from his father's estate, which was included in the inheritance and paid to the two statutory heirs in 2013.

The man appealed the inheritance tax assessment in 2018, claiming that the tax was unjustified, and requested a tax-free estate. The Finanzamt (German tax authority) rejected his appeal, and he then filed a lawsuit in the Düsseldorf Finanzgericht (Financing Court). During the subsequent litigation, the Finanzamt also refused to set the inheritance tax to zero as unjustified.

The man argued that he had unsuccessfully attempted to invalidate the initial testament and obtain information from the other heirs. Eventually, the Finanzgericht (Financing Court) recognized the man's main request for annulment of the inheritance tax assessment, but ordered the Finanzamt to set the tax to zero. However, the Finanzamt deemed this a flawed application of § 163 AO and appealed to the Bundesfinanzhof (Federal Finance Court).

The Federal Finance Court agreed with the assessment and referred the case back to the Finanzgericht for further consideration. The Federal Finance Court noted that the Finanzamt should assume that an inheritance has been received according to the testament and impose inheritance tax if tax-free allowances are exceeded. While a deviation from this rule is possible, the court found that the lower court had overlooked two key points: whether the man was entitled to substitute claims against the two heirs and whether enforcing such claims would be reasonable.

In this case, the man's diligent efforts to secure the estate or claim alternative rights were deemed unsuccessful due to the estate being depleted. Consequently, inheritance tax can be reduced in exceptional circumstances when an heir dies without leaving an inheritance, provided they made reasonable efforts to secure the estate or claim alternative rights.