Inheriting Germany

What would the tax office take from an inheritance?

The allowance depends on who you were to the person, and the rate applies to the whole inheritance rather than a slice of it – so crossing a threshold would cost thousands, and a clause almost no calculator implements stops it.

What is inherited, and by whom

Everything here is per heir, not per estate: each person has their own allowance and their own rate.

Date of the current acquisitionFor an inheritance, usually the date of death. This date determines the ten-year window for earlier gifts. What this heir receives€Their share, at its market value. Example: an estate split between two children is entered here twice, once as each half. Relationship to the deceasedThis is the single biggest lever. Example: the same 800,000 costs a child nothing like what it costs an unmarried partner. Is this an inheritance or a lifetime gift?Funeral costs, the survivor allowance and a parent's class I treatment belong to death alone. Example: the same amount from the same parent is taxed differently as a gift. Debts and liabilities passing with it€§ 10 ErbStG deducts what the estate owes. Example: a 300,000 mortgage on an 800,000 estate is the difference between a large bill and almost none. Age of the heirOnly matters for a child: the extra allowance of § 17 runs out at 27. Example: an adult child gets none of it, which is the usual case.

Household goods and personal effects

Household goods€Furniture, and everything that makes a home. Example: up to 41,000 of it is tax free for close family. Other movable things€A car, a boat, jewellery. Example: a separate allowance of 12,000 covers these.

A family home passing with the estate

The family home, at its assessed value€Enter it here rather than in the other assets above. Example: the exemption below is decided by the facts, not by the amount. Its living aream²A child's exemption stops at 200 square metres and the rest is taxed. Example: a spouse has no area cap. Did the deceased live in it?§ 13 requires it to have been their own home until death, or that they were prevented from living there. Example: a let flat never qualifies. Will you move in without delay?The heir has to use it as their own home themselves. Example: renting it out instead removes the exemption entirely. And keep it for ten years?Selling or moving out inside ten years cancels it retrospectively, unless you are compelled to go. Example: this is a ten-year commitment, not a filing choice. Debt secured on that home€§ 10(6) allows it only in the share of the home that stays taxable. Example: a home that passes wholly tax free carries no deductible debt with it.

Earlier gifts inside the ten years

An earlier gift from the same person€Its taxable value, after that transfer's own exemptions. Example: § 14 ErbStG adds it to this one and taxes the total at the combined band. When it was madeOnly acquisitions inside the ten years before this one are added. Example: one day outside the window and it drops out completely. Tax already assessed on it€Credited against the combined bill so nothing is taxed twice. Example: leave it at zero if that gift was inside the allowance.

Costs and the survivor allowance

Funeral and administration costs€Left at zero, the statutory lump sum of 15,000 applies, which is usually the larger. Example: only enter a figure if it exceeds that. Survivor pension already tax free€A widow's pension reduces the extra allowance euro for euro, and often removes it. Example: leave it at zero if there is none.

Inheritance tax on this share

€57,750 7 % of what is inherited · Steuerklasse I at 15 %

Personal allowance€400,000for this relationship, renewing every 10 years

Extra allowance€0§ 17, for a spouse or a child under 27

Tax-free belongings and costs€25,000plus €15,000 of funeral and administration

Left to tax€385,000after every allowance above

The next 100 euro costs€15at the band rate of 15 %

The allowance renews every 10 years€400,000§ 14 ErbStG adds every acquisition inside that window together and credits the tax already assessed, so a planned split is priced from the dates and amounts of the actual gifts – not from this one figure.

The bill across a range of inheritances

What is actually chargedThe band rate on the whole amount

The steps are the band boundaries. The lower line is what the hardship rule leaves you paying.

The bands for Steuerklasse I
Up to	Rate
€75,000	7 %
€300,000	11 %
€600,000	15 %
€6,000,000	19 %
€13,000,000	23 %
€26,000,000	27 %
and above	30 %

The tax office assesses this bindingly. This page does not.

One heir at a time, and only what the arithmetic can see. Business assets, farmland and shares in a company have exemptions of their own that can remove most of the bill, and a will can change who counts as what.

What this answers

Why the same estate costs two people wildly different amounts

The relationship sets both the allowance and the rate column. A child takes 400,000 tax free and then pays from seven percent; an unmarried partner takes 20,000 and pays from thirty. Nothing else on this page moves the answer as far.

The clause nobody implements

One euro over a boundary does not cost thousands

The rate applies to the whole inheritance, so crossing a band would be a cliff. § 19 Abs. 3 collects the step out of half the excess instead – three quarters above thirty percent – which is why the line on the chart is smooth where the band rate is not.

The thing to do early

The allowance renews every ten years

It is the whole of German gift planning in one sentence. The same wealth moved in two steps a decade apart uses the allowance twice, and for many families that removes the tax rather than reducing it.