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Everything about German Inheritance & Gift Tax at one Glance

German residents are subject to German inheritance tax. Always!

Many of our blogposts deal with German probate and the tax implications of international inheritance cases (see list below). English solicitors and their clients are often stunned by the fact that German assets which are part of an English estate can trigger significant German inheritance and/or gift tax, in addition to UK IHT. Vice versa, if a beneficiary happens to be resident in Germany (even if Germany is not the main place of residence), that person’s share in the estate is also subject to German gift and/or inheritance tax. Therefore, German inheritance tax is closer than a British solicitor may think.

The below schedule shows at one glance the German IHT tax categories (tax classes), the individual tax rates and the various personal allowances and special tax exemptions available for certain assets. As you can see, the German inheritance tax system is much more complicated compared to British IHT. Depending on who the beneficiary is, the tax actually due can be significantly lower or higher than in the UK.

German IHT inheritance tax gift tax chart

German Inheritance & Gift Tax Chart

For more information on German-British probate matters and international will preparation see the below posts by the international succession law experts of Graf & Partners LLP:

Or simply click on the “German Probate” section in the right column of this blog.

The law firm Graf & Partners and its German-English litigation department GP Litigation Department was established in 2003 and has many years of experience with British-German and US-German probate matters, including the representation of clients in contentious probate matters. We are experts ininternational succession matters, probate and inheritance law. If you wish us to advise or represent you in a German or cross border inheritance case please contact German solicitor Bernhard Schmeilzl, LL.M. (Leicester) at +49 941 463 7070.

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