In Germany, around a million people died in 2022. According to a survey by YouGov, only 20 percent of them have a current will. The majority of German citizens (66 percent), however, refrain from recording their last will in writing. The reasons for this may be varied. But anyone who avoids this during their lifetime can expect to lay the seeds for numerous arguments and disputes. The same applies if a will is worded unclearly. As soon as there are several heirs, they form a community of heirs. This must then decide unanimously what should happen to the silver cutlery, the property or the savings. And it doesn't take much imagination to imagine that heirs don't always agree – especially when the community of heirs consists of several people and a lot of money is involved.
The judges of the Federal Finance Court have now made a positive ruling for communities of heirs. Thereafter, no income tax is due if a property is sold from the estate of a community of heirs (ref. IX R 13/22). In the case under discussion, a community of heirs had inherited several properties. Two heirs had transferred their shares in the property to the third heir, who then sold the property. He then had to pay income tax because there were less than ten years between the acquisition of the inheritance shares and the sale of the property. The property was also not occupied by the owner. Therefore, according to the tax office, there is so-called other income due to a private sale transaction. The Federal Finance Court has now contradicted this.
#Avoid #disputes #communities #heirs
