German inheritance and gift tax calculator
Who gets how much from whom? See the tax class, the allowances, the tax with the step tariff and its hardship relief, and what splitting gifts over ten-year periods saves.
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Inheritance tax: €27,500.
Tax class I: after €400,000 in allowances, €250,000 is taxed at 11%. €622,500 stays with the recipient. Given during life in two gifts ten years apart, the tax would be €0.
- Inheritance tax
- €27,500
- Taxable amount
- €250,000
- Effective rate
- 4.2%
- Recipient keeps
- €622,500
11% · class I
After €400,000 allowances
Tax over the value received
- Covered by allowances€400,000
- Taxed, kept€222,500
- Inheritance tax€27,500
What if… inheritance tax
See the figures
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Value received | €650,000 |
| Personal allowance, tax class I | −€400,000 |
| Taxable amount, rounded down to €100 | €250,000 |
| Tax at 11% | €27,500 |
| Inheritance tax | €27,500 |
| Same value as 2 gifts 10 years apart: tax in total | €0 |
| As 3 gifts 10 years apart: tax in total | €0 |
Next step
How the calculator works
Inheritance tax and gift tax follow the same law, the ErbStG. The calculator works through it in the same order as the tax office:
- Tax class (§ 15). Class I: spouse or registered partner, children and stepchildren, grandchildren, and parents or grandparents on death. Class II: siblings, nieces and nephews, step-parents, children- and parents-in-law, a divorced spouse, and parents or grandparents receiving a gift. Class III: everyone else, including an unmarried partner.
- Exemptions (§ 13). Household goods are tax-free up to €41,000 in class I, plus €12,000 for other personal items such as a car; €12,000 in total for classes II and III. The family home can be fully exempt, more on that below.
- Allowances (§§ 16, 17). The personal allowance by relationship, and on death the pension allowance for a spouse (€256,000) or a child under 27 (€10,300 to €52,000). Tax-free survivor’s pensions reduce the pension allowance by their capital value; you can enter it under “More assumptions”.
- Earlier gifts (§ 14). Gifts from the same person in the last ten years are added. The tax on them under today’s rules (or the tax actually paid, if higher) is credited, but the new tax is never lower than on the new gift alone.
- Rounding (§ 10). The taxable amount is rounded down to full €100.
- Rate (§ 19). The bracket’s rate applies to the whole taxable amount. Just above a limit, the hardship relief caps the extra tax at half of the amount above it, or three quarters when the rate is above 30 %. In class I, €300,100 taxable would cost €45,015 at 15 %; with the relief it is €33,050.
Example: a child inherits the parents’ house and savings
A 35-year-old inherits €650,000 from a parent: the house worth €450,000 (140 m²) and the rest in savings. After the €400,000 allowance, €250,000 is taxable at 11%: the inheritance tax is €27,500, 4.2% of the inheritance.
If the child moves into the house straight away and lives there for ten years, the house is exempt, as it is under 200 m². Then the tax is €0. Move out within ten years without a compelling reason (the law says “zwingende Gründe”), and the exemption lapses retroactively.
For a spouse the difference is larger. A widow inheriting €1,200,000, €700,000 of it the family home, pays €66,600 if she sells the home and €0 if she keeps living in it. For a spouse there’s no size limit.
Gifts every ten years
The allowances are renewed every ten years for each pair of giver and recipient. That makes early gifts the most effective way to pass on wealth within the family. A parent giving a child €1,200,000 at once pays €152,000 gift tax. Given as two gifts ten years apart it is €44,000; as three gifts of €400,000, €0. Each parent has their own allowance, so two parents can give twice as much.
The calculator shows this split for your numbers in the table. A gift of a home to a child is not covered by the family-home exemption. A gift between spouses of the home they live in is tax-free, with no ten-year condition (§ 13 Abs. 1 Nr. 4a).
Who pays the most
Class I relatives rarely pay much. Others feel it: a niece inheriting €150,000 keeps €20,000 tax-free and pays 20 % on the rest, €26,000. An unmarried partner inheriting €300,000 pays 30 % on €280,000, €84,000. Marriage or a registered partnership changes the class and the allowance. That’s a question for a lawyer, not a calculator.
What it can’t see
It takes the value you enter as given. In practice the tax office values property under the Valuation Act (BewG), which can differ from the price you have in mind; rented homes count at 90 % (§ 13d). Business assets have their own reliefs (§§ 13a, 13b) that this calculator leaves out. So do debts and funeral costs beyond the net value you enter, a Berliner Testament and assets abroad. It isn’t tax advice.
The law may also change. The Federal Constitutional Court heard two cases on 12 and 13 October 2026, on the allowances, rates and property valuation, and on the business-asset relief. A ruling could force new rules.
What an inheritance means for you depends on the rest of your plan. The compound interest calculator shows what it could grow to. The rent vs buy calculator checks it as equity for a home, and rent vs buy over the long term explains the trade-offs. Zenarios puts gifts, inheritances, your home and your savings in one plan, for every year ahead.
Common questions
How much can you inherit tax-free in Germany?
It depends on the relationship: €500,000 for a spouse or registered partner, €400,000 for each child (and a grandchild whose parent has died), €200,000 for other grandchildren, €100,000 for parents and grandparents on death, and €20,000 for everyone else, including siblings and an unmarried partner (§ 16 ErbStG). A spouse also gets €256,000 and young children up to €52,000 as a pension allowance on death (§ 17).
How much inheritance tax does a child pay on €650,000?
After the €400,000 allowance, €250,000 is taxable. In tax class I that falls in the 11 % bracket, so the tax is €27,500. If the €650,000 includes the parents' home and the child moves in and lives there for ten years, the home (up to 200 m²) is tax-free and here no tax would be due.
What are the German inheritance tax rates?
Class I (spouse, children, grandchildren, parents on death): 7 % up to €75,000, then 11, 15, 19, 23, 27 and 30 % above €26 million. Class II (siblings, nieces, nephews, in-laws, parents for gifts): 15 % to 43 %. Class III (everyone else): 30 % up to €6 million, 50 % above. The rate applies to the whole taxable amount, not just the slice above a limit.
What is the hardship relief (Härteausgleich)?
Because the rate applies to the whole amount, crossing a bracket limit by a euro would cost a lot. § 19 Abs. 3 ErbStG caps the extra tax at half of the amount above the limit (three quarters where the rate is above 30 %). In class I, €300,100 taxable would cost 15 % = €45,015; with the relief it is €33,050.
Can I give money every ten years tax-free?
Yes. Gifts from the same person within ten years are added together, so each allowance is available again once a gift is more than ten years old (§ 14 ErbStG). Giving a child €1.2 million at once costs €152,000. Two gifts of €600,000 ten years apart cost €44,000, three gifts of €400,000 nothing.
Will the inheritance tax change after the constitutional court cases?
Possibly. The Federal Constitutional Court heard a challenge by Bavaria to the allowances, rates and property valuation on 12 October 2026, and a complaint about the relief for business assets on 13 October 2026. No ruling has been announced. This calculator uses the law as it stands.
Sources
- § 10 ErbStG: taxable acquisition, rounding
- § 13 ErbStG: exemptions (household goods, family home)
- § 13d ErbStG: rented residential property
- § 14 ErbStG: gifts within ten years
- § 15 ErbStG: tax classes
- § 16 ErbStG: personal allowances
- § 17 ErbStG: pension allowance
- § 19 ErbStG: tax rates and hardship relief
- Bundesverfassungsgericht, press release 48/2026: hearing in 1 BvF 1/23
- Bundesverfassungsgericht, press release 49/2026: hearing in 1 BvR 804/22