Spouse gift tax

[Guest]

Me and my wife have a joint bank account in Germany. I am depositing a large sum of money (6 figures) from the UK in to this account. Is there any risk that the tax office will consider this money as a gift to my wife, and then tax it?

 

I am a UK citizen and my wife is a German citizen.

[HEM 11,064]

Assuming this money is coming from your account in the UK there is a tax-free allowance between married couples of 500 thousand Euros.

 

That means you are OK up to 1 million in total.  Thinks: wish I had your problem...

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, HEM said:

Assuming this money is coming from your account in the UK there is a tax-free allowance between married couples of 500 thousand Euros.

 

That means you are OK up to 1 million in total.  Thinks: wish I had your problem...

 

The money is an inheritance from my mother, and as far as I legally understand, the money is both mine and my wifes. However it will be all deposited in to my personal UK account and then transferred to our joint German account.

 

We will be paying inheritance tax in Germany on this money (no tax required in the UK).

 

It's around 700k €. Perhaps I am better off just transferring it to my personal German bank account.

 

The money will be mostly invested, and partially used for property refurbishment. I am not "gift"ing any money to my wife in the general sense...but perhaps in the legal sense I am.

[HEM 11,064]

1 hour ago, jamiegw said:

The money is an inheritance from my mother,

 

In that case you should contact a Steuerberater in Germany for advice.

 

It sounds as if your mother left the money all to just yourself in which case you have a Freibetrag of 500k € and have to pay 7% tax on the rest:

https://www.steuertipps.de/service/rechner/erbschaftsteuerrechner/

 

Then you could "gift" half of that to your wife with no additional tax involved.

 

Disclaimer:  I am not a tax advisor nor wish to be one..

[Guest]

Just now, HEM said:

 

In that case you should contact a Steuerberater in Germany for advice.

 

It sounds as if your mother left the money all to jusr yourself in which case you have a Freibetrag of 500k € and have to pay 7% tax on the rest:

https://www.steuertipps.de/service/rechner/erbschaftsteuerrechner/

 

Then you could "gift" half of that to your wife with no additional tax involved.

 

Disclaimer:  I am not a tax advisor nor wish to be one..

 

Yes my mother's Will said the estate goes to me completely. I have already spoken with my Steuerberater about Erbsteuer and have budgetted accordingly. I will also ask her about the concern of the inheritance becomes ours instead of just mine.

[silty1 3,597]

2 hours ago, jamiegw said:

It's around 700k €. Perhaps I am better off just transferring it to my personal German bank account..

 

It would seem to me, a lowly layperson unschooled in the ways of taxation and such, that half of that amount is yours tax-free, since the Freibetrag from parent to child is €400,000.  Even if you gift the rest to your wife, you should still be under the €500.000 between spousal units.  

 

Again, I don't know shit from shinola. 

[kaffeemitmilch 1,294]

4 minutes ago, silty1 said:

 

It would seem to me, a lowly layperson unschooled in the ways of taxation and such, that half of that amount is yours tax-free, since the Freibetrag from parent to child is €400,000.  Even if you gift the rest to your wife, you should still be under the €500.000 between spousal units.  

 

Again, I don't know shit from shinola. 

Isn't there a difference between a gift from parents and an inheritance upon their death (if this assumption is correct)?

[Guest]

Just now, kaffeemitmilch said:

Isn't there a difference between a gift from parents and an inheritance upon their death (if this assumption is correct)?

My trouble is determining what is considered a gift between spouses. As far as my spouse and I are concerned, all money we earn/inherit is ours. However perhaps the Finanzamt consider me depositing money from my inheritance in to our joint account as a 50% gift to my wife. I'll update when I speak with my Steuerberater.

[silty1 3,597]

12 minutes ago, silty1 said:

Again, I don't know shit from shinola. 

 

Is your wife also mentioned in your mother's will as an equal recipient, or only you?

 

Because if it's only you, then you'd have to pay tax on the amount above €400,000, something like 7 percent I think.  This thread is crying out for a Panda.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, silty1 said:

 

Is your wife also mentioned in your mother's will as an equal recipient, or only you?

 

Because if it's only you, then you'd have to pay tax on the amount above €400,000, something like 7 percent I think.  This thread is crying out for a Panda.

 

Yes it is only me that is mentioned in the will. I am expecting to pay taxes on the inheritence. According to the link posted by @HEM it'll be around 32k € (11% bracket).

[yesterday 1,978]

You can always ask at your local finanzamt, I have done this a couple of times and they are quite helpful, sometimes in English as well. As far as I understand it, the finanzamt are now required to answer your questions since they cancelled the of setting of your steuerberater costs against tax. If your German is not so good, ask your wife to make contact.

 

 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, yesterday said:

You can always ask at your local finanzamt, I have done this a couple of times and they are quite helpful, sometimes in English as well. As far as I understand it, the finanzamt are now required to answer your questions since they cancelled the of setting of your steuerberater costs against tax. If your German is not so good, ask your wife to make contact.

 

 

I was not aware of that. I thought steuerberater costs were tax deductible. I assume it is still best to get a Steuerberater to actually file the inheritance tax though. Prevents making any mistakes.

[kaffeemitmilch 1,294]

Have you checked this thread:  Taxation on gifts from family - Finance - Toytown Germany

[yesterday 1,978]

4 minutes ago, jamiegw said:

I was not aware of that. I thought steuerberater costs were tax deductible. I assume it is still best to get a Steuerberater to actually file the inheritance tax though. Prevents making any mistakes.

 

Steuerberater make mistakes as well !!!, I have had experience of this. some do not know the rules very well, like somebody said, Panda seems to be able to answer all the questions, if she is around here at the moment.

 

I get the impression you are not trying to cheat the system, 

 

Its always a good idea, to understand the situation from the finanzamt point of view as well.

 

steuerberater costs are not tax deductible anymore as far as I understand it 

 

 

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, yesterday said:

Steuerberater make mistakes as well !!!,

 

 

Are they liable for mistakes?

 

11 minutes ago, yesterday said:

I get the impression you are not trying to cheat the system,

 

I would stay awake at night catasrophising and waiting for the authoroties to knock on my door. This keeps me honest.

[yesterday 1,978]

23 minutes ago, jamiegw said:

 

Are they liable for mistakes?

 

dont really know. But lets face it everyone makes mistakes !

 

 I have never really been in a situation that I thought I would really have to go that way. Given that almost everyone has legal insurance here, I find it hard to believe that nobody has ever tried it, it just I have never heard of it. When I thought a dentist had screwed up my teeth hear , I did look in to it a bit, but its very hard to get another dentist to openly criticise another dentist. Maybe that the same with a  steuerberater.

 

The thing about  steuerberaters, is, they kinda ask you what you want to claim, so you have to know what you can claim for, all the  steuerberaters I have dealt with do not give you a form of what you can claim, you have to know it. For example I did not know I could claim my UK state pension  contributions while I am working Germany against my German tax, so I never did. Thats just lost money to me, because I did not know about it, and no  steuerberater asked me about it. Buts its not a lot of money - I only found out about it from reading posts here. .

 

Of course  steuerberaters, will / can place a certain view of the situation, so the client can benefit from it. But for your situation I would imagine its pretty straight forward, that almost every  steuerberater could get right. With the sums of money you are talking about, I would deffo get a  steuerberater to look over it.

 

 

23 minutes ago, jamiegw said:

 

I would stay awake at night catasrophising and waiting for the authoroties to knock on my door. This keeps me honest.

 

[john g. 37,679]

5 hours ago, yesterday said:

 

Steuerberater make mistakes as well !!!, I have had experience of this. some do not know the rules very well, like somebody said, Panda seems to be able to answer all the questions, if she is around here at the moment.

 

I get the impression you are not trying to cheat the system, 

 

Its always a good idea, to understand the situation from the finanzamt point of view as well.

 

steuerberater costs are not tax deductible anymore as far as I understand it 

 

 

Steuerberater costs are not tax deductible? Ouch.. if you are right! 

 

I hope Panda responds at some stage😂

I am self- employed and have to do tax returns stuff! That is not cheap.. hundreds of pages every year of commission statements, 3 Euros new photocopy paper once in a while and all the rest of it! Not sure about the Bockwurst at the Tankstelle on 5th July at 8.31 pm, though!😂

Was it business- related or starvation awaits?

I am a professional independent insurance broker and authorised advertiser. Contact me.

[john g. 37,679]

5 hours ago, yesterday said:

4 hours ago, jamiegw said:

 

Are they liable for mistakes?

 

 

I would stay awake at night catasrophising and waiting for the authoroties to knock on my door. This keeps me 

 

Yes, they are liable for mistakes and have compulsory insurance for that.

I am a professional independent insurance broker and authorised advertiser. Contact me.

[yesterday 1,978]

21 minutes ago, john g. said:

Steuerberater costs are not tax deductible? Ouch.. if you are right! 

I am a professional independent insurance broker and authorised advertiser. Contact me.

 

thats what I was told by my  Steuerberater, why would they lie to me ?

 

you can see it in the einkommensteuererklärung

 

its because the finanzamt should give help on tax matters

[john g. 37,679]

5 minutes ago, yesterday said:

 

thats what I was told by my  Steuerberater, why would they lie to me ?

 

you can see it in the einkommensteuererklärung

 

its because the finanzamt should give help on tax matters

You are an employee, then!! Different story!

I am a professional independent insurance broker and authorised advertiser. Contact me.