Inheritance tax: Major heirs hardly pay any taxes on company assets

Current figures about low state tax revenue from major heirs could fuel the debate about inheritance tax reform.

In 2025, German tax offices carried out a special examination (exemption requirement assessment) in 34 cases of inheritances and gifts totaling 13 billion euros. After that, of the originally estimated almost 4 billion euros in taxes, only 276 million remained, just two percent of the inherited sum.

People under the age of 18 save even more: the four heirs, who had almost 1.5 billion euros in value transferred to them, only paid 0.5 percent or almost eight million euros after the audit. This emerges from figures from the Federal Ministry of Finance in response to a small question from left-wing MP Christian Görke.