German Gift Tax Calculator

Start with the recipient's relationship

The relationship is measured from the recipient to the donor. A child has a EUR 400,000 personal allowance. A parent or grandparent receiving a gift falls into class II with EUR 20,000 allowance; the more favourable inheritance treatment does not apply to that gift.

The estimate assumes unlimited German tax liability and already established tax values. Optional inputs cover household effects and other movables under §13, a confirmed qualifying family home, and §17 maintenance relief. The latter applies only on death to a spouse/civil partner or child, depends on age for children and is reduced by the confirmed capital value of non-inheritance-taxable survivor benefits. Business relief, marital equalisation, care exemptions and cross-border cases remain excluded.

Ten years and the same donor

Positive prior acquisitions from the same person are added at their former tax values when they fall within the statutory ten-year window. Enter their total before personal allowance and tax. You must check the date boundary and assessments yourself; individual acquisition dates are not collected.

The calculation credits either the prior tax recomputed under current personal circumstances and rules, or the higher actual tax payable. Tax on the current acquisition without aggregation is the minimum. For a further acquisition, the statutory 50% ceiling is also applied. Gift chains spanning more than ten years and revised assessments require individual review.

One rate with statutory hardship relief

The taxable acquisition is rounded down to a full EUR 100. One table rate then applies to that whole amount. At a threshold, §19(3) limits the increase over tax at the previous boundary to half the excess for rates up to 30%, or three quarters for higher rates. These are not marginal income-tax bands.

The recipient pays the tax in this model. Donor-paid tax under §10(2), mixed gifts, retained usufruct and consideration are excluded. Do not treat a donor-paid transfer as an ordinary net gift.

Define exactly what the recipient receives

A straightforward cash gift with the recipient paying the tax fits the model more closely than a transfer containing several obligations. Retained usufruct, consideration, mixed gifts, conditions and donor-paid tax can change the taxable acquisition. Do not approximate them by subtracting an informal amount from the headline asset value and assuming the standard result remains valid. Establish the supported tax value first and keep the relevant contractual details separate. The calculator does not draft a transfer agreement or decide which party bears an obligation under it.

If the donor also takes over the recipient's gift tax, that payment can itself affect the acquisition. The ordinary result cannot be turned into a donor-paid result by simply adding the displayed tax to a planned net gift. This calculator deliberately models recipient-paid tax. Similarly, an asset with an outstanding loan is not automatically equivalent to a cash gift after subtracting the balance: the transaction and its conditions need their own assessment. Use the uncomplicated example to understand the allowance and rate sequence, not to conceal a more complex agreement behind a single input.

Separate donors and consider the whole relevant period

The relevant relationship is between the particular recipient and donor. Two parents making transfers are two different donors; their acquisitions should be modelled separately with the appropriate history for each. Conversely, multiple transfers from one person do not receive a new personal allowance merely because they happen in different accounts or calendar years. The statutory period is not the same thing as a calendar decade. Check the exact dates against the rule instead of assuming that a transfer made in a year ending in zero starts a fresh universal cycle.

A comparison can show how a different value changes the taxable amount, but it cannot guarantee the tax treatment of a planned series of transactions. The route taken by money, actual control over an asset and the terms of a transfer may matter beyond the arithmetic. Keep each scenario tied to its stated assumptions. Do not combine an allowance from one donor with earlier-tax credit belonging to another. If historical assessments are revised, review the aggregate and credit inputs together rather than retaining an old credit that no longer matches the values used.

Use the result as a transparent planning illustration

For a simple gift, compare the gross transfer, the available personal allowance, the taxable acquisition and the estimated tax separately. The worked table shows this sequence without hiding the rate behind a single effective percentage. Near a rate threshold, inspect the hardship-adjustment step before assuming a small increase in the gift causes the full unadjusted rate jump. For budgeting, make clear who pays the tax and when sufficient cash will be available. The displayed remaining value belongs to the supported recipient-paid scenario and should be labelled that way in any comparison you retain.

Tax value, available cash and the amount left over

Use the tax value of the acquisition rather than automatically entering its purchase price or the amount of cash received. A property, a business interest and an investment portfolio may require different valuation work before the calculator can be used. The form accepts a value you have already established; it does not conduct a property valuation or decide whether an asset qualifies for a special exemption. Keep the underlying valuation and assessment documents with your comparison so that a later change can be traced to the right input.

The remaining-value result subtracts estimated tax from the value entered. It does not necessarily represent cash available in a bank account. Someone receiving a house can owe tax while receiving little liquid money. Sale costs, continuing loan payments, maintenance and timing of payment are separate planning issues. If an input changes because a valuation is revised, rerun the whole calculation rather than scaling the old tax amount proportionally. The personal allowance, whole-acquisition rate and hardship adjustment can make the relationship between value and tax nonlinear.

Prepare earlier transfers before making a comparison

List earlier positive acquisitions from the same person before entering their aggregate. Check the statutory period and original tax values, not merely the amounts that happened to be paid into your account. Acquisitions from different people must not be combined just because the recipients belong to the same household. Likewise, an allowance is not renewed by splitting one transfer across several payments. The calculator accepts a manually checked aggregate; it cannot infer the legal window from a single total without the underlying dates.

The field for earlier tax concerns the relevant actual tax payable, not an arbitrary estimate or the cash left after tax. The calculation compares that figure with the statutory recomputation credit and applies its other limits. Keep decisions and amendments accessible where earlier assessments changed. If a case involves multiple overlapping transfer chains, foreign tax, disputed values or transactions outside the stated scope, a short numerical illustration cannot resolve those facts. Use the output to understand which inputs matter and to prepare questions based on your documents.