Inheritance and gift taxes bring Germany record revenues

In Germany in 2025 the amount of assessed inheritance and gift taxes rose to a record €21.4 billion. This is 60.8% more than a year earlier, and the main factor for this jump was large transfers of assets worth €20 million or more.

This was reported by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis).

Inheritance tax in 2025 was assessed at €13.3 billion, which is 57.1% more than a year earlier. This is also a new high: the previous record of €9 billion was set in 2021.

Gift tax grew even faster. Its amount reached €8.1 billion, increasing by 67.3% over the year and also setting a historical record.

Taxes on large fortunes increased the most

Destatis explains the sharp increase primarily by large transfers of assets. For cases where the value of transferred assets was at least €20 million, the amount of assessed tax more than doubled – the increase was 146.8%.

In total, in 2025, the transfer of assets through inheritance and gifts to the amount of €141.1 billion was recorded in the statistics, which is 23.1% more than in 2024.

In particular, the value of transferred corporate assets increased by 19% – to €25.6 billion. The transfer of shares in companies increased by 128.9% at once – to €16.8 billion.

The value of transferred real estate rose by 11.2% and reached €51.6 billion, and other assets – bank deposits, securities and shares – by 19.7%, to €45.3 billion.

The volume of gifted assets rose sharply

Through inheritance and bequests in 2025, assets worth €77.9 billion were transferred, which is 18.1% more than a year earlier.

The volume of assets transferred as gifts grew even faster – by 28.7%, to €63.2 billion.

The transfer of company shares through gifts increased particularly noticeably: their value jumped by 148.4% and amounted to €13.6 billion. Gifted corporate assets increased by 27% – to €21.2 billion.

At the same time, Destatis notes that the statistics do not cover all inheritances and gifts. Most small transfers of assets fall within tax-free amounts, so no tax is assessed on them and they are not included in these data.

In addition, €21.4 billion is precisely the amount of taxes assessed in 2025. The actual receipt of these funds into budgets may occur later.

Source: Destatis