Overview
- Destatis reported on Wednesday that tax assessments for 2025 reached €21.4 billion, a 60.8% rise from 2024 and the highest level on record.
- The increase was concentrated in very large transfers: assessed tax on transfers of €20 million or more rose by about 146.8%, and taxable transferred assets totaled €141.1 billion in 2025.
- Separate finance‑office data show €3.7 billion of tax was written off under the Verschonungsbedarfsprüfung for large business inheritances, a measure critics say lets a small group of heirs avoid most liability.
- Advocacy groups and economists point out most transfers fall below personal exemptions (for example €400,000 for children), and independent estimates put total annual intergenerational transfers at roughly €300–400 billion, which the official stats largely do not capture.
- The figures have intensified political pressure and legal scrutiny: parties are split on tightening business‑succession rules and the Federal Constitutional Court will hold public hearings on the preferential rules in October 2026.