BERLIN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Taxes paid by heirs and recipients of gifts in Germany rose to a total of 6.7 billion euros (7.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Friday.
Compared to 2017, revenues from inheritance and gift taxes in Germany increased by around six percent and almost reached the record level of 2016, Destatis announced.
According to Destatis, the majority fell on inheritance taxes which accounted for 5.7 billion euros while gift taxes only added up to 1 billion euros.
In 2018, assets worth a total of 84.7 billion euros were inherited or gifted in Germany. Compared to the previous year, the total tax value of inheritances and gifts decreased by 12.7 percent.
However, the German statistical office pointed out that "most inheritances, legacies and gifts are within the tax allowances", and are therefore not included in the official statistics.
The total assets inherited and gifted that were included in the official data were "for the second time in succession lower than in the previous year", after results of more than 100 billion euros had been achieved in the years 2014 to 2016.
According to Destatis, the record levels of the previous years resulted from the favorable legal situation created by an inheritance tax reform in 2009 which regulated the transfer of business assets.
Following the latest reform of the inheritance tax in Germany in 2016, inheritances and donations of business assets have been declining.
