Inheritances and gifts

Notes & caveats

• Measure on the map: cash revenue from inheritance and gift tax (one tax under the ErbStG) received by each state's tax offices in calendar year 2025, divided by the population on 31.12.2025 (our calculation). It is tax paid, not the value of what was inherited or given.
• Revenue is booked by the tax office responsible, normally that of the deceased's or donor's last residence, not where heirs or assets are. A few very large cases can move a state's figure sharply from year to year.
• Germany collected 15.4 billion euros in 2025. Cash receipts differ from the tax assessed in the year (21.4 billion euros according to the inheritance tax statistics) because payments follow assessments with a delay.
• Destatis' Erbschaft- und Schenkungsteuerstatistik 2025 publishes no state figures, only West (früheres Bundesgebiet) and East including Berlin. Per inhabitant (our calculation): value of taxable acquisitions before deductions €2,114 West vs €498 East incl. Berlin; assessed tax €303 vs €61. 95% of the assessed tax fell in the West.
• Most inheritances and gifts fall within the tax-free allowances and appear in neither statistic. East = the five eastern states without Berlin.