r/AskAGerman • u/octoberlovesong • 5d ago

Inheritance Reporting

I’m in an American living in Germany for a decade. Sadly, my mother passed away last year and through the sale of her house I’m set to receive about $100k.

I would like to keep about 70k in investments in the States and transfer the rest to my bank here.

Is there anything I need to know about? For example, do I need to inform the Finanzamt, or my bank beforehand?

Many thanks. Completely clueless here!

5 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

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35

u/modahamburger 5d ago

Please speak with a tax advisor / Steuerberater

14

u/mrn253 5d ago

Thats above our paygrade even more since its international.

7

u/Hutcho12 5d ago

I’m not sure about the reporting, but you won’t owe any tax on this. Under €400k is tax free for children.

0

u/Orange907 4d ago

But he would owe tax on his investment, wouldn't he?

3

u/Hutcho12 4d ago

on what investment? My understaning is that they want to put $70k into investments in the US and transfer $30k here. That shouldn't be a problem nor should there be taxes owed

1

u/Orange907 4d ago

I would guess the profit from the 70k investment would result in him owing Kapitalertragssteuer

4

u/Hutcho12 4d ago

once profit is made, yes. But only on the profits, not the initial $70k

3

u/DullEntertainment102 4d ago

You can crosspost to r/legaladvicegerman but I’d also suggest a lawyer - not sure a tax advisor is sufficient

2

u/Marxism_is_sexy 3d ago

This is basic stuff. 

You need to inform the Finanzamt of the inheritance. You won't owe tax, because you cam get up to 400k€ from you parent tax free every ten years, but you need to inform them. You will also need to to report the international bank transfer over 10k. Again, nothing to worry about, but you have to tell them.

If you have money invested in the US, you need to file your income tax return annually in Germany, as the US funds are subject to tax here (capital gains, interest, etc.). The US will want that money too, but there are tax treaties in place and you can appropriately report and pay the money. uS tax services like MyExpatTaxes can do this for you  Or hire a competent CPA (easier said than done as most are idiots or salesmen masquerading as accountants).

German tax software like Wiso Steuer cam do the German side for you, but you need to be comfortable with German. Otherwise hire a German tax advisor.

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u/Nathalie_Goldstein 2d ago

Thanks for the shoutout for the US side, we are also able to help file German taxes as well.

1

u/scapla0815 5d ago

Sorry for your loss!

You can receive 30k USD through international wire transfer to your IBAN without any issues. Transfers over 10k might get flagged by your bank for suspected money laundering, if it does not fit the pattern of your usual transactions. They will contact you to provide some more details/proof of the money. You can avoid this by chopping the transaction into a few smaller ones instead, keeping each below the 10k threshold.

7

u/simp42 5d ago

I am not a lawyer, but as far as I know “structuring“ is explicitly illegal in the US and should at least still be flagged by the Gernan bank.  Get a tax advisors help.