Inheritance tax reporting by banks and asset managers
Banks must report account balances to the tax office!
Banks and savings banks with which the deceased had accounts are sometimes a very productive source of information for the tax office.
As asset managers, banks are generally obliged under Section 33 of the Inheritance Tax Act (ErbStG) to notify the tax office of all account balances, deposits, securities and receivables of the deceased as well as other assets that they hold for the deceased no later than one month after becoming aware of the death.
The heir who approaches the deceased's bank after his death and requests that the account be closed and the balance paid out must therefore be aware that he is conducting these banking transactions with a branch of the tax office, as it were. The bank will pay out the funds to which he is entitled as heir if he is sufficiently legitimised, but will probably send a message to the tax office about this process on the same day.
In this context, one should not rely on the bank waiving its duty of disclosure as an exception, as failure to do so would constitute an administrative tax offence under Section 33 (4) ErbStG and result in a fine for the bank.
The tax office is not interested in trivial cases. For amounts of less than 5,000 euros, the banks are not obliged to notify the tax office, Section 1 (4) ErbStDV (Inheritance Tax Implementation Ordinance).
The heir himself does not necessarily receive knowledge of the notification sent to the tax office. The bank is not legally obliged to send a copy of the report to the heir. The banks often send such copies, especially if this is requested. The banks' inheritance tax notifications are helpful when drawing up a list of assets at the time of death, particularly in connection with the determination of compulsory portion claims.