The Inheritance and Gift Tax Act (ErbStG) regulates with a total of 39 paragraphs everything you need to know about the tax type. For reasons of simplification, we speak uniformly of the inheritance tax, since the legislature equates inheritances and gifts in large parts. The basis for the assessment of inheritance tax is the enrichment according to § 10 ErbStG, insofar as it is not tax-free according to §§ 13 to 13d ErbStG.
The basis of assessment of inheritance tax is determined in accordance with § 10 ErbStG. According to § 10 (1) sentence 1 ErbStG, the enrichment of the acquirer (inheritance or gifted person) is always decisive insofar as it is not tax-free (§§ 13 further following ErbStG). So it always depends on the assets that flow to the acquirer in the end. However, the extent to which the transferor is depleted does not matter.
You calculate the basis of assessment of inheritance tax according to a fixed scheme, which results to a certain extent from the structure of the ErbStG:
This article does not replace tax or legal advice in an individual case. Facts, current law, jurisdiction, documentation and implementation remain decisive.