Civil marriage: how can you avoid high inheritance taxes?
Do you live with your partner in a civil marriage, but your marriage is not officially registered?
In this case, as an ordinary third party, in the event of the death of your partner, you are only entitled to an inheritance tax exemption in the amount of 2.208 euros. And on the entire remaining amount of the inheritance, you are forced to pay tax at one of the highest rates - from 30 to 40%.
How can you avoid this? Enter into a notarized agreement / contract for living together and caring for each other. In this case, after six months of your living together on the basis of such a contract, a maximum of 661.328 euros (in 2020 rates) can be exempt from tax, the remaining amount is taxed at a low rate - from 10 to 20%.
In the absence of the aforementioned agreement, this right, in certain cases, can also arise, but only after both partners have been registered at the same address continuously for at least five years.
If you need help in drawing up such a contract, the Nalog.NL team is always ready to help you with this.
Remember that there is no direct inheritance law for people living in a common-law marriage - so take care of this in advance!
Publication Date: 15.10.2020
