Wirkungen der Gesamtrechtsnachfolge im Einkommensteuerrecht

Inheritance has tax consequences not only with regard to inheritance tax. Whenever a testator has not completed his business, for example collecting a claimant’s fees or when business assets are sold, tensions between income tax and inheritance tax occur. Unlike in a normal case, in these cases two legal entities are involved in a fiscal matter. This work examines whether and to what extent tax-relevant facts that have been realised in the person of a testator can be validated by an heir. The contradictions in case law and research literature regarding income taxation in the case of inheritance require an analysis of the given structures and principles of income tax law. This study devotes particular attention to possible solutions de lege ferenda in cases of the transfer of hidden reserves made by a testator which are intended to counteract the elimination of the potential to offset a testator’s losses.