Repayment of a single premium after the death of the spouse

The repayment of an insurance amount to the spouse after the death of the partner does not trigger inheritance tax if he or she had previously paid in the insurance amount himself or herself for the benefit of his or her deceased partner.

If, as agreed, one spouse receives a refund from the insurance company of part of the single premium paid for a pension insurance policy taken out by the other spouse because the other spouse died before the pension payments made reached the amount of the single premium, no inheritance tax is payable on the refund amount. For there to be a tax liability, there would have to be a reduction in assets on the part of the deceased, which is not the case here. With this reasoning, the Federal Fiscal Court ruled against the opinion of the tax office.