The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has given as a valid settlement of the inheritance tax that the inspection of the taxes of the Community of Madrid issued an heiress for money that, according to her the deceased had withdrawn from her current account and spent before dying. In this way it is condemned to pay the 25,372.40 euros for said tax plus a fine of 16,434.16 euros for not having declared said amount.
According to the judgment of December 2024, the deceased died being a widower and without children, so he appointed his nephews heirs of his heritage in the will. In the Community of Madrid, direct relatives have a bonus in the succession tax of 99%, but in the case of the nephews this bonus is lower (25% currently).
The niece did not present the liquidation that corresponded to the taxwhich led to the Tax Administration of Madrid to initiate an investigation into the inheritance received. It was detected that in the months prior to death SE had retired from their uncle’s account a total of 150,000 euros that should be included as part of the inheritance as established in article 25 of the Tax on Inheritance and Donations Tax. This establishes that “it will be presumed that the assets of all kinds that had belonged to the cause of the succession are part of the hereditary flow up to a year before the death” unless demonstrated that they are held by a person different from the heir.
Justice considers that money is part of the fine and the heiress will have to pay the tax and a fine
After the issuance of the liquidation of 25,372.40 euros and the sanction of 16,434.16 euros of the tax inspection, the niece presented a claim before the Economic-Administrative Court that was dismissed. However, he claimed again before the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, arguing that his uncle had withdrawn the money from the account and spent it alive, therefore, this should not be considered as part of his inheritance.
The Court dismissed the claim, considering the provisions of article 11.1.a of the Law on Inheritance and Donations Tax, which determines that The assets belonged to the deceased were in their possession during the year prior to their death, except proves to the contrary.
In the sentence refers to the fact that the niece did not present “any evidence that the deceased used the aforementioned funds to acquire goods or cover extraordinary expenses” so that “It should only be understood that such funds were held by the deceased at the date of death.”
Reference is also referred to article 25 of the Tax Regulation that has been cited above, which is considered to be The 150,000 euros are part of the hereditary flow.
As for the sanction imposed, the TSJM considers that The behavior of the heiress was “negligent” by not declaring the tax correctly. To do this, it justifies its decision with what is established by the General Tax Law in its article 183 that considers that “they are tax infractions the actions or omissions of malicious or guilty omissions with any degree of negligence that are typified and sanctioned as such in this or another law.”
For all this the niece of the deceased You will have to pay the Tax Administration of Madrid 41,806, 56 euros in total for the tax and the fine. However, it should be noted that it still has the possibility of claiming said decision through a appeal before the Supreme Court.