Justice forces the Treasury to return more than 212,000 euros to inheritance tax heirs: they had applied the rules incorrectly

Justice forces the Treasury to return more than 212,000 euros to inheritance tax heirs: they had applied the rules incorrectly

When receiving an inheritance, the heirs have to pay the inheritance tax, a tax that sometimes generates certain controversies with the tax administration and claims by the successors. Due to one of these conflicts, the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has sided in favor of the heirs and has ordered the administration to refund 212,248.78 euros paid for this tax.

According to the ruling issued in March 2024, everything arises with the consecutive death of two sisters. When the first died, she left her sister as universal heir of her estate, who died a few days later without having accepted the inheritance. When this second woman died and had no children Their cousins ​​were the final heirs of both women’s assets.

After receiving the inheritance, the cousins ​​submitted the self-assessment of the inheritance tax. In this case it They carried out two self-assessments, one for the inheritance of the first deceased and another for the second. This is how settlements were carried out at the time of presentation, but a 2018 Supreme Court ruling considered that If a first inheritance had not been accepted, there was no double transmission. For this reason, the heirs considered that the double settlement approach used was not appropriate and requested a refund of the amount received from the first transfer, which was more than 212,000 euros.

The court considers that there was no double transmission and the administration has to return more than 212,000 euros of inheritance tax to the heirs

Using as an allegation the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of June 5, 2018, and article 1,006 of the Civil Code, the heirs They argued that there was only one taxable event and, therefore, they did not have to pay taxes twice. They requested a refund of the inheritance tax from the first self-assessment, something that the administration refused, since they considered that the provisional settlements carried out were already final.

Not satisfied with the decision, the cousins ​​of the deceased filed an appeal with the Regional Economic-Administrative Court (TEAR) of Madrid, qwho positioned himself in favor of the tax administration, clarifying that provisional settlements could only be challenged within the established deadlines in the General Tax Law.

After a contentious-administrative appeal, the lawsuit reached the TSJM, which was finally the one who agreed with the heirs, declaring that the administration had wrongly applied the rules.

As detailed in the ruling the denial of the rectification of the liquidation was not well justifiedsince as established in article 126.3 of Royal Decree 1065/2007, provisional settlements can be modified if the aspects in dispute were not subject to regularization. Besides, According to the Supreme Court’s own jurisprudence of 2018, it must be considered that in the case of unaccepted inheritances, a double transmission does not subsequently occur. The court clarified that “the transferring heirs will succeed directly to the deceased of the inheritance and in a different succession to the deceased transferring heir.”

For all these, the TSJM ordered the tax administration to return 212,248.78 euros paid unduly as inheritance tax and that the amounts corresponding to the liquidation of the second inheritance were adjusted.