INHERITANCE IN FAVOUR OF A COMPANY
Patrick Gordinne Perez2024-06-22T09:11:01+00:00Inheritance in favour of a company is a way to pay less tax. We would agree that paying corporation tax is theft because we pay tax on money that has already been taxed.
Money calls money and an inheritance in favour of a company is the typical advice given to people with money. Here we show you how to act.
When planning the taxation of a large inheritance, an alternative to pay less tax is to appoint as heir or legatee a company that is owned by the natural person who was initially going to inherit…
Inheritance and gift taxation ISD
Next of kin
If you expect your descendants or your spouse to inherit your assets, in general their inheritance tax liability should not be very high:
- Most autonomous communities establish important reductions and deductions in inheritances between close relatives. In some places there are deductions of up to 95 or 99% of the tax, for example.
- Likewise, when inherited, many assets enjoy high incentives that reduce their taxation, such as the main residence, shares in companies or family businesses. The value to be declared for these assets in the ISD can be reduced by up to 95%.
Distant relatives or third parties
However, if you intend to leave assets in inheritance to other people (e.g. a nephew or a third party), the applicable incentives will be much lower or non-existent. This can greatly increase the ISD taxation, especially if the estate to be inherited is large.
Corporate income taxation IS
Inherited company
Well, if the person who is going to inherit your assets (or part of them) is in this second group and is the owner of a company in which he or she has a 100% shareholding, one alternative available to reduce taxation is to name this company as his or her heir or legatee. In this case:
- Upon inheritance, the company will not have to pay ISD (it is a tax only for individuals).
- Instead, the company will have to record a higher income for the value of the assets received and pay tax on it in its
- Corporate Income Tax (IS), as if it were another income from its activity.
Corporate income tax
In this way, the tax cost of what the company inherits will be 25%, 23% or 15% (depending on the company’s corporate income tax rate).
In the case of large estates, in general, the effective ISD rate to be paid will be higher, so that significant savings can be made.
However, this is only advisable if the assets transferred are to be kept in the company.
If the partner of the company then transfers them to his or her private assets via dividends, it may not be worthwhile: in this case, the IS cost of the inheritance or legacy will have to be added to the IRPF taxation of the dividend, and the total taxation may be even higher than in the ISD.
Company with Negative Taxable Bases
The ideal situation to carry out one of these operations occurs when the company receiving the legacy or inheritance has high negative tax bases (BIN) from previous years that it is unable to offset. Note. In this case, the income to be declared by the company upon inheritance is offset against these BIN, so that the taxation can even be reduced to zero.
Example of inheritance in favour of a company
A nephew of his receives an inheritance of one million euros in listed shares:
- Case 1.The nephew inherits directly.
- Case 2. Inherits a company in which the nephew holds 100% of the capital.
- Case 3.Same scenario as case 2, but the company has a BIN of 800,000 euros.
Concepto | Case 1 | Case 2 | Case 3 |
Tax | IDT | CT | CT |
Tax cost | 265.405 (1) | 250.000 | 50.000 (2) |
% | 26,54% | 25% | 5% |
According to the state ISD rate, applying the reduction for kinship.
After offsetting the BIN, only 200,000 euros are taxed at 25%.
If a company receives assets in inheritance, it must declare a higher income and be taxed on it in the IS. This can greatly reduce the taxation of the inheritance, especially if the company has BIN that can be offset against this income.