Requirements for Riester promotion, buying real estate
November 8, 2011 | 40,00 EUR | answered by StB Manuela Ponikwar
Dear Sir or Madam,
The situation is as follows:
As part of an inheritance settlement agreement, my wife is receiving a house as a gift. According to the terms of the agreement, the other heirs are receiving a compensation payment from us. We need to finance this compensation payment. We were planning to do so through a so-called residential Riester loan.
However, the bank is not sure if I am eligible for Riester support for this, as I am not mentioned as the owner of the house in the inheritance settlement agreement, only my wife is.
The question is, in this case:
- Am I already eligible for allowances?
- Do I need to make any additional agreement with my wife to become eligible for allowances?
Kind regards,
Dear inquirer,
Thank you for your inquiry, which I would like to answer within the scope of an initial consultation considering the appropriate fee as follows:
According to general tax principles, a property is acquired when it is purchased for consideration. If a property passes to an heir through universal succession, this inheritance is generally not considered an acquisition for the purpose of residential use according to § 92a para. 1 sentence 1 of the Income Tax Act.
However, in the case of division of inheritance among heirs, as in the case of your wife, if one of the heirs wishes to use the residential property as a sole owner and must buy out the co-heirs, the following should be noted:
If the value of the inherited property exceeds the share of the entitled recipient (= necessary compensation payment) who intends to use the property alone or jointly with their spouse, the financing of the difference may be done through a certified pension contract.
This would be the situation for your wife, who, as I understand, does not have such a contract.
Therefore, I will now delve into the definition:
A qualified property according to the Homeownership Pension Act (EigRentG) is
1) a property in a self-owned house (which can also be a multi-family house),
2) a self-owned condominium,
3) a cooperative apartment of a registered cooperative in the cooperative register
4) or
a property-like or lifelong permanent residential right.
The property must be used by the taxpayer themselves, but they do not have to be the sole owner or sole user. The property must be located in Germany and represent the taxpayer's primary residence or center of life interests upon the start of self-use.
Conclusion:
Based on my understanding, you have the option to either acquire a share of ownership from your wife (which must not exceed the value of the share in the (total) market value of the qualified property) or your wife can "sell" you a lifelong residential right (refer to point 4).
Only the corresponding value can be handled through your WohnRiester. In most cases, a notarial contract will be necessary for this, as simply "any other agreement" may not be sufficient.
I cannot definitively assess your specific inquiry within the appropriate fee. The Central Allowance Office for Old-age Assets of the German Pension Insurance is responsible for the decision, which you should consult before proceeding. There is also a special hotline for individual questions for your provider (bank / insurance).
You can find contact details here:
https://www.zfa.deutsche-rentenversicherung-bund.de/nn_80130/de/public/Navigation/1__ZfA/12__Kontakt__node,https=1.html__nnn=true
I hope my explanations have been helpful to you.
Kind regards,
Manuela Ponikwar
Tax Consultant
www.ponikwar.de
