Valuation for inheritance and gifts: documents, timing, tax

Inheritance and gifts differ from a sale in one respect: no money passes between the parties, yet tax is still due. It is calculated from the valuation, because no other figure exists in the transaction.

Which date an inheritance valuation reflects

The date of death, not the day you approach the notary. This is the key difference, and people usually learn it late: months often pass between those dates, and the market moves in between.

Tell the appraiser that date at the outset. A report prepared as at today is no use for an inheritance, and it has to be redone in full.

What documents are needed

For inheritance: the death certificate, the deceased proof of ownership, the technical passport, and the heir passport and tax number. For a house, also the land documents.

For a gift: the donor proof of ownership, the technical passport, passports and tax numbers of both parties, and spousal consent where required.

What the tax depends on

On the degree of kinship. Heirs and recipients in the first and second degree are taxed at zero percent; others pay under the general rules. The valuation itself does not change the rate; it supplies the sum the rate applies to.

That is why people on a zero rate sometimes think the valuation is pointless. The notary still needs it: without it there is no basis for the calculation and the transaction cannot proceed.

How long it takes

One or two working days, like any valuation. The only complication is an older date: if the death occurred several years ago, the appraiser needs market data from that period, which can take longer.

The report is valid for six months from the date it was drawn up. If the inheritance process drags on, the report has to be renewed even though the valuation date stays the same.

A common mistake

Ordering one valuation for all the heirs and then discovering that shares are registered separately and each heir needs their own set of documents. Settle it at the start: the notary will say how many reports are needed before any valuation is ordered.

The second mistake is valuing the apartment at today price and arguing that the market has risen. For an inheritance what matters is the market at the date of death; growth since then does not enter the calculation.

In short

For inheritance the valuation date is the date of death. For a gift it is the day of the transaction. Tax depends on kinship rather than on the valuation, but without a valuation the notary cannot proceed. The report lasts six months, and a drawn-out process means repeating it.