Entering into a registered partnership or marriage results in the individuals being considered each other’s partners for the Inheritance Tax Act. The law imposes no further requirements beyond the registered partnership or marriage. The Inheritance Tax Act grants a generous exemption and lower tax rates to the surviving partner of a deceased person. The underlying idea is that the surviving partner is cared for after the death of the other.
The Tax Authorities, invoking fraus legis, imposed a supplementary inheritance tax assessment on a registered partner. The partnership had been entered into shortly before the death of one of the partners, between a medical assistant and a patient of the general practitioner’s practice where she worked. The court, in the proceedings regarding the supplementary assessment, considered that, in principle, a taxpayer is free to choose the fiscally least burdensome path to achieve a real and business-related goal. This means that it is permitted to enter into a registered partnership with the aim of saving taxes. This is different if entering into the registered partnership is artificial and serves no real purpose. An example of this is a registered partnership entered into for such a short period that the obligations associated with it, as stipulated by the law, could not have any real practical significance. In such a case, the registered partnership is disregarded.
According to the court, the Inspector has not convincingly demonstrated that the registered partnership was artificial, despite the fact that the nature of the relationship (caretaker relationship, partner relationship, or another affective relationship) has not been entirely clarified. A community of property has been established for the purpose of living together. The court does not find it plausible that the obligations associated with the partnership had no real significance or could not have any. For this reason, the court sees no reason in this case to conclude that this registered partnership is contrary to the purpose and intent of the law. The court annulled the supplementary inheritance tax assessment.
Source: Zeeland-West-Brabant District Court | jurisprudence | ECLINLRBZWB20234937, BRE 22/256 | 12-07-2023
