Schaffung bezahlbaren Wohnraums als soziale Herausforderung – Steuerliche Irrwege als Investitionshemmnis

The creation and provision of affordable housing, especially in Germany's economic conurbations, is one of the most pressing social issues of our time. The housing shortage, excessive rent increases, usurious rents and similar grievances feature prominently in daily media coverage and are the focus of (social) policy activities at federal and state level. For example, the 2021 coalition agreement proposed to increase public funding for housing construction, to extend the rent freeze, originally planned to last until 2025, and to create an “Alliance for Affordable Housing”, with the responsible ministries pushing ahead with the implementation of the necessary measures. However, there are also a growing number of private initiatives. In this context, we will take a closer look at those initiatives, whose (economic) goal is not to maximize the profitability of real estate investments, but which are committed to the goal of creating or providing affordable housing. In addition to the political framework conditions, the legal structure and any tax consequences of implementing the concept are at the forefront of considerations when designing such initiatives. In addition to the “usual suspects”, income tax and real estate transfer tax, one type of tax that is often overlooked in this context is of particular importance – the inheritance and gift tax. This article is intended to show which inheritance tax peculiarities need to be considered, when the legal form of a registered cooperative (eG) is used for designing private initiatives to improve the housing situation.