Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 17 October 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Düsseldorf — Germany) — Yvon Welte v Finanzamt Velbert

(Case C-181/12) (1)

(Free movement of capital - Articles 56 EC to 58 EC - Inheritance tax - Deceased person and heir resident in a third country - Estate - Immovable property located in a Member State - Right to an allowance against the taxable value - Different treatment of residents and non-residents)

2013/C 367/18

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Finanzgericht Düsseldorf

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Yvon Welte

Defendant: Finanzamt Velbert

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Finanzgericht Düsseldorf — Interpretation of Articles 63 and 65 TFEU — Legislation of a Member State on inheritance tax fixing the tax-free part of the value of land at EUR 2 000 if the deceased person and the acquirer are resident in a third country, whereas the tax-free part is EUR 500 000 if either the deceased person or the acquirer is resident in the national territory

Operative part of the judgment

Articles 56 EC and 58 EC must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State relating to the calculation of inheritance tax which provides that, in the event of inheritance of immovable property in that State, in a case where, as in the main proceedings, the deceased and the heir had a permanent residence in a third country, such as the Swiss Confederation, at the time of the death, the tax-free allowance is less than the allowance which would have been applied if at least one of them had been resident in that Member State at that time.

(1)  OJ 2012 C 174, p. 20