In the canton of Aargau, inheritance tax is designed as a tax on shares of the inheritance that directly strikes the net enrichment obtained by each beneficiary at the time of death.
The circle of taxpayers who are actually liable depends principally on the degree of kinship or the legal tie between the acquirer and the deceased.
Total exemptions for close relatives and the liable taxpayers
Aargau tax legislation draws a clear distinction according to family proximity to the deceased person:
- Complete exemptions for close relatives: The surviving spouse, the registered partner and the direct descendants (children and grandchildren) benefit from a total exemption from all inheritance tax in Aargau. This tax privilege also extends, subject to certain conditions, to stepchildren and foster children.
- The persons liable to pay: All other heirs or legatees must pay inheritance tax on the share or legacy received; this concerns first and foremost collateral relatives (brothers and sisters), ascendants (parents and grandparents), cohabiting partners with no marriage or partnership, and unrelated third parties, with scales and tariff classes that increase markedly as the kinship becomes more distant.
Territorial connection and the role of the shared household
Liability to Aargau tax and its calculation also rest on criteria of domicile, the location of the assets and a shared household:
- Tax competence and intercantonal allocation: The canton of Aargau levies the tax on all movable property if the deceased had his or her last domicile on its territory; for deceased persons domiciled outside the canton, only immovable property situated in Aargau is subject to Aargau taxing power, in accordance with the federal rules prohibiting intercantonal double taxation.
- Preferential rate for prolonged cohabitation: Aargau tax law grants a reduced rate of tax to persons who, although neither married nor related by a direct tie that opens the exemption, shared the same domicile and a common household with the deceased for at least five years without interruption before the death.
As in Zurich, close relatives are largely exempt. The system as a whole remains cantonal: there is no federal inheritance tax.
Legal sources
Federal legislation:
- Art. 127 para. 3 Cst.(cited byBGE 108 Ia 252;Federal Supreme Court judgment 2P.314/2001 ) (tax jurisdiction of the cantons and prohibition of intercantonal double taxation)
Federal case law:
- Federal Supreme Court judgment 2C_1031/2012 (tax exemption granted under Aargau law to spouses, registered partners, and descendants, and reference to the concepts of Swiss civil law)
- Federal Supreme Court judgment 2C_685/2017 (taxation of siblings in Aargau and conditions for accessing the preferential rate following at least five years of cohabitation with the deceased)
- BGE 108 Ia 252 (rules of tax delimitation between the canton of the deceased’s last domicile for movable property and the canton where immovable property is located)
- Federal Supreme Court judgment 2P.314/2001 (method of intercantonal allocation of the estate and proportional deduction of liabilities)