Death benefit

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The death benefit (also: funeral allowance ; death aid) is a cash benefit that is intended to replace the expenses incurred in the funeral of a deceased person. Up to 2003 it was a service provided by the German statutory health insurance through the health insurance funds and has been reduced more and more over time and finally been completely abolished, but has so far been provided for civil servants .

employer

In some cases, the employer (especially in the public sector ) pays a death grant when employees die. The basis of the entitlement is usually a collective agreement ; but an employment contract can also promise such benefits.

Statutory health insurance

Due to the law for the modernization of the statutory health insurance (GMG) of November 14, 2003, death grants no longer belong to the catalog of benefits of the statutory health insurance (GKV) since January 1, 2004 . Previously, it was paid as a subsidy to the funeral costs according to § 58, 59 SGB V in the amount of 525 euros in the event of the death of a member and 262.50 euros in the case of the death of family insured relatives (§ 21 para. 1 SGB V and § 11 para 1 SGB V in the version valid until December 31, 2003).

Statutory accident insurance

If an insured person dies as a result of an accident at work or an occupational disease , the surviving dependents receive a death benefit in the amount of one seventh of the reference value applicable at the time of death , Section 64 of Book VII of the Social Code . So it is neither the amount of earnings of the deceased nor the amount of the actual funeral costs. This also means: death benefit of the same amount will also be paid from the statutory accident insurance if students during the presence in the university , a student in the school or a child in kindergarten a fatal accident suffered. Accidents in connection with studies, school and attendance at kindergarten (including direct routes to and from the facility) are treated as accidents at work. The death benefit is paid by the employers' liability insurance association and the public accident insurance institutions.

Statutory pension insurance

The statutory pension insurance does not pay a reported death benefit. If the deceased were insured in the statutory pension insurance, the widow's or widower's pension is not only paid at 55% or 60% of the pension of the deceased, but at 100% for the first three months after death.

Civil servants

After their death, descendants and spouses of civil servants or retired civil servants receive a death benefit in the amount of twice the salary or retirement pension in accordance with Section 18 of the Civil Service Pension Act (BeamtVG). For state civil servants, this regulation is restricted to the surviving spouse in some federal states, such as in Baden-Württemberg (Section 32 LBeamtVGBW).

Private insurance

If privately insured persons have died in an accident , death benefit is paid. This corresponds to the agreed sum insured. The money is also available if a work, student, school or kindergarten accident was the cause of death and the statutory accident insurance is also entitled to death benefit.

The private health insurance does not pay a death benefit. The reason for this is that death is not an insured event that triggers benefits from health insurance . However, the insurance industry offers independent death benefit insurance , which is part of the endowment life insurance . In addition to commercial insurance companies, these provisions offer death benefit funds as self-help institutions.

Company pension scheme

The group of beneficiaries - in the event of death, employees with a company pension scheme - refers to the spouse, the life partner of a registered civil partnership, children entitled to child benefit i. S. d. Section 32 (3) and (4 ) EStG , cohabiting partners and unregistered life partners. These persons receive the agreed benefits from the company pension scheme. If such a person is not available, the death benefit will be paid. This amounts to up to € 8,000. The death benefit for public service employees in the federal and state pension institutions has not been paid since 2008.

Social compensation law

According to the Federal Pension Act and the laws that declare the catalog of benefits of the Federal Pension Act to be applicable, a death benefit essentially equal to three times the pension of the deceased is paid in the event of the death of a damaged person entitled to a pension ( Section 37 BVG). Furthermore, in the event of the death of those who are entitled to benefits or who have survived, a funeral allowance is granted to cover the funeral costs ( Section 36 , Section 53 BVG).

Tax law

Private death benefit insurances, as endowment life insurances, are fundamentally subject to income taxation according to Section 20 (1) No. 6 EStG . Whether death grants from professional pension funds are subject to income tax is currently (status: Dec / 2014) controversial.

Expenses for a funeral are extraordinary burdens under income tax law that the surviving dependents can claim in their tax return if the funeral costs cannot be financed from the estate and a possible death benefit is not sufficient.

In inheritance tax law , funeral costs reduce the tax burden; they are to be deducted from the taxable acquisition. Without proof, the heir can deduct € 10,300 as funeral expenses; higher amounts require proof (Section 10 (5) number 3 of the Inheritance Tax Act [ErbStG]). The lump sum is granted once for each case of inheritance. In this context, the costs of tending the grave are deductible. If the grave maintenance costs are paid in advance in one amount, they are fully deductible. If the grave maintenance costs are paid continuously during the rest period, they are only taken into account with their capital value (Section 10 (5) number 3 ErbStG). This is 9.3 times the annual costs. The tax office must not be petty in recognizing the expenses. It must recognize the cost of an “appropriate” grave monument and “normal” grave maintenance.

Individual evidence

  1. Euthanasia In duden.de; accessed on February 27, 2020
  2. applies to federal civil servants, so far also to civil servants in the federal states
  3. BFH XR 13/14
  4. BFH, judgment of September 17, 1987, Az .: III R 242/83, BStBl 1988 II, 130