House on parents' property - inheritance problems?

From time to time, an employee from the [FA] expresses their opinion on a matter. I have also discussed cases with auditors for payroll tax, income tax, and sales tax that did not concern the audit period. However, the opinion is not binding, as the processor cannot verify at that time whether the matter has been fully described. Such a statement is of no use to the [TE]. A tax advisor is allowed to provide advice and may also be liable for their statement. So, this is the right contact person.

Who pays the bill for the property tax is irrelevant. It is exactly that: a bill and not an indication of ownership.

If you could legally acquire a property in Berlin by paying the property tax for it, then I would gladly do nothing else all day long.

At no point was it a question of who owns the property. It is completely undisputed that the property belongs to my father. However, none of us were aware that this also meant the house belonged to him. Otherwise, we might have done things differently back then. No layperson would come up with such an idea. For us, it was always clear: he owns the property, and I own the house, so the house is not part of the inheritance.

This is yet another confirmation of my father’s negative attitude towards lawyers and tax advisors, because he believes anyway that you cannot rely on their advice. We were with a tax advisor at the time to discuss the project. And she never mentioned for a single word that the house automatically belongs to my father because the property belongs to him. Such a small insignificant side note is easy to forget...

This construct of buildings on foreign land existed in GDR times and, to my knowledge, was extensively reversed in the 90s. Now, to my knowledge, it only exists in the area of the [Kleingartengesetz] and with leasehold contracts.

As you read here, this should be clear to the majority of property owners and not just to lawyers.

For us it was always clear: The property belongs to him, and the house belongs to me, so the house is not part of the inheritance.

Only what corresponds to the facts can be clear – not what corresponds to contrary-to-fact naive beliefs. You refined father's property back then with your development – that might be an interesting question for tax law students, whether this wasn't actually a gift from you to him.

This once again confirms my father's dismissive attitude towards lawyers and tax advisors, because he basically holds the opinion that you can't rely on their advice anyway. We were with a tax advisor at the time to discuss the project.

A rogue who can imagine that the father similarly only fed the tax advisor with the information he thought necessary to tell?

You enhanced your father's property back then with your construction - that might be an interesting question for tax law students whether this actually constitutes a gift from you to him

Yep, it is actually subject to gift tax. However, the residential value (as a liability) must be offset.