BFH: higher sale price alone cannot sink a § 198 appraisal

A Finanzgericht may not dismiss an expert appraisal proving a lower gemeiner Wert under § 198 BewG by blanket reference to a higher sale price.Bundesfinanzhof The II. Senat holds that such a wholesale rejection breaches the court's duty to investigate the facts of its own motion (§ 76 Abs. 1 Satz 1 FGO)Bundesfinanzhof and to decide from the entire outcome of the proceedings (§ 96 Abs. 1 Satz 1 Halbsatz 1 FGO)Bundesfinanzhof. On the complaint against denial of leave to appealBundesfinanzhof, the Finanzgericht Düsseldorf judgment of 27 November 2025 (11 K 2562/22 BG) is set aside and remandedBundesfinanzhof; the remaining grounds for admission need not be reached.

The heir had submitted appraisals by a publicly appointed expert valuing two mixed-use plots at 210,000 € and 305,000 € by the Ertragswertverfahren. In February 2021 he sold both for 900,000 €, contractually split 380,000 € and 520,000 €. The Finanzamt assessed 290,834 € and 405,006 € by the same method, disregarding the appraisals because the price lay above them; objection and action failed. The lower court held the § 198 proof not furnished: even accepting the appraisals as formally proper, prices achieved from an unrelated buyer supplied the surest indicator of value under § 9 Abs. 2 BewG, with no priority for an expert report over a near-date sale.

That reasoning cannot stand. Where the taxpayer proves the gemeiner Wert at the valuation date is lower than the value computed under §§ 179 and 182 to 196 BewG, the lower value governs (§ 198 Abs. 1 Satz 1)Bundesfinanzhof. An appraisal by a qualified expert — the Gutachterausschuss or persons appointed or certified by a state, state-recognised or DIN EN ISO/IEC 17024-accredited body — regularly serves as such proof if properly prepared in compliance with the applicable valuation rules (§ 198 Abs. 2)Bundesfinanzhof. Whether the proof succeeds is a matter of free evaluation: it is furnished where the report can be followed without further expertsBundesfinanzhof. A report that falls short in some respect may not simply be disregarded wholesaleBundesfinanzhof: an insufficiently reasoned discount is merely struckBundesfinanzhof, gaps the Finanzamt and the court can close themselves where possible without an expert within ordinary evaluation of evidence are closedBundesfinanzhof, and the court must address the expert's opinion and justify any departureBundesfinanzhof. A blanket rejection meets none of these requirements.Bundesfinanzhof

Nor does the sale price do the work the lower court assigned to it. Under § 198 Abs. 3 a purchase price agreed in ordinary business within one year before or after the valuation date, with circumstances unchanged, serves as proof of a lower gemeiner Wert — but by its clear wording ("Als Nachweis des niedrigeren gemeinen Werts") only for proof of a lower value. A value higher than the §§ 179, 182 to 196 figure cannot be set on the basis of near-date pricesBundesfinanzhof. On remand the Finanzgericht must therefore examine the appraisals for plausibility and compliance with the valuation rules and engage in detail with the expert's findings — including the specifically identified defect and refurbishment items of 20,500 € and 80,500 € whose dismissal the complainant challenged — rather than rejecting the reports outright by pointing to the higher price.Bundesfinanzhof Consideration of the price does not prove a lower gemeiner Wert in this dispute.Bundesfinanzhof

Legal basis: § 198 Abs. 2 and 3 BewG (with § 198 Abs. 1 Satz 1 applied as quoted statutory text); § 76 Abs. 1 Satz 1, § 96 Abs. 1 Satz 1 Halbsatz 1, § 115 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 and § 116 Abs. 5 Satz 2 and Abs. 6 FGO.