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reThe reigning King of Thailand, Maha Vajiralongkorn, is said to have acquired Villa Stolberg in Tutzing, on Lake Starnberg, no later than the summer of 2016, when he was still crown prince. Because his father Bhumibol died shortly after, the question was raised whether he should have paid inheritance tax in Germany. Two members of the parliamentary group of the Greens wanted to know this from the Bavarian state government. The FAZ also followed up. However, the Ministry of Finance did not provide further information, citing tax secrecy, on the question of whether a tax liability was established or how extensive it could be. The reluctance of the ministry is understandable about it, but it is part of the behavior of various political actors in Germany, who have treated Maha Vajiralongkorn like a hot potato since she has been here.
Therefore, only plausibility remains to address the issue of tax liability. Income from taxes on inheritance and gifts of the Free State has moved between 1,570 million euros and 1,850 million euros annually during the last five years, resulting in a maximum fluctuation of almost 300 million euros. However, in the years after King Bhumibol’s death, the fluctuation would have to be significantly higher if his heir had paid inheritance tax. Because even then the Thai monarchy was considered the richest in the world. According to Forbes magazine, Bhumibol’s net worth in 2011 was more than $ 30 billion. Even if it is assumed that a large part belonged to the crown and not to him as a person, according to estimates, there should be enough left, several billion euros, to have a notable impact on the income of the Bavarian inheritance tax. In this regard, it seems reasonable to assume that no inheritance tax has yet been paid.
Another question is whether the king, who is also called Rama X., is subject to inheritance tax. In any case, your foreign citizenship does not prevent you. The German inheritance tax obligation applies without restriction to everyone who has a residence in Germany, including a secondary residence, or who stays here regularly for a longer period of time. The Bavarian Ministry of Finance had also noted that “basically the same legal rules apply to heads of state as to other people’s heirs” with regard to inheritance tax liability. However, “the rules of international law must also be observed.” The ministry left open what they are.
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The Thai king has stayed in Bavaria regularly and for longer periods in recent years, on the one hand at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, at the Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl, and on the other at the Villa Stolberg in Tutzing. There are compelling indications that he established a place of residence in Bavaria even before the purchase of the villa, among other things, the “royal power of disposition” over the apartment is decisive for this, or that he was in the Free State in a way that resulted in a growing inheritance tax liability. To check it more precisely, in a nutshell: where Maha Vajiralongkorn has her own toothbrush since when would it be the task of financial management, which is usually not scrupulous with less diplomatically sensitive celebrities like Boris Becker.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the Thai king’s stay in Bavaria is private, which is even more true for his time as crown prince. The source of this assessment is the Thai government, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There are considerable doubts about its representation. Rama X., who was proclaimed king on December 1, 2016, is said to have influenced his country’s parliamentary elections from Germany in 2019. Consequently, he banned his sister from running as the main candidate of the largest opposition party.
