This study examines how inheritance and gift tax systems may reproduce gender inequalities in parental transfers. Although there is ample research on the role of fiscal policy for wealth inequality between households, we know only little about how taxes shape gender wealth inequality. We focus on financial transfers because a significant share of wealth is not generated from savings but received in transfers. Gender differences in financial transfers might arise or be reproduced if men benefit differently than women from tax exemptions. This could be because men and women receive different types of assets where some are tax-exempted while others are not. To estimate gender gaps in the effective tax rates on parental transfers, we draw on German administrative inheritance and gift tax data. We show that men’s average effective tax rate on inheritance is 2% lower than women’s. For gifts, men’s average effective tax rate is 18% lower than women’s. By discussing and identifying implicit gender discrimination in the inheritance and gift tax system this study adds another factor – tax policy – to the debate about the gender wealth gap.

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