This Swiss couple won a jackpot of 194 million euros in 2018. But they died three years later.
One man’s misfortune can be another man’s gain. The story begins like a fairy tale: in 2018, a Swiss couple won 183.9 million Swiss francs (194 million euros) in the Euromillions game.
Sadly, three years later, the wife died of cancer, as did her husband six months later.
The estate is then passed on to several siblings. In the canton of Aargau, however, siblings must pay inheritance tax, while spouses inherit tax-free.
Manne
Enough to generate very substantial inheritance tax. According to the Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung, last year, the municipality of Leuggern where the millionaire couple lived received 2.7 million Swiss francs, or more than 2.8 million euros. A real windfall for this small town of 2,000 inhabitants: the tax rate for residents has been considerably reduced.
And the trickle-down effect continued, as the canton of Aargau also received significant tax revenues: 5.4 million francs (5.6 million euros).
“The year 2023 was a record year,” Rafael Odermatt, head of inheritance and gift taxes at the cantonal tax administration, sums up simply. These revenues have thus doubled since 2019.
These revenues are expected to continue to flow into Leuggern. “It is not yet known how high they will be,” reports the newspaper Nau.ch.
Olivier Chicheportiche Journalist BFM Business
