In order to provide a flat gasket comprising at least one gasket sheet, which comprises at least one through-opening and at least one sealing bead, which extends around the through-opening and is delimited at the side facing the through-opening by an inner bead foot, and at the side remote from the through-opening by an outer bead foot, and at least one deformation-limiting device, which comprises at least one stopper element disposed on a stopper-supporting surface of the gasket sheet, in which flat gasket the effective stopper height of the stopper element may easily be set to a value that differs from the thickness of the stopper element, the stopper-supporting surface is shifted in a direction extending at right angles to the stopper-supporting surface by an offset.