The Tax Professionals Blog — gift tax

Background: A frequently encountered issue is when an elderly parent turns the title of his or her home over to a child or other beneficiary and continues to reside in the home. This situation raises important questions: How is a future sale of the home treated if it is sold before the parent’s death (will Sec 121 apply?), and is a gift tax return required? Or if the parent passes away while still residing in the home, does the beneficiary use a gift basis or the FMV on the date of death? What is the tax result if the parent moves out of the home?

On April 20, 2016, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) introduced legislation that he said would bring fairness to the tax code by restoring the estate tax and gift tax to the more sensible levels that were in effect in 2009. While it is hard to know at this time what the fate of this bill will be, this proposal points to the importance of tax preparers and estate planners’ carefully evaluating the need to file a 706 to make the deceased spousal unused exclusion election (portability election).