Smart Money’s Arden Dale reports that the Internal Revenue Service has launched a “low-profile but sweeping” investigation of unreported real estate gifts, using land-transfer records from at least 15 states—including California—to sniff out the 60 percent to 90 percent of apparent gifts of property to family members that the agency believes have gone unreported.
In other words, Dale writes, “if you haven’t told the Internal Revenue Service about a real estate gift, you probably want to start talking.”
The rule on this is simple: If you give somebody a property worth more than $13,000, you must file a gift-tax return for that. That’s the reporting requirement even if you give the property to a family member, and even if the gift doesn’t cause you to exceed the current, $5 million lifetime exemption amount.
Already given property and not reported it? Well, better late than never. As attorney Beth Shapiro Kaufman reminds Smart Money readers, it’s typically smarter for a taxpayer to voluntarily report.
blpcpa.wordpress.com 
Leave a comment