"Fun" Facts about the Gift Tax, Part 4: The End
A final word...
16. I've tried to give a number of practical hints on gifting over the years, focusing on things that can be done without an attorney. That being said, there are a lot of gifting situations that simply require the assistance of a professional, and maybe more than one professional:
-you are making gifts of a future interest-you are making gifts that exceed the $12,000 annual exclusion amount
-you are involved in non-traditional gifting relationships -- loaning money to a child, selling property to a child for less than its fair market value, naming a child as a joint tenant, etc.
-the property being gifted has valuation issues. Obviously it's easy to figure out the value of a gift of $10,000 in cash -- it's $10,000. But what about assets like real estate, or a painting, or a minority interest in a partnership? These are far trickier, and the IRS is far more diligent about auditing in these cases.
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