My inlaw wants to gift us each $14000 then wants us to turn around and gift it back to his children. Can we run into problems by doing this favor?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 6, 2019
1 reply
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He's trying to get around the limit, but are there consequences to our taxes? We also have children. I understand there is a lifetime limit. Would ours be affected? He also wants his spouse to gift us $14000 for a total of $56,000/ year

Best answer by Critter

That is called a tax avoidance scheme that I would steer clear of if I were you ... however, they can give more than the max $14K if they want they would just need to file a gift tax return even if they would not owe any gift tax.

Or if they were smart they would give $14K to each this tax year and come Jan 1 they can do it again and the max increases to $15K in 2018.

"Gift Tax" is somewhat of a misnomer. Even though a gift tax return may be required, very few people ever actually pay federal gift tax. The purpose of the gift tax return is usually only to document a reduction in the allowable estate tax exemption.

You will have to file a gift tax return to report the gifts, but you will not actually have to pay any gift tax unless you have made gifts totaling over $5.45 million over your lifetime.

A gift tax return is separate from income tax. It does not go on her income tax return. TurboTax cannot be used to prepare a gift tax return.

See https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Tax-Planning-and-Checklists/The-Gift-Tax-Made-Simple/INF12127.html

CritterAnswer

Level 15

Or if they were smart they would give $14K to each this tax year and come Jan 1 they can do it again and the max increases to $15K in 2018.

You will have to file a gift tax return to report the gifts, but you will not actually have to pay any gift tax unless you have made gifts totaling over $5.45 million over your lifetime.

A gift tax return is separate from income tax. It does not go on her income tax return. TurboTax cannot be used to prepare a gift tax return.

See https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Tax-Planning-and-Checklists/The-Gift-Tax-Made-Simple/INF12127.html

TaxGuyBill

Level 13

I agree with Critter, don't get involved with something that is trying to fraudulently hide something. Your in-law is not really Gifting you $14,000 each, he is effectively Gifting that amount to his children. So it would still need to be reported on his Gift Tax return.