Is there a limit to gift of equity?

[Alexius 2000]

My husband and I have been living in his cousins house. We just pay his mortgage note and we were planning to put it in our name after. Well, there is only about $60,000 left to pay on the house and that is all his cousin would require us to buy it from him for. However, the house is appraised at about $110,000. Could his cousin give us $50,000 gift of equity and us put that as a down payment on the $60,000 loan leaving us only $10,000 to pay?

[Anonymous_ · Accepted solution]

There is only a limit in terms of being required to file a gift tax return (Form 709) if the annual exclusion ($15,000 to one individual) is exceeded, although no actual tax is typically due.

See https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i709#idm140554828371904

[MinhT1]

There is no limit to gifts in general.

There is a yearly exemption of $15,000 for each donee. So your cousin can gift each of you $15,000 without the need of filing a gift return (form 709 which is not supported by TurboTax).

For gifts above $15,000 to each donee, the donor has to file a gift return, but he has a lifetime exemption of $11.2 million before having to pay gift tax.

[Alexius 2000]

So, he could gift us both $25,000 and would just have to fill out the form?

[Anonymous_]

The lifetime gift tax exemption is $11.58 million in 2020, but who's counting?

[Anonymous_]

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@Alexius 2000 wrote:

So, he could gift us both $25,000 and would just have to fill out the form?

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Yes, but the form is not exactly straightforward and he might need to consult with a tax professional.