topic Can I still remain solely responsible for expenses and earning and property tax of my rental properties after a quitclaim deed to my son? in Investors & landlords

Can I still remain solely responsible for expenses and earning and property tax of my rental properties after a quitclaim deed to my son?

hukabir — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 01:33:26 GMT

Re: Can I still remain solely responsible for expenses and earning and property tax of my rental properties after a quitclaim deed to my son?

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 05:53:33 GMT

your asking legal questions which we can't answer.

Re: Can I still remain solely responsible for expenses and earning and property tax of my rental properties after a quitclaim deed to my son?

Carl — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 14:36:01 GMT

If you want to. However, it's your son that gets to claim all the mortgage interest, property taxes and other expenses on his tax return, regardless of who pays them.

If this is rental property, then it's your son that depreciates the property and has to report all the income/expenses on SCH E as a part of his own tax return.

Now there is a legal term of "vested interest" which can change things, and is extremely difficult (maybe impossible) to justify after having just done a quit claim on the property. On business property (which is what rental property is) it can be even more complicated, since you can not depreciate property that you do not own.

With a quit claim, you are considered to have "gifted" your property to your son.Feeling confident that the value of your gift is over $15,000, you will need to file IRS Form 709 - Gift Tax Return with the IRS to report the gift. Now don't let the name of that form concern you. You will ***NOT*** pay any taxes on your gift. You are merely required to report it to the IRS (if more than $15K) and that's it. The reporting requirement is on the giver, not the recipient of the gift.

So in the end, you need the legal expertise of a tax professional, and "might" need the help of a real estate professional too. This would be especially true if your state also taxes personal income.

Re: Can I still remain solely responsible for expenses and earning and property tax of my rental properties after a quitclaim deed to my son?

Opus 17 — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 17:09:30 GMT

If you have already done this, you need to see a tax accountant. If you have not done it yet, you need to see an attorney who specializes in estate planning (and who probably has financial training or has accountants on staff.) You need to tell the attorney what you want to accomplish (avoid probate, protect assets from Medicare or other government grabs, etc.) and let the attorney tell you the best way to accomplish your goal.

I will add, since @Carl did not, that gifting the rental property to your son also gifts him with your depreciated cost basis, and he will probably owe significant capital gains tax if and when he sells, that could maybe be avoided if you used other methods to transfer ownership to him. Gifting him the property will also significantly reduce his own deductions for depreciation.