Gift tax

[Ralston138]

If my mom and I transferred 16,000,00 from her name to my name 6 years ago.  And she just passed away. I have 3 siblings. I am supposed to split the 16,000.00 four ways.  Os there gift tax due?  Was she supposed to pay it?  If she didn’t how would I know?  The year she transferred the money was 2016.  So I don’t believe it is inheritance. So it must be counted as a gift.  Being that it was 2,000.00 over the max annual gift and assuming she did not pay gift tax on that amount, do I owe it?  How do I proceed before dividing it up and paying my siblings their share?

[rjs]

I'm sorry about your loss.

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@Ralston138  wrote:

Os there gift tax due?  Was she supposed to pay it?

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Your mother was supposed to file a gift tax return, but she would not have had to actually pay any gift tax unless she had made gifts totaling more than $5,450,000 in her lifetime. Assuming her lifetime gifts did not exceed that amount, I wouldn't worry about the gift tax return now.

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@Ralston138  wrote:

So I don’t believe it is inheritance. So it must be counted as a gift.

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That is correct.

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@Ralston138  wrote:

How do I proceed before dividing it up and paying my siblings their share?

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The money is yours, since your mother gave it to you. If you give part of it to your siblings, it's a gift from you to them. You don't have to do anything special. Just give them the money. You don't have to file a gift tax return unless you give more than $15,000 to any one person. And the gifts from you to your siblings are not taxable income to them. They do not report it on their tax returns.

[macuser_22]

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@Ralston138  wrote:

If my mom and I transferred 16,000,00 from her name to my name 6 years ago.  And she just passed away. I have 3 siblings. I am supposed to split the 16,000.00 four ways.  Os there gift tax due?  Was she supposed to pay it?  If she didn’t how would I know?  The year she transferred the money was 2016.  So I don’t believe it is inheritance. So it must be counted as a gift.  Being that it was 2,000.00 over the max annual gift and assuming she did not pay gift tax on that amount, do I owe it?  How do I proceed before dividing it up and paying my siblings their share?

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No.  No gift tax.   The gift tax is on on the giver, not the receiver.  Your mother probably should have filed a form 709 gift tax return 6 years ago which would not impose any actual tax but just subtract form her lifetime exemption, but that is water under the bridge now and nothing for you to worry about.

What you give to your siblings is also a gift from you to them, but if under $15,000 in a year does not require any reporting.