gift of house

new york state
my mother is contemplating giving her house to me as a gift. Do I have to pay taxes on this gift to the irs? please help.
norman

There is no income tax on receipt of a gift.

Your mother may be subject to Gift Tax on the gift. She must file a gift tax return to show the gift; however, there is an annual exclusion of $10,000 on gifts to each person and for gifts in 2002, there is a lifetime exemption of $700,000. So if the house is valued at less than that, there would be no tax due.

Actually, for 2002 the annual exclusion is $11,000 and the lifetime exemption equivalent is $1,000,000.