PLEASE HELP!!! Gift Tax Mixup!

[alohanyc]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

Hello! I desperately need some advices. Here's the story:

My mom passed away 4 years ago. She was a Japanese citizen/resident that owned a condo in Hawaii and had a bank account in Hawaii where she had some money in. My dad and my mother's names were both on the condo. After she passed away, we had to pay "death tax" for my mother's portion of the condo (50%). We ended up selling the condo to pay for her death tax which was really high due to my mother not being a resident of Hawaii. We paid the death tax from the sales of the condo, and paid the sales tax on the sold condo.

My mom had a bank account in her name with the care of my father, and some CD's with my brother's name. My brother and my father both reside and work in Japan. I work in NY where I file taxes every year. After my mom's passing, the bank account automatically became my fathers, and the CD's became my brothers. We do not have any issues with who's the owner of the money etc, its very amicable. The only thing we are having issues with are the whole tax side of the matter. My brother and my father do not file taxes in the US, I think due to the fact that they don't have any income in the states except for the interest which does not amount to much. (at what amount do people have to file for taxes???) The problem is after the condo got sold, and the sales tax, death tax were both paid, my father divided the amount and put in in a CD half under my name in care of my brother, and the other half in my brother's name in care of my name.

I really do not know much about taxes, and unfortunately my father seems to not know either since he is Japanese and my mother took care of things in Hawaii. Now I am afraid that out of nowhere, I have this CD that we did not pay any gift taxes on and I am gaining interest. When I file my taxes next march for 2008, there's going to be this new amount out of nowwhere accumilating intrest.

There are so many facets to my question....for my father to put the CD in my name, we should of paid the gift tax on the amount right? If I was to return that money to my father's bank account from my account, would that be considered gift money from me to him where we have to pay another gift tax??

At this point, I am so confused and my father is not being too understanding in regards of how taxes seems to work in the states. What kind of trust should he be building for us to not loose any money once he passes away??

Please advise, I do not know who to turn to because any little advice I seek out wheather it'd be the bank person, my accountant, or my lawyer, no one is giving me any solid adivce that would be beneficial and helpful for us financially.

[tranquility]

See an attorney or tax professonal. It will cost you a few hundred dollars for a consulation and you will find out the issues. The problem for this forum is that a lot more facts are needed to determine the result.

(I know you will give those facts, but it is better to sit with a guy and talk for a bit.)

[Dandy Don]

Are you and your brother adults of legal age or are you minors?

Are the CD's being held here in the US or in Japan?

You can relax--you don't need to worry about gift tax because that does not apply here. Just the fact that CD's were purchased means they are maturing/increasing in value now but there is no tax liability now and there might not be even when they reach maturity. If you receive tax statements about the interest you can consult with a local tax accountant or CPA during tax time to figure out what your liability will be.

A more important thing you need to be doing now is to ask your father to consult with a certified estate planning professional OR someone at the bank that is holding the CD's to make his beneficiary designations less confusing--there is no reason for the beneficiaries to be designated as he has done--he needs to name only one person as beneficiary of each CD. If he doesn't get this changed it could cause confusion when the CD's mature as to what his true intentions are.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA (tiekh@yahoo.com)