living trust

[Lennymartelli]

i live in philadelphia, my father wants to give me and my siblings, 4 of his properties. can he transfer title of each house in each of our names and give them to us to avoid capital gain tax?

 

[loku]

Gifts of houses

He most certainly can gift the properties to you and avoid capital gains. There is not income tax on gifts, either to the donor or the donee.

However, there is a gift tax. There is an annual exemption of $10,000 ($20,000 if married and spouse joins in the gift) per gift to each donee. There is also a lifetime exclusion of $675,000 for gifts made in 2001. The lifetime exclusion is scheduled to increase each year. Therefore, if the total property is worth under $715,000 ($755,000 if he is married and his spouse joins in the gift), there would be no gift tax to pay.