SSI Recipient gifting a vehicle

[LdiJ]

My sister recently was approved for SSI, and I don't think your sister can own a car worth $5000, even if you gift it to her. Just an FYI. The two of you should see if you can meet with her worker before you cause problems for her.

That is not correct. As SSI recipient can own both a house and a car. It does not matter what the house or car are worth.

 

[rp782011]

My sister recently was approved for SSI, and I don't think your sister can own a car worth $5000, even if you gift it to her. Just an FYI. The two of you should see if you can meet with her worker before you cause problems for her.

That was the old rule prior to 2006ish. Now you can own one vehicle as long as it's your main transportation vehicle for work, shopping, doctor's apts, etc regardless of value.

The old rule said you could have as many cars as you wanted as long as they didn't go over X amount. I think it was $4,500 when the rule was changed.

I found the complete rule book online and downloaded it. It might as well be labeled "10 million ways to confuse you and drive you insane".

 

[rp782011]

That is not correct. As SSI recipient can own both a house and a car. It does not matter what the house or car are worth.

Correct.

At some point I may point her in a condo and actually put it in her name. That's down the road. I have to deal with this car situation first. I've decided to set up an appt with her case worker and step-by-step explain to her what I want to do. Before I was just talking to random workers down there.

 

[LdiJ]

Correct.

At some point I may point her in a condo and actually put it in her name. That's down the road. I have to deal with this car situation first. I've decided to set up an appt with her case worker and step-by-step explain to her what I want to do. Before I was just talking to random workers down there.

It might be helpful to explain WHY you want to do it. You haven't done that here and that might make a difference.

 

[rp782011]

It might be helpful to explain WHY you want to do it. You haven't done that here and that might make a difference.

My sister is on SSI. She owns a 1999 Accord with 180K miles on it. It needs a new exhaust and timing belt. It's junk but the NADA value is still $1,000.

I just bought a new Mustang. I have no need for my 2007 Honda Accord. I want to give it to her. She needs a car and I don't want to go through the trouble of selling it via Craigslist or whatever. Great timing!f

She can't own two cars on SSI or else that second one would count as a resource against her income limit. She has no need for two cars anyway.

My nephew is a mechanic. He said he would gladly take the 1999 Accord to use for spare parts, to tinker with, etc as mechanics do with older/beat up cars.

All we wanted to do was have her gift my nephew the 99 Accord and me gift her the 07 Accord. If she wasn't mentally disabled/on SSI we would be doing it this way anyway as relatives are allowed to gift vehicles to each other per IRS rules as long as you don't go over $15,000 per year then taxes come into play.

But the IRS rules don't apply to SSI folks...apparently.

I do understand why the government does this...to discourage fraud...but I'm actually committing fraud (lying about her selling the car to my nephew) in order to keep her ok with the SSI benefits.

 

[Janke]

Apparently people on SSI don't have full rights like other citizens. What a shame.

Full rights? Full rights to what? The IRS doesn't send her a check every month do they? SSA does. SSA doesn't send you a check every month, so you also don't have full rights? The IRS has rules about gifts. SSI has rules about gifts. The IRS collects income taxes. Does your sister pay income taxes? So the IRS and SSA are both the government. So what? They have different rules. Again, you don't get a check each month from SSA, but your sister does. SSI rules apply to her if she accepts the money. She is not required to accept the SSI money. You could support her and then all of your rules apply.

You could call her SSI a gift from the taxpayers.

You don't HAVE to commit fraud. You could sell her car. You could put an ad on Craigslist. Your nephew could man up and buy the car instead of taking away her asset for free when she is the low income SSI recipient who has almost no money. And if it is really only worth $300, regardless of book value, then that is what he can pay. Or she can donate it to a charity and get a write off on her income tax. Oh wait, she doesn't get to do that either since she doesn't pay income tax. Another lack of full rights?

Resource transfer rules were created so no one can give away thousands of dollars of money or property and then come ask for government assistance because they are now too poor. In reality, most SSA employees don't bother asking too many questions about buying and selling cars. The rules are there, but there really is not enough time for the staff to nitpick over this stuff. Usually. Lots of SSI recipients buy and sell cars and keep zero documentation.

And yes, I get that you are emotional about her and it is good she has you in her corner. That is a good thing. I also think SSI could use a simplification, but everyone wants an exception to a rule, so it becomes complicated really fast. I also think the $2000 resource limit is long overdue for an increase as well as the earned income exclusion. But, I am not in charge. Neither are you.

But yes, I've done this dance before with imaginary proofs.

How did I guess that correctly?

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0501130200

One car, any value, used for transportation excluded from resources. A Toyota or a Lexus. A Chevy or a BMW.

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0500815200

Conversion of a resource (non-countable to countable) is not income. This is done wrong sometimes. Print this page. Maybe she should buy your car for $1000. It is a good deal for her. What you do with your $1000 is up to you. Do you owe your nephew any money?

 

[xylene]

This is so much hassle over a parts car.