With today’s home prices constantly on the rise and the most competitive real estate market we've seen in decades, it’s likely difficult for your children to buy a home. It also may be that you are ready to move on from your existing home.

If this is true, consider the three options below.

Make An Outright Gift

Say you’re feeling so generous that you might just simply give your home to your adult child. What a deal for the kid! 

Tax-wise, if you make the gift this year, it will reduce your $12.06 million unified federal gift and estate tax exemption. To calculate the impact, reduce the fair market value of the home you would be giving away by the annual federal gift tax exclusion, which is $16,000 for 2022. The remainder is the amount that would reduce your unified federal exemption.

If you’re married, your spouse has a separate $12.06 million unified federal exemption. If you and your spouse make a joint gift of the home, each of your unified federal exemptions will be reduced. To calculate the impact, take half of the fair market value of the home minus the $16,000 annual exclusion. The remainder is the amount by which you would reduce your unified federal exemption. And the same is true for your spouse’s separate exemption.

If your child is married and you give the home to your child and his or her spouse, you can claim a separate $16,000 annual exclusion for your child’s spouse.

If you expect the home to continue to appreciate (seemingly a pretty good bet), getting it out of your estate by giving it away is a good estate-tax-avoidance strategy.

Arrange A Bargain Sale

Say you’re feeling generous, but not so generous that you want to simply give away your home. Fair enough. 

Consider selling the home to your child for less than fair market value. For federal gift tax purposes, this is treated as a gift of the difference between the home’s fair market value and the bargain sale price. Tax-wise, this can work out okay.

Warning! Do not make a bargain sale or an outright gift of the home if you intend to continue living there until you depart this planet. In these scenarios, expect the IRS to argue that the home's full date-of-death fair market value must be included in your estate for federal estate tax purposes, even if you were paying fair market rent to your child.

Arrange A Full Price Sale with Seller Financing from You

The idea of giving your home-starved child a big free lunch might be unappealing. Very well. Consider selling the home to your child for its current fair market value with you taking back a note for a big part of the purchase price.

Assume you’re feeling charitable. If so, you can charge the lowest interest rate the IRS allows without any weird tax consequences. That’s called the “applicable federal rate” (AFR).

AFRs change monthly in response to bond market conditions and are generally well below commercial rates. In April 2022, the long-term AFR, for loans of more than nine years, is only 2.25 percent (assuming annual compounding). The mid-term AFR, for loans of more than three years but not more than nine years, is only 1.87 percent (assuming annual compounding).

As this was written, the going rate nationally for a 30-year fixed-rate commercial mortgage was around 6.1 percent, while the rate for a 15-year loan was around 5.6 percent.

So, for a loan made in May 2022, you could take back a 30-year note that charges the long-term AFR of only 2.25 percent. Alternatively, you could take back a nine-year note that charges the mid-term AFR of only 1.87 percent. Either arrangement would be a money-saving deal for your child.

Would you like to discuss the transferring of your home to your child? Click here to schedule an appointment with one of Gold Standard's seasoned tax accountants.

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