- quote -

Which wasn't intended as a gift? Under what circumstances
would a transfer of a valuable property for no consideration
not be considered a gift?

- quote -

That's for gift tax purposes; even if too late for that,
might it work for real estate tax purposes?

Seth

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- quote -

It clearly wasn't intended as a gift, so I doubt this would
be a problem.

- quote -

Good thought. A qualified disclaimer (for federal gift tax
purposes) must be made within nine months to be effective.
If there was a gift here, it sounds like the time to
disclaim has passed.

Stu

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- quote -

Be careful: that could mean there's a valuable _gift_ in
both directions, which isn't what you want.

However, the form might be that you _disclaim_ the gift.
That sounds more like "it never happened" and everything
stays the way it was.

You do need legal advice, yourself (not second-hand). I'd
guess that an attorney who knows tax law is more important
than one who does real estate law.

Seth

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"DJ Kazuya" <djkazuya[at]earthlink.net> wrote:

- quote -

If you didn't know about it, technically the property didn't
actually become yours even though the records reflected you
as the owner.

- quote -

It seems to me that you basically had two options. One was
to do what you did, and that was probably the best option.
While your name may be on the tax bill, if it's not paid the
property will be taken. So I don't think you need to worry
about personal liability.

It may show up on your credit report, though. If it does,
contest it on the basis of what actually happened, and, with
luck, the negative information will be removed.

Your other option would have been to tell your relative to
pay the tax or you'd sell the property. It was her choice
to transfer it to you in the first place, so she should
suffer the consequences of her actions. Either she'd pay or
lose the house. Of course, to avoid tax problems you'd have
to pay over to her anything you got from the sale of the
house after paying off the taxes.

Stu

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"DJ Kazuya" <djkazuya[at]earthlink.net> wrote:

- quote -

You can't. You owe the taxes.

- quote -

You should have not transfered back (Quit-Claimed) the
property until you had reimbursement for the taxes.

If the taxes are low, just pay them and ask the other party
to reimburse you. Or even better, don't pay them at all. I
believe that tax liability runs with the property, so the
current owner is always billed for them. You might call the
county property tax office and ask them that question.

--
To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

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Thanks to all who replied, I appreciate it. I posted this
in another group, but it explains why I'm asking:

I know this sort of falls outside of the realm of taxes, but
basically why I am asking is because of the ridiculous
situation I'm in... a relative of mine went and transferred
the title of her house to me (more than a year ago, to boot)
and *neglected to even tell me*. Turns out they thought
that they were in financial trouble and were worried that
the house could be taken (yes, I know that can get you in
trouble, but that's another story... besides they were
worried for nothing and it turns out there is no danger).
So guess who gets a big property tax bill in the mail this
fall? I'm like what the hell is this? So I make a few
calls and find out what has happened. My aunt works for
some lawyers, she tells me she was advised that I can
basically just grant it back to her by signing a form that
she would notarize. They seem to think that this will make
it like the title was never in my name and the taxes will be
recalculated as if it always was in hers. (Important note:
the taxes are *considerably* less for my relative, because
she is a senior and has other exemptions... her taxes are
basically nothing). So I did it, but the more I think about
it the more I feel like I made a mistake. I can't believe I
can walk away from the taxes of "owning" a house for most of
a year by transferring the title to someone else with a
month left in that year. Even worse, I feel like by signing
the form I am basically admitting to owning the house,
throwing away my best defense of being ignorant to the whole
thing. I feel like I just made a big, costly mistake...

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"DJ Kazuya" <djkazuya[at]earthlink.net> wrote Re Property Tax Question:

- quote -

That's a matter of contractual agreement. Usually the buyer
pays the seller for the pro-rated share of the property
taxes that were pre-paid by the seller for the period the
new owner will have possession. That's one of the items that
gets negotiated. I've never heard of a buyer objecting to
reimbursing the seller for the pro-rated taxes, but I don't
think it's a legal requirement that he does so.

It's all there in the closing documents before the
transaction is consummated. If there is a disagreement over
something that wasn't covered in the purchase contract, then
either of the parties can abort the sale.

Of course this is covered by state law, and some states may
have laws governing this, but I've never heard of that.

--
To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

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"DJ Kazuya" <djkazuya[at]earthlink.net> wrote:

- quote -

Both pay taxes prorated to the period of ownership of the
property.

If property taxes have been paid in advance, the buyer will
reimburse to the seller the prorated taxes at closing. If
property taxes are paid in arrears, the seller will
reimburse to the buyer the prorated taxes at closing.

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- quote -

A pays up to the date the title is transferred, and B pays
from that date on. If either one ends up paying to the
municipality for time that the other should have paid, they
settle that up between themselves at the closing.

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DJ Kazuya wrote:

- quote -

Person A up to the date of transfer, Person B afterwards.
You think?

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"DJ Kazuya" <djkazuya[at]earthlink.net> wrote:

- quote -

The owner when the property tax is due actually writes the
check (or pays it through a mortgage impound), but each
owner pays for his period of ownership through adjustments
done at closing.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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DJ Kazuya <djkazuya[at]earthlink.net> wrote:

- quote -

Each pays for the portion of the year they had ownership.

Seth

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djkazuya[at]earthlink.net (DJ=A0Kazuya) posted:

- quote -

They are pro-rated.

The actual payer will depend on the date of sale/transfer.
If the tax payment was due and paid before that date by the
original owner (usually to take advantage of discounts
offered), the purchaser would pay the pro-rata share to the
seller, equal to the part of the tax year remaining at the
time of closing.

If the tax payment has not yet been made, then the seller
should credit to the purchaser, the share of taxes due which
would have accrued by the date of sale.

Depending on local practice, usually there's a title company
or closing attorney who calculates these shares and
allocates taxes on the settlement documents.

Bill

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"DJ Kazuya" <djkazuya[at]earthlink.net> wrote:

- quote -

Property taxes are prorated. If the transaction is done by
a professional escrow company, they'll know what to do and
probably do it automatically.

Stu

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Keeping it in simple terms... Person A transfers title of a
house to Person B. Who pays property taxes for the year
during which the transfer took place?

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