George wrote:

- quote -

It allows two annual exclusions, one for each parent.

- quote -

You would file a 709 for each parent reporting one-half the
gift on each return.

- quote -

The fact that you are posting here would tend to discount
your supposition.

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George <gbeccles[at]gmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

How large were their taxable estates for estate tax
purposes? If each estate was worth under $2,000,000, it
doesn't matter.

- quote -

You should hire an accountant, if for nothing else than for
the final income tax returns for your parents and for the
income tax for their respective estates. But again, if the
estates aren't large enough to require a Form 706 (Estate
Tax Return) no gift tax will be due in any case, so I
wouldn't worry about it.

Stu

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My mother this year, and my father the year before. I am
executor for my mother's estate. Last year, before my
father died, they gave my brother some property worth
~$100K. After he died, my mother gave my brother ~$11K in
cash. I believe they should have filed form 709, even
though no tax would be owed. But, they didn't, so I'm
trying to do that. Questions:

1. re "splitting": Do I have to elect splitting? Does it
matter?

2. re Schedule A ('Part 1'): If I split, I assign half the
gift's value to each parent, but then add these back
together to carry to the tax computation on the first page.
So, line 1 would show the total amount given. Since I have
to file a 709 for each parent, wouldn't this mean that I'd
be reporting twice the value of the gift?

(The IRS says they "can't give line-by-line help". We have
a probate attorney, but this seems to be a little out of
scope for her. It doesn't seem like this should be so
complicated that I need to hire a tax accountant.)

Thanks,
George

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