709 Gift Tax Return

[S T]

Never having filed this form before, I do not know how to charge, that is just an a statement/observation.

Does not appear to be to complicated, however, the one I do have to file is a client that is taking advantage of the 2012 regulations and gifting to her two daughters Assets (t/p basis of close to $5 million) actual Value on transfer is actually less than that amount, approx $4.6 - all transferred in 2012. No prior 709 forms filed.

So I have the worksheets, the form appears to be correct in that Credits for the Gift Tax are appearing and no tax is due.

Anything else I need to file beside approximately 3 pages of the 709, and the Schedule A Part 1?

Seems too simple

Thanks,

Sandy

[Snaggletooth]

Not Simple

Sandy, if it seems simple to you it is because you are just smarter than I am. It's really tough for me. A couple things to remember:

1) Take full amount of exemptions, $14K apiece per recipient. That's $28K for two daughters. If gift is joint to daughters and husbands, then that's up to $56K. If gift is from father AND mother, each gets yet another exemption. That's a total possibility of $112,000. But the property must be in all of the foregoing names.

2) If donor is married, the usage of the credit can be cut in half. But that means father and mother would file SEPARATE gift tax returns, each for the half the amount. I also believe this to be true even if the gift was not jointly owned by father and mother at time of transfer.

3) Check for filing requirements in the state of the donor. Some of the states have gift taxes, and this usually results in having to pay real money and not just simply applying credits to the exemption.

4) If any "real money" for gift taxes has to be paid, the amount paid gets added onto the basis of the property in the hands of the recipient.

[Kram BergGold]

What I do

Most of these are simple.
I do these as a favor to my clients and just charge them a little, like $20 over the cost of the per return software charge.