Can I write off a one time gift of 10000 to one of my adult children?

Answer 1

There are a few options for transfering the ownership of a home while taking advantage of the $10,000 gift exemption (which applies to any individual). The most straight forward way is to sell your house immediately to your child at a market price. Then use the proceeds of the sale to make an annual cash gift to your child of $10,000. This works even better if the child is married and the spouse can receive an additional $10,000 per year. There are more complicated options that will match your individual circumstances. See an estate planning specialist. Note: Consult a tax specialist to confirm this information before acting on it. None of this is legal or tax advice.

Answer 2

I do know that 10,000 is a magic number with the iRS, I would concider 9,990

The person above doesn't have a clue....10K, especially in gifting, is NO magic number.

But more importantly - you can't deduct any gift of any amount to a child (or anyone else). However, you may NOT have to PAY the gift tax you would have otherwise.

What you may be thinking of is the commonly mentioned ability to gift up to 10K a year to your children without a gift tax(not an income tax) consequence. However, if done regularly, especially to several children, over the course of years, it has the effect of reducing your likely total estate at death, which may decrease it below inheritence and other taxes/fees it would be subject to, hence saving taxes. It is part of estate planning. Which, as they have been increasing the estate tax exemption, is used less and less.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below is what I have read about it. Maybe it will help, maybe it won't. I am actually in a situation where I work for a family. They pay me for part of the year, and give me a gift of $11,000 for the other part of the year. They can do this up to $11,000 It's legit, and we both benefit from it.

OK, maybe it is better to give than to receive. But when it comes to taxes, it's definitely better to give business gifts than personal gifts.

You can deduct up to $25 in business gifts to any one taxpayer per year. That means if you give a $45 business gift to someone, your deduction is limited to $25. If you make gifts of two items worth $10 and $15 during the year to one person, you get to deduct $25. Read more:

http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/holiday-marketing/give-a-business-gift-get-a-write-off.aspx#Giveabusinessgiftgetawriteoff