Questions re: IRS 709 gift tax form

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cartouche
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2021 4:42 pm

Questions re: IRS 709 gift tax form

Post by cartouche »

I'm helping my mom with her 709 form; my accountant is not very well-versed with gift tax forms and some of my questions went unanswered (I may be looking for a new accountant).

I'm hoping some forum members can lend a hand here.

1) My father passed away this year (in April 2021). In March 2021, he and my mother added me to the deed to their house; I live there full-time to help out my mom. In my state, NJ, the deed is a joint tenants with rights to survivorship.
- I know my mom has to file an 709 form, but does my father (deceased by now) have to file one as well? Technically, at the time of the deed creation, he was one of 3 owners, and I was gifted 1/3 of the house. Now, with his passing, I have 1/2 of the ownership (since owners are now my mom and myself).

2) For the 709 form, do I need to get a formal real estate appraisal for the fair market value of the house at the time of the deed transfer? With my father's passing, this was not top priority, and now I'm gathering all the docs for the fax filing in April, and thinking about the need for an appraisal. The house is actually a townhouse unit and within the community (due to the upbeat market), several houses in almost identical condition were sold, and the Zillow estimate of my home is also in line with the sell prices of these homes, so I'm hoping to use these as evidence as the fair market value evidence (along with the latest property assessment from the township). Your thoughts?

3) Is it necessary to include a copy of the new deed and the old deed (with the original sale / cost basis) with the 709 form? many people say not to overwhelm / provide too many documents, and the instructions on the 709 website was also unclear.

Thanks so much for all your help!
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