Quitclaim & Gift Taxes

[Alex S.]

In 2008 I purchased my mother a house. In March I found out she was facing foreclosure. She didn't want to tell me, because she knew I gave her the house to live in and not borrow money against. So anyway I paid the mortgage and late fees, from Jan to March and since March I have been paying the mortgage.

I told her I would put house in my name and pay the mortgage every month until I can just completely pay off (right now I am not able to do ). I want title in my name so that she can't borrow anything on it and to protect my interest since I am paying every month and will pay off mortgage. After paying off, I will continue to let her live there (paying me nothing).  BUT I just found out if I do a quitclaim deed then I will have to pay gift tax. I don't see this as a gift, as I am not making one dime. Yes the house has equity, but I am not touching or making a profit, actually, I am paying the mortgage, which to be honest I'm not happy about.

Is there any way I can avoid gift tax? I do have an s-corp for my flipping, but don't think that would be a good idea, because one day (hopefully no time soon) upon my mother's passing, I will turn it into a rental and don't want rental into my s-corp. Thought about opening a new LLC and putting in name of LLC, but my accountant said she didn't think that would work, because I would still own it. By the way my accountant has no sound advice to give. She said she will do some research, but is not familiar with this or gift taxes.

Are there any other options or strategies out there? Or maybe I'm missing something. I guess I could do a subject to, but even at that, I guess it would still be considered a gift since no funds are being transferred. This is tricky.

[Ashish Acharya]

There will most likely be no gift tax if you transfer the title. Make sure the loan also gets transferred as the bank will not like the title transfer without underwriting you.