Greta
Level 9

Parent gifts house to son but retains lifetime right to live in it. When she dies, does son's cost basis go back to her cost basis?

TaxGuyBill
Level 15

The sounds like a "Life Estate", which would mean that when the parent die, the Basis becomes the Fair Market Value on the Date of Death (according to current tax law).

In the event it is sold before the parent dies, that changes things.

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PATAX
Level 15

@TaxGuyBill @Greta let us hope that they do not eliminate the favorable stepped-up basis tax treatment... If they do it will have a negative impact on the average taxpayer... Just my opinion...

BobKamman
Level 15

Stepped-up basis was invented back when estates of much less than $12 million were taxed.  Eliminating it would mean more tax collected from the wealthy, which could allow for millions with low income to be removed from the federal income tax rolls.  Did you see the story today about how Jeff Bezos qualified for child tax credit a few years ago because of paper losses reducing his AGI to a loss?  You can't make the impact on the average taxpayer much more negative than it is now.  

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