Partner Ron Aucutt was quoted in the March 28 BNA Daily Tax Report on a gift tax compliance initiative launched by the IRS to investigate taxpayers who have transferred real property to a related party for little or no consideration.
Regarding the high state-by-state noncompliance rates, Aucutt states, “In my experience, donors are sometimes casual about filing gift tax returns until there is a major gift, until they go over the $1 million exemption, or even until they die.” Having helped clients in filing “late” gift tax returns, he continues, “None of these cases I have seen came anything close to involving willful intent to evade tax or any other kind of bad motive.”