[gsgolliaschicago]

I have a confusing problem. My family has recently sold property that was left to us. The property was only titled to an aunt, and one cousin. Everyone , even the aunt and cousin knew that the division of property was a 25% split, and then further divided into smaller %.
Two families got 25%,
One was broken into 12.5% X 2,
and ours, being broken into 5% x 5 (children)

Two questions. The property was never titled in other than the two 25% members.

1).When it was assumed, (in 1962) it's value was small, maybe $50,000.
Recently selling for $1.2 m, my question is what type of taxes are ( I am really only concerned about the 5% holders, my brothers and sisters), going to have to be paid.

2). Is there anyway to avoid certain taxes since we were not listed on the title as property holders
We all (all interested % holders) were required to fill out and sign a 1090 form.

Thank you.
GSGollias

[ebaines]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it sounds to me like your aunt and cousin have made a very generous gift to the rest of you. Since they were the property owners, now that they have sold it they owe capital gains taxes - rough numbers: figure 20% of ($1.2M - $50K), or about $230K, or $115K each. And if the gift they made to you is 5% of 1.2M, then that means they gifted you $60K, and hence there may be some gift tax implications for them as well.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

What Ebaines said MAY be accurate. It depends on whether the property was part of an estate, and how much the property "stepped up" in value when it ghot passed from the original owner to the heirs.

If the stepped-up value is close to the sales price, then it is likely that NO taxes are due, because the costs of the sale possibly will completely offset any capital gain for all of the heirs.