The Revenue Laws Study Committee of the North Carolina General Assembly is taking a look at reforming the North Carolina Gift Tax. I previously blogged about House Bill 235, describing the proposed changes. In general the NC Gift Tax would be made similar to the federal gift tax, with a $1 million lifetime exemption. The bill stalled last year, but is under study once again.
On February 15, 2007, bill H235 was introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly to reform the North Carolina gift tax so that it would be based on the federal gift tax. Under the proposed legislation, NC gift tax would only be due if federal gift tax is due. The change would be effective January 1, 2007. Click "Continue Reading" to see the text of the bill.
Under current law, North Carolina allows the same $12,000 annual exclusions as the federal system, but rather than a $1 million lifetime exemption, there is only a $100,000 lifetime exemption, which applies only to ancestors and descendants.
The NC gift tax catches many residents (and even professional advisors) unaware, and many gifts are never reported, mainly because of ignorance of law, so the reform is probably a good idea. I'm not sure how much tax revenue would be lost.
Continue Reading...
I recently had a client come in who had made a gift of over $120,000 to her brother several years ago, using funds that had originally come from their mother. She used the mother's accountant in Florida to prepare her gift tax return. The accountant, apparently unaware that North Carolina had a gift tax, failed to prepare an NC gift tax return or advise her about the tax.
The North Carolina Department of Revenue, by checking the federal gift tax returns filed by NC residents, became aware of the federal return and contacted my client. She now faces penalties and interest in addition to the tax due.
North Carolina allows the same $12,000 annual exclusions as the federal system, but rather than a $1 million lifetime exemption, there is only a $100,000 lifetime exemption, which applies only to ancestors and descendants.
I have seen other clients incur unexpected tax liability when their advisers were ignorant of NC gift tax laws. If you are considering make any large gifts, make sure you seek qualified tax counsel so that you don't have any unpleasant surprises down the road. The taxman will cometh!
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