Gifting real property to a family member? Make sure to file that gift tax return…

According to a recent Forbes article, the IRS has recently been compiling data on intra-family property transfers from county and state officials in a number of States including Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington state and Wisconsin. A Federal judge has recently allowed the IRS to serve a "John Doe" summons to the California State Board of Equalization.

This means that State real estate transfer records are actively being used to ferret out intra-family gifts of real property for audit.

Moral of the story, don't forget to file your federal gift tax returns!