Taxation of Jointly Owned Property (Portfolio 823)

Description

Tax Management Portfolio, Taxation of Jointly Owned Property, No. 823, presents a detailed study of the federal estate, gift, and income taxation of concurrent ownership interests in property with respect to which there is a right of survivorship, and highlights certain non-tax issues in connection with transfers of interests in jointly owned property. The Portfolio addresses both joint tenancies in which the co-tenants are not married and joint tenancies (and tenancies by the entirety) in which the co-tenants are married. Also, it discusses the special rules governing spousal joint tenancies when one spouse is not a U.S. citizen.

Among the issues discussed in the Portfolio are: (1) the gift tax consequences of the creation or termination of a joint tenancy; (2) the estate tax consequences at the death of a joint tenant; (3) the income tax basis rules that apply to gifts of joint tenancy interests and to a surviving joint tenant’s interest following another joint tenant’s death; and (4) the rules governing allocations of income, deductions, losses, and credits among joint tenants.

The Portfolio also discusses the significant developments in the rules governing spousal joint tenancies that have occurred since 1976. Repealed §§2515 and 2515A, which at one time governed the gift taxation of the creation and termination of spousal joint tenancies, have been reinstated for purposes of the gift taxation of joint tenancies involving a non-citizen spouse. To assist the reader in following the evolution of these rules and in applying the previously expired rules to non-citizen spouses, the Worksheets set forth the full text of the predecessor versions of §2040 (which governs the estate taxation of joint interests), all versions of repealed §§2515 and 2515A, and the regulations issued under repealed §2515.

This Portfolio may be cited as Danforth, 823 T.M., Taxation of Jointly Owned Property.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Gift Taxation of Jointly Held Property
III. Estate Taxation of Jointly Held Property
IV. Income Taxation of Jointly Held Property