1. The asset
The whole asset; the share below sets how much of it moves.
What was paid plus improvements, before any depreciation.
100 for the whole asset, 50 for adding one person to the deed.
Planning assumption, not a prediction.
Can be negative.
Only matters for the sell-now column.
250,000 single, 500,000 joint, if lived in 2 of the last 5 years.
2. Tax on a sale
0, 15 or 20.
3.8 if the recipient will be over the NIIT threshold, else 0.
3. Estate and gift tax
Other property, accounts, life insurance owned by the owner.
15,000,000 per person in 2026; edit if the law changes.
19,000 in 2026.
40 today.
Result
Questions people ask
What is the difference between carryover basis and stepped-up basis?
If you give someone an appreciated asset while you are alive, they take over your cost basis (IRC section 1015) and owe capital gains tax on all the growth since you bought it when they sell. If they inherit it at your death, their basis resets to the fair market value on the date of death (IRC section 1014), so the growth during your lifetime is never taxed.
Should I put my child on the deed to my house?
Usually not for tax reasons alone. A lifetime gift of the house gives your child your low basis, loses the home sale exclusion on their share, and can be a Medicaid look-back transfer. A transfer-on-death deed, a revocable trust or a life estate deed (where your state allows it) can move the house at death and keep the step-up. This tool prices the tax side so you can take the comparison to an attorney.
When does gifting beat inheriting?
When the estate is large enough that the federal estate tax (40% above the exemption) outweighs the capital gains tax the recipient will pay, so moving future growth out of the estate saves more than the lost step-up costs. Below the exemption, which is 15,000,000 per person in 2026, inheriting nearly always wins for appreciated property.
Do I need to file Form 709?
A gift to one person above the annual exclusion (19,000 in 2026) needs a gift tax return, even if no tax is due because it just uses lifetime exemption. A gift of a share of a house to each of two children is tested per recipient.
What if the property has lost value?
A gift of loss property uses the lower fair value at the date of the gift for any loss the recipient later claims, so a loss cannot be passed on. An inheritance resets basis down to the date-of-death value. Either way the paper loss is not usable, so selling before is the case to ask a professional about.
Is this tax advice?
No. It is arithmetic on the figures you type, with simplifications listed under Not decided. State inheritance and estate taxes, gift splitting, trusts and Medicaid planning all change the answer.
Not decided
State estate and inheritance taxes, gift splitting between spouses, depreciation recapture on rentals, trusts and irrevocable planning, the Medicaid five-year look-back, portability of a deceased spouse's exemption, community property basis rules, and whether the sale happens at all. Rates, exemptions and the law can change.
Related tools: the Medicaid look-back penalty calculator, the estate tax exemption calculator and the inherited IRA 10-year withdrawal planner.