How do the taxes work when selling your ownership of a house and then gifting that money to your child?

Question

My mother recently sold her half ownership of a house to her ex-husband. She received $215,000 from the sale.

She's lived in the house for decades so I believe she applies for the capital gains exemption of up to $250,000 by living in the house for at least 2 years in the 5 years leading up to the sale.

Would she have to pay any other taxes for this money? She has paid off some debts and she would like to gift the remaining amount of money to me to put into a savings account.

I'm currently a student and don't have any income of my own. Would I need to file taxes if I am gifted this money and would she need to pay taxes for gifting that amount of money to me?

Answer 1

She can apply the money she's gifting you to her lifetime estate exemption (which will be really high in 2018). It'll just require her to file Form 709 with her taxes.