{"id":9891,"date":"2025-09-11T05:09:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T12:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=9891"},"modified":"2025-12-10T06:36:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T14:36:26","slug":"sell-house-to-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/sell-house-to-child\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Ways Tax Pros Say You Can Sell Your House to Your Child"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Want to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/steps-to-selling-a-house\/\">sell your house<\/a> to your child in exchange for a hug and a smile? If you aren\u2019t careful, you may raise a few eyebrows at the IRS. As much as you may want to hand over the keys and keep financials within your family, you\u2019ll need to treat the transfer as a smart business deal or risk increasing your tax liability.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to sell or give your house to your child, you have options:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Let your child inherit the house<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Conduct a deed transfer upon death<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/house-as-gift\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gift the house<\/span><\/a> outright<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Finance your child\u2019s purchase of the house<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Sell the house to your child at a discount<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Sell the house to your child, but continue to live there<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Let your child assume the mortgage<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Use a personal trust<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>With the help of accounting expert <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skinnerservicesllc.com\/contact.html\">Christopher Skinner<\/a>, Attorney at Law, CPA, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.algtaxsolutions.com\/about-us\/aj-gross\">A.J. Gross<\/a>, CPA, E.A, we examine each option and its tax implications. We\u2019ve highlighted some of the best ways to transfer your family house from one generation to another, with the focus being to pay as little tax as possible. So, keep reading for the most tax-friendly ways to sell your house to your child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Get a Home Value Estimate Before You Sell to a Family Member<\/h3>\n                        <p>Answer a few questions about your home and we&#8217;ll provide you with a preliminary home value estimate in less than two minutes.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\" https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/simple-home-value\/quiz?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Get Estimate<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"Option 1: Let your child inherit the house\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>Option 1: Let your child inherit the house<\/h2>\n<p>If you live in your house until your final moments, your surviving relatives can inherit your estate, including everything you own minus your debts. This means that when you pass away, you can pass your house on to your child by including it in a valid will.<\/p>\n<p>However, when you transfer property after death, the government typically levies an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/businesses\/small-businesses-self-employed\/estate-tax\">estate tax<\/a>, and often your child will only receive the house after the government pulls those taxes out of your estate. Fortunately, there is an exemption called the Unified Federal Gift and Estate Tax Exemption, which, in 2025, gives each person a $13.99 million exemption to exclude from their taxable estate.<\/p>\n<p>The recipient is only taxed on what remains after the exemption. So, if your estate is worth less than $13.99 million, you can pass on your house to your child, tax-free, as part of your estate plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wondering how to sell a house to your child? Learn your options, the tax implications, and best practices for a smooth transfer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":45636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[326,328,319],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inheritance","category-families","category-selling-advice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Can You Sell Your House to Your Child? 8 Ways to Do It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wondering how to sell a house to your child? Learn your options, the tax implications, and best practices for a smooth transfer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/sell-house-to-child\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"8 Ways Tax Pros Say You Can Sell Your House to Your Child\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wondering how to sell a house to your child? 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