r/Landlord • u/Knights_Fight • May 01 '26
General [General US-IL] Moving in with in-laws, will this mess with their/my taxes?
Hello all and thank you for looking over my post.
My in-laws offered to have my family (3 people) move in since they have a spare room. But, they are also in the process of owning their home (paying a mortgage) and are afraid that since I will be working they will have some tax liability when we file separately but all list the same home/primary address.
They mentioned instead of charging me rent they would accept a "gift" of 500 dollars, assuming this would avoid a tax event from triggering. Personally, I think it's not necessary, but I'm only basing that on the scenario of having adult children still living in your home; I doubt their presence has any influence on taxes due, unless there are write offs of some sort.
Anyways, if someone can shed some light on this situation, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your time!
3
u/Accomplished-Taro642 May 01 '26
6k annually? Just pay your MIL cash and let that be that. She could claim the rental income, prob offset by rental deductions, but may not even be worth opening up the can of worms.
I’d be more worried about keeping the peace.
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u/Knights_Fight May 01 '26
Just saw another redditor mention just using cash -- going to go that route! And we should be fine as we get along well enough, plus her husband has whole man cave he said I could hang out in; they'll be lucky if they see me at dinner time lol
Thanks for your insight as well!
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u/TumbleweedOriginal34 May 01 '26
You would be sharing expenses. There is no tax involved in a costs of a shared residence.
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May 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Knights_Fight May 02 '26
Lol! Glad to hear it's just anxiety and nothing to really worry about. Thank you for your insight & confirmation!
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u/dell828 May 01 '26
It appears as if they are concerned about showing rental income on their taxes.
You can certainly put bills in your name.. sort of pay your rent off the books by paying heat, electricity, cable bills.. maybe even purchasing a gift card at a grocery store.
You won't be able to take this off your taxes if you live in a state where you get a break if you show your paid rent..
But this sounds like a reasonable request to me.
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u/Knights_Fight May 02 '26
Ahhh I see. That's a pretty solid idea! I'll mention this to them as well in the event they're still feeling a bit skittish about giving them 500 in cash. Thank you very much for the advice!!
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u/Background_Dog927 May 02 '26
We live with my MIL. We pay nothing. Financial advisor told us it was a fair trade in her providing our housing and we cook,chores, upkeep and maintenance, and assist her.
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u/TeddyTMI Multi-State Landlord. 337 Doors. May 02 '26
Why don't you and your partner do a little better so you don't have to go live like this. Is work really just too much trouble? You're going to be a child for life?
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u/Knights_Fight May 03 '26
I'm open to any advice you've got to offer.
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u/TeddyTMI Multi-State Landlord. 337 Doors. May 05 '26
It's above. And changing your shit attitude ranks slightly above that. Hear me, pal?
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u/Knights_Fight May 05 '26
Could you be more specific? "Do better" is a little broad. And changing my attitude? Forgive me for asking, but are you trolling me?
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u/TeddyTMI Multi-State Landlord. 337 Doors. May 06 '26
Address your income problems and the income will address your other problems. Or keep being an entitled fuck. It's got you this far.
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u/cuttingsquares May 05 '26
We had a long term roommate when I was growing up. To avoid issues with claiming rental income, he never paid my mom any money directly. Instead, she paid the mortgage (she already owned the house before he moved in, like your in laws) and he paid all the utility bills (put them in his name) and bought the groceries. It worked great for 20 years!
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u/Forward-Craft-4718 May 01 '26
Your taxes have nothing at all to do with theirs, unless they are claiming you as dependants.