“Utah doesn't have a [real estate] transfer tax, but there's some other transfer taxes, and there's also industry specific taxes.” These taxes can have a major impact on the cash flow, financial returns and profitability of your business.

“Adding someone to a deed” means transferring ownership to that person. The transfer of ownership can occur during life (with a regular quitclaim deed, for example) or at death (using a lady bird deed, transfer-on-death-deed, or life estate deed).

In a tax planning context, putting someone 'on the property deeds' often involves giving the property, or an interest in it, to a spouse (or civil partner) or close family member. The recipient invariably pays tax at a lower rate, or none at all. This type of planning looks simple and straightforward on the face of it.

If you gift cash, generally there are no income tax consequences for the recipient, though there could be gift and estate tax implications to the donor. But if you give appreciated securities, the capital gains taxes can be significant. Also, note that the tax treatment varies widely depending on the recipient.

From this perspective, you should gift as much as you can comfortably afford during your lifetime, while remaining aware of the capital-gain-basis step-up available for inherited assets. So, gift your assets that have minimal gains and save your most appreciated assets for inheritance.

All property owners in the state of Utah are required to pay property taxes. Property taxes are used to pay for public services, such as roads, schools and public transportation links.

The county assessor appraises residential property at 100% of its “fair market value,” which is theoretically the value at which the property would sell for on the open real estate market. In the process the assessor is also aiming for uniform valuations, meaning that similar properties should have similar values.