There's no easy answer here. It's not like you can say (that) when the parent turns 72 they should automatically turn their finances over to their children. |
They do it one year and they think maybe no news is good news. |
When people sell funds from one family to another -- say, Fidelity to Janus -- they know they've triggered a taxable event. But when people sell one Fidelity fund and buy a different Fidelity fund, they don't realize that's taxable as well. |
You can be looking at 25 percent of the tax that is owed, plus all the interest. If you don't pay then the IRS can take some pretty Draconian measures. |