Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Assuming your in-laws are MA residents for tax purposes the rules are as follows:

Assuming the $160,000 is a joint gift to you and your spouse, they can give $30,000 to each of you so the amount subject to federal gift tax would be $100,000. Since there is a credit against taxable gifts which shields more than $11.4 Million and assuming your in-laws have not made prior taxable gifts that exhaust the credit available to them, then no tax will be due. However, they should file a federal gift tax return.

MA does not have a gift tax at the moment, so there should be no tax to them with respect to the gift.

Your in-laws should consult with a CPA or attorney in their area to make sure they do the gift properly and file the appropriate tax returns in a timely manner.