Would this qualify for gift tax?

I've been depositing money monthly into a savings account for my mother. The account is in her name. She's not using the funds and has decided she wants close the account and to transfer the money back to me. It's documented that the payments are coming from my bank account. Will it look like she's gifting me the money when it's transferred back to me and can I avoid that? or is there documentation I can keep on hand if there's a question? We do have a joint bank account together - not sure if that would be a better place to transfer it there and then transfer it again or will that look worse? The total is also over the yearly gift tax limit so that's another consideration. It's an odd situation and I'd rather not set off any alarm bells with taxing authorities.