I would like to post a followup to this old thread as I am still confused:
1. If the mother added the child to her bank account a few years ago, in what year should she have filed a gift tax return?
2. It is said repeatedly in the answers above that no gift tax is ultimately likely due. While that may be true, a technical explanation of how that happens would be useful. I share the original poster's confusion that gifts are taxable if made to a person above $18,000 ($15,000 when OP posted the question?), so how exactly is it that no gift tax is owed by anybody? [I am not disbelieving the answer, just trying to understand the technical reasoning, as I have a similar situation and chanced upon this post while looking for an answer.]
