The recipient of a gift has no US tax liability or IRS reporting requirement. The gift giver will generally have no tax liability but may, under certain circumstances, have a requirement to report the gift using IRS Form 709.
The general rule is that any gift is a taxable gift. However, there are many exceptions to this rule. Generally, the following gifts are not taxable gifts.
- Gifts that are not more than the annual exclusion for the calendar year ($15,000 in 2019).
- Tuition or medical expenses you pay for someone (the educational and medical exclusions).
- Gifts to your spouse.
- Gifts to a political organization for its use.
In addition to this, gifts to qualifying charities are deductible from the value of the gift(s) made.
Form 709: Who must file
In general. If you are a citizen or resident of the United States, you must file a gift tax return (whether or not any tax is ultimately due) in the following situations.
• If you gave gifts to someone in 2019 totaling more than $15,000 (other than to your spouse), you probably must file Form 709. (see https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i709.pdf) for the complete list of filing requirements.
Who does not need to file.
If you meet all of the following requirements, you are not required to file Form 709.
• You made no gifts during the year to your spouse.
• You did not give more than $15,000 to any one donee.
• All the gifts you made were of present interests.
Gifts to Your Spouse
Except for the gifts described below, you do not need to enter any of your gifts to your spouse on Schedule A. (see https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i709.pdf , page 7-8 for details).
Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute legal or tax advice.
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