My dad forgot to file a 709 6 years ago, question?

[Robert_ho4]

hey guys, can you please help me with this, my dad gifted me $200k 6 years ago in 2019 for a down payment for my house and he did not know about filing a 709 until now.
His tax preparer said there will be major penalties upwards of 10k due to penalties and Interests? Can anyone confirm this? 

[Hi Palms]

Penalties for what, exactly? 

Penalties for failing to file a gift tax return - 709 - would be interest based on the amount of gift tax owed. If none was owed, which is almost always the case, then there should be no interest due or penalties beyond, perhaps, a late filing penalty.

Ref https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i709#en_US_2024_publink16784xd0e977

The above IRS instructions refer to Section 6651 which you can read here:

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i709#en_US_2024_publink16784xd0e977

Even if a late filing fee is assessed, it would tough to figure how it could get "upwards of $10k".

[Robert_ho4]

Hey thanks for the swift reply as I am waiting for what his tax preparer is putting together, I doubt there is any tax owed due to the amount being under the lifetime gift tax exemption in 2019 which was around $11 million. Thanks again, will keep you posted.