Gift tax, inheritance, etc. from foreign country

[jschoomer]

My mother is a US resident (green card holder) and an Indian citizen. I am a US citizen. Both of us file taxes in the US; she, of course, files taxes in India as well. We are trying to understand tax implications for both of us (wrt US tax filing) if she needs to transfer money from India to US to me as a gift.

What do we need to know? Wha should we be mindful of? What's a smart way to plan this out to save on taxes? Also, can TurboTax help us with the US tax filings in this scenario?

Thanks,

JS

[DoninGA]

Since she is a US resident she would only have to report the gift given if the amount of the gift is over $15,000 during the tax year.

You do not report gift received on a tax return, regardless of the amount received.

If the gift given is greater than $15,000 then she would need to report the gift on IRS Form 709.  There are no gift taxes owed on the gift if the total of all gifts ever given is less than $11.4 million.

TurboTax does not support IRS Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return

IRS Form 709 (2019) - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f709.pdf

IRS Form 709 instructions (2019) - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i709.pdf

[jschoomer]

Thanks DoninGA!

You wrote "You do not report gift received on a tax return, regardless of the amount received - IRS Form 709". So if I understand correctly, this form (if she had to file one) does not have to be sent at the time of her filing her US taxes. So, when does she send it to IRS? Anytime during the calendar year if the amount exceeds $15,000? And it's completely unrelated to me using TurboTax to filing taxes by April 15th.

Please let me know. Thanks in advance!

Regards,

JS

[DoninGA]

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@jschoomer wrote:

Thanks DoninGA!

You wrote "You do not report gift received on a tax return, regardless of the amount received - IRS Form 709". So if I understand correctly, this form (if she had to file one) does not have to be sent at the time of her filing her US taxes. So, when does she send it to IRS? Anytime during the calendar year if the amount exceeds $15,000? And it's completely unrelated to me using TurboTax to filing taxes by April 15th.

Please let me know. Thanks in advance!

Regards,

JS

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Yes, it is unrelated to filing your tax return using TurboTax.  The Form 709 is Only required if the amount of the gift given is greater than $15,000

When To File
Form 709 is an annual return.
Generally, you must file Form 709 no earlier than January 1, but not later than April 15, of the year after the gift was made.