what is the gift for own childern

[Helen123]

Hi 

One thing I am curious about is the gift for childern. There is a limit of 17,000 per year for the gift exclusion for anyone except for spouse. I am curious what the gift means here for childern. You need to pay the fees, buy the clothing, buy the food for kids and may hire a coach, find a teacher or take kids to the disnesy. I think these are necessary to raise a kid. If we count these all, it may be easy to over the limit. Hope someone can help. 

Thanks,

Helen

[VolvoGirl]

Do you claim them as a dependent?  It's not for things you provide.  But if you give anyone over 17,000 like a check you may have to file a gift tax return.  

[fanfare]

Food clothing and shelter is not consider a gift.

Neither is vacations or education.

[Carl]

There is a difference between gifts and support. Everything you describe is support, assuming the child is your qualified dependent.

[xmasbaby0]

@Helen123 The examples you used such as providing food and clothing, tutoring, vacations, etc.  -- those are support and living expenses that you pay for when you have dependent children.  Paying for basic necessities of life and/or education are not "gifts" to your children---they are among your parental responsibilites while your children are your dependents.   Even luxuries like a Disney vacation are not considered to be "gifts" to a dependent child.  

Some examples of a "gift" to a child---someday when the child is no longer your dependent--you give them money for a down payment on a house,  buy/give them a car, give them money to go to Disney or a trip around the world....

Gifts given to family members, friends or other individuals are not deductible.   Gifts received are not taxable to the person who received the gift, and are not entered on a tax return.

If your gift exceeds the yearly limit ($17,000 per individual)  imposed by the gift tax rules, then you will need to complete a Form 709 gift tax form and send it to the IRS, although it is very unlikely that you will owe any tax. 

TurboTax does not support Form 709.  It is not an income tax form and would not be included as part of an income tax return.

Here is a link to the form:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f709.pdf

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/estates/the-gift-tax-made-simple/L5tGWVC8N

[Helen123]

many thanks

[Helen123]

thanks all, guys

Helen