How are ‘relatives’ defined for clubbing the gifts receivespd?
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For that reporting requirement there is no joint form. Each recipient files if their share of foreign gifts is more than $100,000. This will be determined by how the giver writes the checks or makes the transfer. A single $200,000 to a married couple could be treated as $100,000 to each or $200,000 to one of them. If in the form of a check or transfer deposited in a joint bank account, I would probably report it as all to the spouse whose name or SSN is first on the account. Or if the give writes two checks, one to spouse A for $120,000 and one to spouse B for $80,000, its only reportable by spouse A.
However, I would also suggest you err on the side of caution by reporting as loosely as you can. Since no tax is owed, you might treat $198,000 deposited into a joint account as one large reportable gift to one spouse rather than two non-reportable gifts of $99,000 to each person. In other words, report more than you think is the minimum. No tax is due, and if later on, the IRS decides you were monkeying around with the rules to avoid reporting, that can be a separate offense called "structuring" even if the underlying transaction is not an offense. For the amounts involved you may want to pay for the opinion of an enrolled agent.
considering that the penalties for failure to file are harsh, I would err on the side of caution.
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