Eight Things You Should Know About Reporting Gifts To The IRS - HALE BALL MURPHY, PLC (2024)

FAQs

How does the IRS know if you gift someone money? ›

The primary way the IRS becomes aware of gifts is when you report them on form 709. You are required to report gifts to an individual over $17,000 on this form. This is how the IRS will generally become aware of a gift. However, form 709 is not the only way the IRS will know about a gift.

The IRS allows every taxpayer is gift up to $18,000 to an individual recipient in one year. There is no limit to the number of recipients you can give a gift to.

You make a gift if you give property (including money), or the use of or income from property, without expecting to receive something of at least equal value in return. If you sell something at less than its full value or if you make an interest-free or reduced-interest loan, you may be making a gift.

A gift tax is a government tax imposed on those who give money or property to others in exchange for nothing (or less than total value). There is typically a tax-free gift limit to family members until a donation exceeds $15,000 (jumping up to $16,000 in 2022). In these instances, the IRS is usually uninvolved.

Can my parents give me $100,000? Your parents can each give you up to $17,000 each in 2023 and it isn't taxed. However, any amount that exceeds that will need to be reported to the IRS by your parents and will count against their lifetime limit of $12.9 million.

If you fail to file this form, the IRS can find out via an audit. If they do not find out during your lifetime, they could find out during an audit of your estate, and then hit your estate with penalties and interest that accrued from when the gift tax return should have been filed.

But the IRS also can search for unreported gifts during your lifetime. For example, it searches public property records in some states, such as real estate title records. Transfers that appear to be between relatives or that were made without compensation can be compared to filed gift tax returns.

Generally, the answer to “do I have to pay taxes on a gift?” is this: the person receiving a gift typically does not have to pay gift tax. The giver, however, will generally file a gift tax return when the gift exceeds the annual gift tax exclusion amount, which is $17,000 per recipient for 2023.

The annual gift tax exclusion, which is the amount an individual can gift to a recipient in a calendar year without being subject to gift tax or applied against the donor's lifetime gift tax exemption, has increased from $17,000 to $18,000 for gifts made in 2024 (a combined $36,000 for a married couple).

(In fact, charitable donations are often tax deductible.) Even if you make gifts to another family member who is not your spouse, a friend, or a business associate, they are not taxable under federal guidelines, until their cumulative value exceeds $15,000 (for 2021).

Do banks report gifts to the IRS? ›

If the gift you received was a check, not cash, the bank will not report it. In any case, there is no way for you to report a gift that you received on your tax return. The IRS does not want you to report it. You do not pay income tax on a gift.

Over the past decade, just under 1% of total gift tax returns and roughly 10% of estate tax returns have been audited, but gift and estate taxpayers can expect an increase in the IRS scrutiny of these filings with the additional funding allocated to enforcement efforts.

Do you need to file a gift tax return? If you make a taxable gift (one in excess of the annual exclusion), you are required to file Form 709: US Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return. The return is required even if you don't actually owe any gift tax due to the $12.92 million lifetime exemption.

Generally, the answer to “do I have to pay taxes on a gift?” is this: the person receiving a gift typically does not have to pay gift tax. The giver, however, will generally file a gift tax return when the gift exceeds the annual gift tax exclusion amount, which is $17,000 per recipient for 2023.

Generally, the following gifts are not taxable gifts. Gifts that are not more than the annual exclusion for the calendar year. Tuition or medical expenses you pay for someone (the educational and medical exclusions). Gifts to your spouse.

If you receive a gift, you do not need to report it on your taxes. According to the IRS, a gift occurs when you give property (like money) without expecting anything in return. If you gift someone more than the annual gift tax exclusion amount ($17,000 in 2022), the giver must file Form 709 (a gift tax return).