Bogleheads.org

Hi everyone,

Two questions:
1- is the donor the only one who fills out form 709 if they gift over 15k to a person? Or does the recipient have to fill it out too?

2- is the 11.4 million limit for gift taxes separate from the estate tax limit? For instance if someone is worth 20 million, can they gift 10 million prior to passing and leave 10 milllion after passing without paying the federal estate taxes (prior to 2025 of course)? Or does the 11.4 count for both gifts and estate?

Question 1 709 completed only the the DONOR

Question 2 BTSOOM I will defer to the experts.

They can gift whatever doesn’t require a 709 form and not have it count against the Federal exclusion (but not necessarily State exclusion), but even with couple gifting to couples, that’s $60k/ year, so it doesn’t work. Still, every bit helps, so we’ve been giving “early inheritances” to our heirs.

Unlucky.

The 11.4 million dollar limit is a combined one for gift and estate purposes. (In addition, you can give up to $15,000 to a single person per year without using any of your lifetime exemption). There's a sunset clause: after 2025, the 11.4 million shifts down to $5.49 million, unless congress extends it.

Citation: https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/ ... me-gifting