Form 709 [Gift tax] for gifting to child

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johnkgan
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Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2018 9:43 am

Form 709 [Gift tax] for gifting to child

Post by johnkgan »

Hello Experts, I request your advice regarding below: I plan to gift >100k to our son and understand that I have to fill form 709. My husband I live in California which is community property state. We are married but keep our accounts separate. I plan to transfer only from my account and my husband is abroad working on his business.
1) Even though the amount comes only from my account, is it mandatory to still split gift with my husband? Is his consent/signature required on form 709 even if I don't really care about the benefit of lifetime exemption as we won't cross $5 million.
2) I was reading http://theblumfirm.com/wp-content/uploa ... utline.pdf a) below in Page 14 seems to say that we shouldn't split and b) below suggests splitting if I understanding right. They seem to be contradicting each other. Please confirm if we should split or not.

a) Page 14 seems to advise not to split?
Community Property Gifts
As discussed above, the instructions for Form 709 state that a gift of community property is considered as made one-half by each spouse. If all gifts spouses make in a calendar year are gifts of community property, then do NOT make a gift splitting election on your clients’ gift tax returns. This is a major pet-peeve of IRS estate and gift tax attorneys who audit gift tax returns, and we have been told that such a rookie mistake immediately signals to the estate tax attorney reviewing the return that the preparer failed to read or comprehend the instructions for Form 709. We try to avoid irritating those who will be reviewing our returns at all costs! In the description of gift it is a best practice to convey exactly what happened.

Example: The description might read “A community property gift of $30,000 cash was made to Kimberly Kardashian, friend of donor (address 11790
Southampton Ct., Bel Air, CA 90077). The Donor’s one-half community property interest in this gift is $15,000.” The gift would be reported in column F as $15,000 and column G for gift splitting will be blank.

b) Section e in Page 8 seems to suggest split tingand both of us have to file 2 tax returns
Bottom line, is there any way I can gift to our son from my earnings, without requiring spousal signature in form 709? Thanks a lot in advance for your thoughts and advice.

Bottomline, is there any way for me to gift to our son without going through spousal signature?
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