What Are the Gift Tax Rules?
By: Dachary Carey The gift tax rules state that you are entitled to an annual exclusion of $12,000 per recipient. Under gift tax law, you’re entitled to present a gift valued at up to $12,000 to any number of individuals per calendar year without paying gift taxes. Under this exclusion, you could give $12,000 to each of your three children, for a total of $36,000, without paying any gift taxes. Both you and your spouse are eligible for the exclusion, so using both exclusions, you and your spouse can give up to $24,000 to an individual per calendar year without incurring any additional gift taxes. The gift tax rules incorporate a lifetime exemption of $1 million. Even if you give more than $12,000 to a single recipient annually, you still don’t have to pay gift taxes until you exceed your lifetime exemption of $1 million. You could give your child an annual gift of $32,000-in excess of the annual exemption by $20,000-for 50 years before you had to pay a penny of gift taxes. Only the amo
