3 Facts You Need to Know About the Gift Tax

​Thinking about gifting assets to a loved one? A financial gift can be a great way to make a difference in a loved one’s life. It can also be an effective estate planning strategy, as gifting allows you to transfer assets to your friends and family before you pass away. That could reduce the amount of assets that face probate and the estate tax.
 
Gifting doesn’t come without its own set of risks, though. There’s actually a thing known as a gift tax. Depending on the size of your gift, you could face a tax of up to 40 percent of the gifted amount.1 If you fail to pay the tax, the recipient may face additional tax obligations.

How can you make your gift without creating additional tax liability? And how do you know if you should worry about the gift tax? Below are a few important facts to keep in mind as you develop your gifting strategy:

Gifts under a certain threshold are excluded from gift tax exposure.
The IRS allows you to give some gifts each year without facing tax liability. This allowable amount is known as a gift tax exclusion. For 2017, each individual has a gift tax exclusion of $14,000. That means you can gift as much as $14,000 per year per recipient without facing gift taxes. For example, if you have three kids, you can give each child $14,000 in 2017, for a total of $42,000 in gifts. If you gave an individual more than $14,000, however, you would face gift taxes on the excess amount.1
 
Married couples benefit from an increased exclusion. Remember, the exclusion is $14,000 per individual. That means each spouse can gift up to $14,000, even if the funds are going to the same recipient. So a married couple could give as much as $28,000 to each individual without facing gift taxes.1

Gifts may be exempt from taxes if they’re intended for educational or medical purposes.
Sometimes gifts are made to help a loved one with a difficult financial challenge. Perhaps you want to help a grandchild pay for college, or to cover a sick loved one’s medical bills. It’s possible that the costs could well exceed the $14,000 exclusion amount. Fortunately, the IRS allows tax-free gifts for educational and medical purposes.
 
Generally, gifts of any size are excluded from the gift tax if they are intended for education or medical expenses. The catch is that the gift must be made directly to the educational or medical institution. In other words, if you want to help with a grandchild’s tuition, you should pay the school directly rather than give the money to the child’s parents.

You also have a lifetime exclusion amount.
Even if your gift exceeds $14,000 and isn’t for education or health care, it’s still possible to avoid the gift tax. You can simply apply the excess to your unified lifetime exclusion amount. The lifetime exclusion is the total amount of assets that one person can transfer to others without facing gift or estate taxes. The exclusion is currently set at $5.34 million.1
 
Keep in mind that the exclusion counts toward both gift taxes and estate taxes. That means if you use some of the exclusion for gifts during your lifetime, the exclusion amount for your estate would be reduced. For example, assume you gift $1 million. At the time of your death, your estate tax exclusion would then be $4.34 million.
 
Ready to develop your gifting strategy? Let’s talk about it. Contact us today at Financial Solutions Group. We can help you analyze your needs and create a plan. Let’s connect soon and start the conversation.

 
1https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2016/10/25/irs-announces-2017-estate-and-gift-tax-limits-the-11-million-tax-break/#1c2ac0b33b70
 
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