Gifts & business · calculator
The gift tax limit for 2026
How much you can give each person without paying gift tax or even filing a return, and what happens above it.
Gift tax check for the year
Taxable gifts this year
$12,000
A Form 709 gift tax return is required
- Exclusion per person$19,000
- Lifetime exemption left after these gifts$14,988,000
- Gift tax to pay now$0
Tax is owed only once lifetime taxable gifts pass the basic exclusion. Tuition and medical bills paid directly to the school or provider are excluded without limit.
For 2026 you can give up to $19,000 to any number of people without gift tax and without filing a gift tax return, the annual exclusion of section 4.42 of Rev. Proc. 2025-32, the same as in 2025. A married couple can give $38,000 to each recipient by electing to split gifts, though that election itself requires a Form 709. Gifts above the annual exclusion are not taxed right away: they are reported on Form 709 and subtracted from the lifetime basic exclusion, $15,000,000 per person for 2026 after Public Law 119-21 ($13,990,000 for 2025). Gift tax is due only once lifetime taxable gifts exceed that amount. Three types of transfer fall outside these limits altogether: tuition paid directly to a school, medical expenses paid directly to a provider, and gifts to a spouse who is a US citizen. Gifts to a spouse who is not a citizen have their own annual exclusion of $194,000 for 2026. A parent who gives each of three children $30,000 in 2026 makes $33,000 of taxable gifts, reported on Form 709, with no tax to pay.
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Annual exclusion and lifetime exemption, 2025 and 2026
| Item | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Annual exclusion per recipient | $19,000 | $19,000 |
| Per recipient for a married couple splitting gifts | $38,000 | $38,000 |
| Annual exclusion for a non-citizen spouse | $190,000 | $194,000 |
| Lifetime basic exclusion (gifts and estate) | $13,990,000 | $15,000,000 |
Two limits, one shared exemption
The annual exclusion renews every January 1 and applies separately to each recipient: a grandmother with five grandchildren can give each of them $19,000 in 2026, $95,000 in all, without any return. Unused exclusion does not carry over to the next year. The lifetime exemption is a single amount for gifts during life and the estate at death combined: every dollar of taxable gifts reported on Form 709 reduces what is left for the estate tax exclusion. Under the 2025 law the basic exclusion becomes $15,000,000 for 2026, indexed afterward, instead of falling by half as it would have after 2025.
What counts as a gift
Any transfer for less than full value: cash, a car, shares, a house sold to a child below market, forgiving a loan, adding someone as a joint owner of an account they then draw on. Gifts of future interests, such as most transfers into a trust that the beneficiary cannot use now, do not qualify for the annual exclusion and always require a Form 709. Shares given keep the donor's cost basis, so the recipient pays capital gains tax on the full gain when selling; a child may also face the kiddie tax on the income.
Filing Form 709
A gift tax return is required when gifts to one person exceed the annual exclusion, when spouses split gifts, or when a gift of a future interest is made. It can now be e-filed. Most returns show no tax at all, only the use of the lifetime exemption, and they create the record that later supports the estate return.
Sources: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted items and 2025 items modified by Public Law 119-21 (October 9, 2025); IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40: 2025 inflation-adjusted items; IRS: Frequently asked questions on gift taxes, read on October 11, 2026.