Calculate Gift Tax & Annual Exclusion
Determine if your gift is taxable. Calculate gift tax owed with annual and lifetime exclusion amounts.
Gift Tax Basics (2026)
You can give up to $18,000 per person per year (2024 amount, adjusted annually for inflation) without any tax or reporting obligation. Married couples can "gift split" to give $36,000 per recipient. Above that, the excess counts against your $13.61 million lifetime exclusion. Most people never owe actual gift tax — the lifetime exclusion is enormous. However, you must FILE Form 709 for any gift over the annual exclusion, even if no tax is owed.
Common Gift Tax Scenarios
Paying someone's tuition: NOT taxable if paid directly to the institution (unlimited exclusion for direct tuition payments). Paying medical bills: NOT taxable if paid directly to the provider. Gifts to spouse: Unlimited marital deduction — no tax. Gifts to charity: Not subject to gift tax (separate charitable deduction rules apply). The gift tax primarily affects very wealthy families doing estate planning — 99.9% of Americans will never owe actual gift tax.
The lifetime gift/estate tax exclusion of $13.61 million is scheduled to drop to approximately $7 million in 2026 when the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions expire (unless Congress acts). Wealthy families are accelerating large gifts before this sunset. For most Americans, the current exclusion is so large it is irrelevant — but it is worth monitoring if your net worth exceeds $5 million.
