Annual Gifts

You can make annual gifts up to a certain threshold per individual to as many recipients as you wish, free of gift and income taxes. The threshold changes annually; for this year’s threshold, see “Annual Updated Tax Numbers” under Resources on our website.  The threshold doubles if the gifts are made with jointly owned property with your spouse. You can also make larger gifts by using part of the lifetime federal gift allowance, and the amount also changes annually and can be found on our website for the current year.  Although this will reduce the amount your estate will have available, it can pay off if you expect the gifts to appreciate before you die. If you believe you may have an estate tax liability, consider contacting us to prepare a computation for you. One additional note: If you are making education gifts for your children or grandchildren, you have two additional choices. First, you can make direct payments for tuition at any level of education, in any amount - gift tax free. The only requirement is the tuition payments must be made directly to the school. So, if you have young grandchildren in private school, consider paying their tuition. Second, you can accelerate 5 years' worth of gifts by gifting to a 529 plan.