USA Gift Tax Questions

[jtees4]

Hello!
My wife and I are going to gift our son with money to pay off a loan.
My specific questions are:
1. If we each give him $17,000 (34,0000) total, do we have to do anything as far as our personal taxes for the year? I think NO, but want to be sure.
2. If we decide to give him more, say $50,000, I think that means we have to file a 709?
*If yes, does the 709 get filed within our tax return, or is it a completely separate filing?
*Does it matter if we give him one payment from both of us of @50K or would there be a reason to break it up into two payments?
Thank you for any help or advice!

 

[BIG E]

1) Gift amounts under the threshold amounts don't get reported anywhere on your personal tax return.
2) Yes, Form 709 is required. Form 709 is paper-filed, has nothing to do with your personal tax return. It's a separate filing.
Therefore 2 Form 709's would be prepared - one for you, one for your wife.
It would be advisable for you to each gift him half because it would be easier to identify which parent gave how
much for purposes of hitting the maximum and claiming split-gift. If you do give him in one check make sure
it comes from a joint account where both of you can sign the check - ie - has the power to sign the check,
not necessarily that the check must be jointly signed.

 

[jtees4]

Thanks BIG E for the quick response! Just to clarify, I'm thick headed, and had tax issues last year, so just double checking.
As far as 1. So nothing on our personal taxes, and nothing else to file anywhere.
As far as 2. So over $34K, we split the total in half, and file a 709 each, one time at the end of this year, and we're done.
It is strictly a joint account, so we can give him one or two checks, but two is preferable so we can each sign one.
Again....thanks so much.

 

[BIG E]

You are correct, but the 709 gets filed after the calendar year
The 709 is a calendar year form. It gets (paper) filed separately from your personal tax return.
I suggest that you provide your son a copy of each of the 709s because IF IRS asks where did you
get such a large sum of money - he's got proof it came from his parents.
The 709s calculate the total gift, then automatically subtracts out the $ 17,000 exclusion amount.

 

[jtees4]

Thanks so much, it all makes sense.

 

[jtees4]

I do have one more thought after talking to my wife. I guess, if we wanted to involve my son's wife....we could split 50K between the two of them and stay below the 17K for each of us.....meaning give our son 1 check each of 17K and his wife one of 16K. Then there would be no IRS form needed at all unless I'm wrong.

 

[BIG E]

You and your wife can EACH give your son $ 17,000 each and your daughter-in-law $ 17,000 each and no gift tax return is necessary.

 

[jtees4]

You and your wife can EACH give your son $ 17,000 each and your daughter-in-law $ 17,000 each and no gift tax return is necessary.

 

[jtees4]

Thanks again, I really appreciate it.