$19,000
Annual exclusion, per recipient
Give this to anyone, every year (2025 & 2026) — no return, no tax. $38,000 if a married couple splits the gift.
Gift tax returns
Gave a generous gift? Here's when it needs a return.
Most gifts never need a return, and almost none come with a tax bill. But once you cross the annual limit to one person — a down payment, a big transfer of stock or business shares — Form 709 comes into play. We file it cleanly and track your lifetime exemption so nothing surprises your family later.
The numbers that matter
Three figures decide everything.
$15M
Lifetime exemption, per person
What you can give above the annual limit before any tax (2026, $30M per couple) — made permanent by the 2025 federal tax law.
$0
Tax most filers owe
Form 709 almost never produces a bill. It records the gift and draws down the lifetime exemption — that's it.
Cross the $19,000 line to one person and a return is required — but it draws down the $15M exemption rather than producing tax. We file it and keep the running total.
When this comes up
The common gift-tax scenarios.
Most people who file Form 709 do it once or twice in a lifetime — and the scenarios cluster around predictable moments.
Gift tax returns
Down payment help
Helping a child or grandchild buy a first house. The annual exclusion covers a chunk; the rest reduces your lifetime exemption.
Gift tax returns
Tuition + medical (the carve-outs)
Direct payments to a school for tuition or to a medical provider for someone's bills are excluded entirely. We help you structure these so the exclusion applies.
Gift tax returns
Family business transfers
Gifting shares of a closely-held business to the next generation. Often paired with a qualified appraisal to establish fair market value.
Gift tax returns
529 plan superfunding
Five years of annual-exclusion gifts to a 529 plan in one year — a common estate-planning move. Requires Form 709 + a five-year election.
Gift tax returns
Gift splitting between spouses
Married couples can elect to treat gifts as made half by each spouse, doubling the annual exclusion. Requires both spouses to consent on Form 709.
Gift tax returns
Crypto, art, and non-cash gifts
Gifts of non-cash assets need a fair-market-value calculation as of the gift date. We work through the valuation and the supporting documentation.
Why it's worth filing even when nothing's owed
Lifetime exemption tracking matters at the estate stage.
The federal lifetime gift + estate exemption is $15 million per person in 2026 ($30 million for a couple) — made permanent and indexed to inflation by the 2025 federal tax law. It's shared across your lifetime gifts and your eventual estate, and every taxable gift draws it down. Filing Form 709 establishes the running total — without those filings, your estate's executor faces a much harder accounting problem decades later. The form is short; the record it creates is permanent.
Common questions
What people ask us about this.
Often paired with
Related services on the menu.
Trust returns
Trust and Estate Tax Return Preparation (Form 1041)
A parent passed, a revocable trust became irrevocable, and now you're the trustee.
ExploreEntity setup
Business Entity Setup and Formation
Most entity setup is templated and fine — until the first tax return reveals you elected the wrong structure for your income.
ExploreBig gifts have small paperwork.
Form 709 is short relative to its impact. We file it cleanly and track your lifetime exemption usage year over year.