Who pays the IRS tax on a “gift”?

Tax and money picture

Do you know who pays the tax on gift that is subject to federal estate tax?

In a previous post, I described what the IRS considers to be a gift.
If a gift has been made and there is no exclusion connected to it, gift tax may be due.  However, while a federal gift tax return may be required based on only one gift of $15,000.00, the chances of owing tax on a gift are much more remote.  The gift or gifts would have to exceed the unified credit amount, which currently stands at approximately 5.4 Million Dollars.

Nonetheless, if tax is due to the IRS on a gift, usually the person making the gift pays the tax.

Posted by Shawn Roberts

On this blog, I write about and try to answer practical Oklahoma legal questions. My focus and most experience is in estate planning and business issues including Oklahoma non-compete law. I make a living as an attorney in the law firm I founded, Shawn J. Roberts, P.C. in Oklahoma City. I live in Edmond with my wife Amy and my two children, Sam (19) and David (11). We live precisely in the path of where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains."