Gift Tax Question

[sdb7820]

My father in law used to live in Iran. 30 years ago he put $30,000 into a bank in Israel. He had to leave Iran in 1979 and come to the US. He had continued to make deposits and now the account is worth $150K. He wants to give the money to his daughters as a gift. Are there taxes due. If so who has to report them. He thinks that since they are a gift no one has to report them. Is this true? He is 97 and does will not go to a CPA or atty.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by sdb7820

My father in law used to live in Iran. 30 years ago he put $30,000 into a bank in Israel. He had to leave Iran in 1979 and come to the US. He had continued to make deposits and now the account is worth $150K. He wants to give the money to his daughters as a gift. Are there taxes due. If so who has to report them. He thinks that since they are a gift no one has to report them. Is this true? He is 97 and does will not go to a CPA or atty.

He can gift up to 13,000 per year, per person without having to file a gift tax return.

So, if each daughter is married, he could gift 13,000 to each daughter, and then 13,000 to each spouse, for a total of 26,000 per couple, per year. If the couples have children, he could also gift to each of them 13,000 as well.

If he wants to gift more than that in a single year, then he does have to fill out a gift tax return, but there would be no taxes due unless he exceeds his lifetime exclusion for gifting, which is 1,000,000.