Annual Gift Tax Exclusion
The amount you can give to any individual each year without gift tax consequences or filing requirements. For 2025, the annual exclusion is $19,000 per recipient.
The annual gift tax exclusion allows you to give up to a set dollar amount per recipient each year without incurring gift tax liability, reducing your lifetime exemption, or filing a gift tax return (Form 709). For 2025, the exclusion is $19,000 per recipient. There is no limit on the number of recipients — you could give $19,000 to 100 different people in the same year without any gift tax consequences.
Married couples can combine their exclusions through gift-splitting, allowing them to give up to $38,000 to each recipient in 2025. To use gift-splitting, both spouses must consent and one spouse must file Form 709 to elect it, even if no tax is owed.
The annual exclusion covers only gifts of a present interest — the recipient must have immediate use of the gift. Gifts of a future interest (such as contributions to some trusts) may not qualify for the exclusion and must instead be counted against your lifetime exemption. Direct payments for someone's tuition or medical expenses made directly to the institution are entirely excluded from gift tax beyond the annual exclusion.
How it works
The annual gift tax exclusion lets you give up to $19,000 to any individual in 2025 without any gift tax consequence, without filing a return, and without touching your lifetime exemption at all. There's no cap on how many people you can give to — you could give $19,000 to a dozen different recipients in the same year, all fully excluded, as long as no single recipient gets more than that amount from you.
Married couples can combine their exclusions through gift-splitting, effectively giving up to $38,000 to a single recipient in 2025 without any filing consequence. Using gift-splitting requires both spouses to consent, and one spouse must still file Form 709 to make the election — even when the total gift is small enough that no tax would ever be owed, the election itself has to be formally made.
The exclusion only covers gifts of a present interest, meaning the recipient must be able to use the gift immediately; some trust contributions are gifts of a future interest and don't qualify, so they get counted against the lifetime exemption instead even if under $19,000. Separately, paying someone's tuition or medical bills directly to the school or provider doesn't use up any of the annual exclusion at all — it's excluded on its own.
Example: giving to multiple recipients in one year
A grandparent gives $19,000 to each of three grandchildren in 2025, for a total of $57,000 given away that year. Because no single recipient received more than the $19,000 annual exclusion, none of it counts against the grandparent's lifetime exemption and no Form 709 is required.
If that same grandparent instead gave one grandchild $25,000, the first $19,000 would still be excluded, but the extra $6,000 would need to be reported on Form 709 and would reduce the grandparent's lifetime exemption by that amount.
Quick Gift Tax Check
2025 tax year2025 annual exclusion: $19,000 per recipient
Frequently asked questions
How much can I gift tax-free per person in 2025?
Can my spouse and I combine our annual exclusions?
Does paying my grandchild's tuition count against the annual exclusion?
Related Terms
Gift Tax
A federal tax on transfers of money or property to another person when you receive nothing (or less than full value) in return. The donor — not the recipient — is responsible for paying the gift tax.
Estate Tax
A federal tax on the transfer of property at death. The taxable estate is the fair market value of all assets at death minus allowable deductions. The 2026 exemption is $15,000,000 (OBBBA permanent) — up from $13,990,000 in 2025.
Unified Credit
A lifetime tax credit that offsets gift and estate taxes. It shelters $15,000,000 in cumulative taxable gifts and estate value from federal transfer taxes in 2026 (OBBBA permanent), up from $13,990,000 in 2025.