Gift Tax Calculator

The federal gift tax applies to transfers you make during your life for less than full value. The donor, not the recipient, owes it, and few people ever pay it: the annual exclusion covers most gifts and the lifetime exemption absorbs the rest.

The gift tax shares one exemption and one rate schedule with the estate tax, so the Estate Tax Calculator shows what large gifts mean at death. For appreciated property the Capital Gains Tax Calculator matters too, because a gift passes your cost basis to the recipient.

How the gift tax works in 2025 and 2026

Three layers decide whether a gift costs anything. First, the annual exclusion: $19,000 per recipient per year for both 2025 and 2026, under Rev. Proc. 2024-40 and Rev. Proc. 2025-32. Second, gifts that never count, such as tuition or medical bills paid directly and gifts to a U.S. citizen spouse or to charity. Third, the lifetime exemption, which is the estate tax basic exclusion amount: $13,990,000 for 2025 and, under Public Law 119-21, $15,000,000 for 2026.

A gift above the annual exclusion is a taxable gift, but tax is due only once your cumulative taxable gifts pass the lifetime exemption. The exclusion has moved like this:

The exclusion is indexed for inflation but rounded down to a multiple of $1,000, which is why it stayed at $19,000 for 2026. The 529 columns are five times the exclusion for the year the contribution is made.

The gift tax formula

For each recipient, and for each donor when spouses split gifts:

T is the unified rate schedule. The unused credit is the tentative tax on the exemption ($5,945,800 in 2026) minus the credit used on earlier returns, so the result stays $0 until cumulative taxable gifts pass $15,000,000. Say a widow has already used $14,950,000 of her exemption and gives her grandson $119,000 in 2026. After the $19,000 exclusion the taxable gift is $100,000, her total reaches $15,050,000, and the $50,000 above the exemption costs 40%, or $20,000. The “Exemption almost used up” button loads this case.

Worked example: three gifts from one grandparent

In 2026 a grandmother gives her daughter $50,000 toward a house, puts $95,000 into a 529 plan for her grandson and elects to spread it over five years, and gives her granddaughter $15,000 while paying $30,000 of tuition straight to the granddaughter's university. These are the calculator's default inputs.

1. Daughter: $50,000 − $19,000 exclusion = a $31,000 taxable gift.
2. Grandson: the election treats $95,000 ÷ 5 = $19,000 as given in 2026, fully covered by the exclusion; another $19,000 counts in each year from 2027 to 2030.
3. Granddaughter: the $15,000 is under the exclusion, and the $30,000 of tuition is excluded because it went to the school.

Of $190,000 handed over, only $31,000 is a taxable gift. She owes no gift tax, keeps $14,969,000 of exemption, and must file Form 709 by April 15, 2027, both for her daughter's gift and to make the 529 election.

Worked example: a couple splitting gifts

A husband writes a $150,000 check to their son and a $30,000 check to their niece in 2026, and his wife consents to split gifts. Each spouse is treated as giving $75,000 to the son and $15,000 to the niece. Each uses a $19,000 exclusion against the son's gift, so each makes a $56,000 taxable gift, $112,000 in total, and the niece's gifts are fully covered.

Without splitting he alone would report $131,000 + $11,000 = $142,000, so the election saves $30,000 of exemption. Because the son received more than $38,000, both spouses must file their own Form 709. The “Couple splits gifts” button loads this case.

What a couple can give each year without filing

Each spouse has a separate $19,000 exclusion for every recipient. When each spouse gives from their own funds, or the gift is community property or property the couple owns jointly, a couple can give $38,000 per recipient in 2026 with no return at all.

The ten-year column holds the exclusion at $19,000, a floor because it is indexed. The 529 column front-loads five years of exclusions per beneficiary and needs a Form 709 from each spouse to make the election. Tuition and medical bills paid directly come on top of every column.

A $100,000 gift to a grandchild, five ways

The same $100,000 can use very different amounts of exemption in 2026, depending on how it is given:

The single-donor 529 row follows the Form 709 instructions: one fifth of the $95,000 maximum ($19,000) plus the $5,000 above it counts now. Paying the school directly is the only route with no return, but it covers tuition only; books, housing and other costs paid that way are ordinary gifts.

When you must file Form 709

• You gave any one person other than your spouse more than $19,000 during the year.
• You and your spouse elect gift splitting, whatever the amounts.
• You make the five-year 529 election.
• You gave a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen more than $190,000 in 2025 or $194,000 in 2026.
• You gave a future interest, one the recipient cannot use or enjoy until a later date, in any amount.

No return is needed for tuition or medical payments made directly, outright gifts to a U.S. citizen spouse, or charitable gifts of your entire interest. Form 709 is due April 15 of the following year. Spouses cannot file a joint gift tax return.

Gift splitting and the five-year 529 election

Gift splitting treats every gift either spouse makes to others during the year as made half by each. The spouses must be married to each other when the gift is made, neither may be a nonresident who is not a U.S. citizen, and the consenting spouse signs a Notice of Consent. Only the donor spouse files when one spouse made all the gifts, no recipient got more than $38,000 and every gift was a present interest; otherwise both file.

The 529 election spreads a contribution above the exclusion evenly over five years, up to $95,000 per donor or $190,000 for a couple, and any excess counts in the first year. Each later year's fifth uses that year's exclusion for the beneficiary, and if the donor dies within the five years, the remaining portion is included in the estate.

Gifts that never count: tuition, medical, spouse and charity

• Tuition and medical care paid directly to a qualifying school or to the care provider are excluded without limit and regardless of relationship. Books, housing and medical costs reimbursed by insurance do not qualify.
• A U.S. citizen spouse receives gifts under the unlimited marital deduction. A spouse who is not a citizen gets a larger annual exclusion instead: $190,000 for 2025 and $194,000 for 2026.
• Charities receive gifts that are fully deductible, and gifts to political organizations for their use are not taxable gifts.

How to use this calculator, and who it is for

1. Choose the year of the gifts.
2. Choose who is giving: one donor, a couple splitting gifts, or a couple giving half each.
3. Add each recipient with cash or property, any 529 contribution (tick the box to spread it over five years) and tuition or medical bills you pay directly.
4. Enter taxable gifts from earlier Forms 709 and, for a widow or widower, any DSUE amount.
5. Read the gift tax, the Form 709 verdict and reasons, each recipient's taxable amount and the exemption left.

It is meant for parents and grandparents planning annual gifts, couples weighing gift splitting, and anyone funding a 529 plan or helping with a down payment. Used as a Form 709 calculator, it runs the filing tests above for every recipient and says which spouse files.

Key terms

• Annual exclusion: what each donor can give each recipient per year without it counting, $19,000 for 2026.
• Taxable gift: the part of a year's gifts to one person above the exclusion, after deductions.
• Lifetime exemption: the basic exclusion amount shared by gifts and estates, $15,000,000 for 2026.
• Gift splitting: an election to treat a married donor's gifts as made half by each spouse.
• Present interest: a gift the recipient can use or enjoy right away; only these qualify for the annual exclusion.
• Form 709: the United States gift (and generation-skipping transfer) tax return.

Tips and limitations

• Pay tuition and medical bills straight to the school or provider instead of reimbursing the student or patient.
• Keep a running total of taxable gifts and copies of every Form 709; your executor will need them for Form 706.
• Think twice before giving highly appreciated assets: the recipient takes over your cost basis, while inherited assets get a fresh basis at death.

The calculator assumes outright gifts at fair market value and that earlier taxable gifts used exemption rather than generating tax. It does not model trusts, the generation-skipping transfer tax, valuation discounts or state gift taxes.

Related calculators

• Estate Tax Calculator: how lifetime gifts and the exemption play out at death.
• Capital Gains Tax Calculator: tax when a recipient sells gifted property.
• Income Tax Calculator: tax on interest or dividends that gifted assets earn.
• Net Worth Calculator: total your assets before planning large gifts.

Sources

• Instructions for Form 709 (2025), IRS: who must file, gift splitting and its exceptions, the 529 election, the educational and medical exclusions, the rate table and the applicable credit.
• Frequently asked questions on gift taxes, IRS: annual exclusion by year, gifts of property spouses own together, and transfers that are not taxable.
• Rev. Proc. 2024-40, sections 2.41 and 2.43, and Rev. Proc. 2025-32, sections 2.14 and 4.42, IRS: 2025 and 2026 exclusions and exemption.
• IR-2025-103, IRS newsroom: 2026 inflation adjustments.
• Public Law 119-21, section 70106, 26 U.S.C. 2503 and 26 U.S.C. 529, GovInfo.
• Publication 525 and Publication 551, IRS: gifts and income, and the basis of gifted property.