Q: I want to give my kids some money that I received since my mother passed away. Someone told me I couldn’t give them over $10,000 or they’d have to pay tax on it. Is that true?
A: No, you can gift anyone up to $14,000 per year per person without having to file a gift tax return. They don’t have to be a relative or anything, just anyone. The old limit used to be $10,000 a few years ago–maybe that’s what they were thinking about. If, however, you would give someone over $14,000, then you would have to file a gift tax return. Or you would file a 709 return, but then you could offset it with your lifetime exemption of $5.45 million so you still would not pay any tax.