Gift Tax Return (709) — April 15

Who must file or pay

Taxpayers who made gifts exceeding the annual exclusion ($19,000 per recipient for 2025) or made any gift of a future interest, regardless of amount. Also required for gifts that partially use the lifetime exemption.

What you need to know

Form 709 must be filed for any calendar year in which you made taxable gifts — gifts exceeding the annual exclusion, gifts of future interests, or split-gift elections. The 2025 annual exclusion is $19,000 per recipient.

Filing Form 709 does not mean you owe gift tax — it simply reports the gift and tracks utilization of your lifetime exemption. Most filers pay zero gift tax because the lifetime exemption is substantial (currently indexed for inflation).

For those making large gifts in anticipation of TCJA sunset provisions, 2025 gifting strategies may be especially valuable. Note that the TCJA doubled the lifetime exemption, and the post-sunset environment in 2026 may have different rules. Genie models gift vs. bequest trade-offs as part of estate planning strategy reviews.

Failure-to-file penalty applies to taxable gifts above the lifetime exemption. Late filing of 709 when no gift tax is due typically results in no penalty, but failure to properly report can complicate estate planning later.

Required forms

• →Form 709

Go deeper

A licensed TaxosAgent professional reviews your situation before this deadline — so you maximize savings, not just compliance.