If I want to gift to my child, there is a limit on that gift of I think $15K per year. Anything above the limit is taxable. Why would an anonymous ‘gift’ from strangers not be subject to same? Or perhaps as long as the gift from each stranger is not beyond the limit?
The latter applies.
the person receiving a gift typically does not have to pay gift tax. The giver, however, will generally file a gift tax return when the gift exceeds the annual gift tax exclusion amount, which is $16,000 per recipient for 2022.
The donor is responsible for the gift tax. If you give more than the limit to an individual, then you are responsible for the taxes, not the recipients.
If ten people give $10k each to someone, there are no taxes.
If one person gives $100k to someone, then the donor owes taxes.
In this case chances are no one gave over the limit.
The $15k limit is on the giver, not the recipient. So an unlimited number of people can give up to $15k per year (actually now I believe it is $17.5k) with no tax consequences to the recipient.
It’s $17,000.00 now.
As long as no one person gave more then the max gift rate, it’s all his.