[oceanview]

http://invest-faq.com/articles/tax-estate-gift.html

"A person can gift fairly large amounts annually without affecting the unified credit. Basically, any US taxpayer can gift up to $11,000 to a single person in a tax year and there are no tax consequences: the gift giver's lifetime unified credit is not affected, and the gift recipient pays no tax."

[Iam1ru1-2]

This is from the Tax Code website: A person can gift fairly large amounts annually without affecting the unified credit. Basically, any US taxpayer can gift up to $11,000 to a single person in a tax year and there are no tax consequences: the gift giver's lifetime unified credit is not affected, and the gift recipient pays no tax. In fact, a person can make $11,000 gifts to as many different people in a year as she or he likes with no tax consequences. (See below; this number is indexed to inflation and will change over time.) Spouses can give each other gifts of any amount without gift tax filings. Finally, a husband and wife can gift anyone $22,000 without gift tax consequences, but unless the husband gives 11,000 and the wife gives 11,000 (e.g., they both write a check), they should file a Form 709 with the IRS and elect to use gift splitting.