US Gift Tax Calculator

About the US Gift Tax Calculator

Work out whether the gifts you made in tax year 2026 need a gift tax return (Form 709) and whether any gift tax is due, the way the Form 709 instructions work it out. The first $19,000 of gifts to each person is covered by the annual exclusion; gifts to a spouse who is a US citizen are covered by the marital deduction, and the first $194,000 to a spouse who is not (Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.42). Tuition paid straight to a school and medical bills paid straight to the provider are not gifts for the tax at all (Form 709 instructions).

Above those amounts a gift is a taxable gift, but tax is due only once your taxable gifts over your lifetime pass the basic exclusion amount of $15,000,000 (plus any unused exclusion of a late spouse): until then each taxable gift uses up part of it, and the return records that. Enter each gift, whether your spouse splits gifts with you, and the taxable gifts on your earlier returns. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Without a pass the free preview shows whether you owe gift tax, in full; a Pro pass opens every figure: each recipient's line, whether Form 709 is needed and why, the exclusion used and left, the tax computation line by line, the CSV and printing.

The amounts for gifts made in 2026

• Annual exclusion: the first $19,000 of present-interest gifts to each person ($38,000 from a couple who split gifts); a gift of a future interest gets none (Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.42(1)).
• Spouse who is not a US citizen: the first $194,000 of present-interest gifts (section 4.42(2)); a spouse who is a citizen: the marital deduction, whatever the amount.
• Basic exclusion amount: $15,000,000, shared by your lifetime taxable gifts and your estate (section 2.14); a DSUE amount from a late spouse adds to it.
• Rates: the Table for Computing Gift Tax, from 18% on the first $10,000 to 40% on the part of the total over $1,000,000 (26 U.S.C. § 2001(c)). The applicable credit is the tax on the exclusion: $5,945,800 on $15,000,000.
• For gifts in other years the IRS lists the annual exclusion of each year in its gift tax FAQs.

When Form 709 is needed

You file Form 709 for the year when, among other cases (instructions, "Who Must File"):

• your gifts to one person other than your spouse come to more than $19,000;
• you gave anyone a future interest, whatever its value;
• you and your spouse split gifts (with two exceptions, below);
• your present-interest gifts to a spouse who is not a US citizen come to more than $194,000, or you gave that spouse a future interest;
• you elect to spread a 529 plan contribution over five years.

No return is needed for outright gifts to a spouse who is a US citizen, or when your only gifts were to charities and you gave your whole interest. The return is due April 15 of the year after the gifts; an extension of your income tax return also extends it, and Form 8892 extends it on its own, but neither extends the time to pay.

Gift splitting

With your spouse's consent, every gift either of you makes to someone else during the year is treated as made half by each of you, so a couple can give $38,000 to one person without using any lifetime exclusion. Both of you must be married to each other when the gift is made (and not remarry later that year if the marriage ends), neither may be a nonresident who is not a US citizen, and you must split all gifts to third parties for the year. Generally both of you file, but only the donor spouse files when (exception 1) only one of you made gifts, none to one person above $38,000, all present interests; or (exception 2) the donor spouse gave one person more than $19,000 but not more than $38,000 and the other spouse gave no more than $19,000 to each of other people, all present interests.

How the tax is worked out

Form 709 Part 2 works on all your taxable gifts so far, not this year's alone:

• the tax on all taxable gifts so far (this year's plus earlier years'), less the tax on the earlier ones, both from the rate table;
• less the applicable credit still unused: the tax on $15,000,000 (plus any DSUE amount), less the credit used on earlier returns.

So nothing is due until your lifetime taxable gifts pass the exclusion, and every dollar above it is taxed at 40%. The calculator takes the credit used before as the tax at today's rates on your earlier taxable gifts, which is what the line 8 worksheet gives when no gift tax was paid on them.

Official sources

• IRS: Instructions for Form 709, gift tax return (who must file, split gifts, Table for Computing Gift Tax)
• IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32: inflation-adjusted amounts for tax year 2026 (sections 4.37, 4.38, 4.42 and 4.47)
• IRS: tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026
• IRS: Frequently asked questions on gift taxes (annual exclusion by year)
• IRS: Gift tax
• 26 U.S.C. § 2001(c), rate schedule (Legal Information Institute)

Limitations

• For gifts made in tax year 2026 by a US citizen or resident; another year has other amounts, and a donor who is neither is taxed only on some property and gets no credit.
• The credit used on earlier returns is taken as the tax at today’s rates on your earlier taxable gifts. If you paid gift tax before, or made gifts before 1977, use the line 8 worksheet in the Form 709 instructions.
• The values are what you enter: property counts at its fair market value on the day of the gift, and appraisals, discounts and the value of interests in a business or a trust are yours to work out.
• Not covered: the generation-skipping transfer tax (Form 709 Part 3), QTIP and other marital deduction elections, foreign gift tax credits and state gift taxes.
• An estimate to help you prepare, not tax advice: check the Form 709 instructions or ask a tax professional before you file.

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