Families that plan to give money to children, grandchildren or anyone else under the federal gift tax exclusion have until Dec. 31 to finish their 2026 gifts. The Internal Revenue Service sets the exclusion at $19,000 per recipient for 2026, and it works year by year. An amount left unused when the calendar turns does not carry forward into 2027.
The rule is easy to misread because it is a yearly allowance, not a lifetime one. A grandparent who gave one grandchild $10,000 this year has $9,000 of room left for that grandchild, and the room ends on New Year’s Eve. The IRS has not yet published the 2027 figure, so next year’s allowance is not known.
What the $19,000 covers
The IRS says in its gift tax FAQ that the annual exclusion applies to gifts to each donee, the person receiving the gift. Its own example is a parent giving each child $19,000 in 2026, with the exclusion applying to every gift. Gifts that are not more than the annual exclusion for the calendar year are generally not taxable gifts.
That makes the limit per recipient, not per giver and not per family. Someone with four grandchildren can give each of them up to $19,000 in 2026, which is $76,000 in all, without using up the exclusion. A gift to one grandchild does not shrink what another can receive.
People who want to know how much they can give each child this year without filing a gift tax return have the answer in that table: $19,000 each, for gifts completed by Dec. 31. Anything above that amount to one person is where the IRS sends readers to the Form 709 instructions and Publication 559.
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Couples can double it
The same IRS page lists $38,000 per donee when spouses give jointly. A married couple giving a daughter a down payment can therefore put $38,000 toward it for 2026 under the annual exclusion. Each spouse’s allowance is counted separately, which is why the joint figure is exactly double.
The page does not walk through the mechanics of splitting a gift. It refers readers to the section of the Form 709 instructions headed “Gifts to Donees Other Than Your Spouse.” Couples who plan to use the larger amount should read that section before the end of the year.
Why Dec. 31 is the line
The exclusion is tied to the calendar year of the gift, the IRS says, and the amount is set by the year the gift is made. That is the reason the deadline is so firm. A gift completed on Jan. 2 counts against 2027, whatever the intent was in December.
For families, the practical result is that the room for a gift in 2026 cannot be saved. The money can still be given later. What is lost is the unused 2026 allowance for that recipient, and nothing the IRS publishes lets it be added to a later year.
What else is not a taxable gift
The annual exclusion is not the only exception. The IRS FAQ lists tuition or medical expenses paid for someone, gifts to a spouse and gifts to a political organization as generally not taxable gifts. Gifts to qualifying charities are deductible from the value of gifts made.
The same page makes the default plain: any gift is a taxable gift unless an exception applies, and the donor is generally the one responsible for paying any gift tax. For simple, small transfers below the annual exclusion, the IRS says a professional may not be needed.
Gifts above the exclusion
Larger gifts are not necessarily taxed. The IRS page notes that Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025, raised the basic exclusion amount to $15,000,000 for gifts made in calendar year 2026. That is the figure for what a person can give over a lifetime before gift tax applies, separate from the yearly $19,000.
The IRS tells people who give more than the annual exclusion to use Form 709, which can be filed electronically, and points to the form’s instructions and Publication 559 for the details. The FAQ does not say who must file in every case, so families with a large gift planned should read those two documents or ask a tax professional.
The 2026 amounts in this story come from the IRS gift tax FAQ as it reads today. Any change to the 2027 exclusion would apply to gifts made next year, not to gifts completed before Dec. 31.
The IRS newsroom had not posted the 2027 inflation-adjusted figures as of Oct. 29, and the agency has not said what the 2027 exclusion will be. Families deciding whether to give now or wait for January are choosing without that number.
What is settled is the 2026 rule. Each recipient can receive up to $19,000 this year, a couple can give up to $38,000 together, and the allowance for 2026 ends when the year does.
Planning to help family before the year closes?
A family that gives money away in January instead of December has used 2027’s allowance instead of 2026’s, and the unused 2026 room is gone. Gifts are also only one piece of what happens to the money and property that stays behind.
The Pass It On Checklist is an 11-page guide with a 2026 figures page on gift and estate limits, including gifts while living of up to $19,000 per person in 2026 with no gift tax return. It also covers every beneficiary form checked, with a primary and a backup named, so the plan matches the paperwork.
Get the 2026 gift and beneficiary-form checklist for helping family before Dec. 31 →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
