Georgia does not have a gift tax. The state imposes no tax on money or property you give away during your lifetime, no matter the amount or who receives it. Federal gift tax rules still apply to Georgia residents, and the number that matters for most people is $19,000: that’s the 2026 annual exclusion per recipient, and crossing it triggers a federal reporting obligation even when no tax is actually due.
Georgia Imposes No Gift, Estate, or Inheritance Tax
Georgia has never had a standalone gift tax or inheritance tax, and it eliminated its estate tax effective July 1, 2014 under O.C.G.A. § 48-12-1.1Georgia Department of Revenue. Estate Tax – FAQ No transfer of property between living people, and no transfer at death, triggers a state-level transfer tax in Georgia. If you live in Georgia and you’re thinking about giving someone a large sum, the state side of the question is settled. The rest of this article is about the federal rules, which do apply to you.
The $19,000 Federal Annual Exclusion
Federal gift tax applies to transfers of money or property where the giver gets nothing of equal value in return. It doesn’t matter whether you call it a gift or not — the IRS looks at the economics. The giver, not the recipient, is responsible for any tax or reporting.
Under IRC § 2503, you can give up to $19,000 to any one person in 2026 without any gift tax consequences and without filing anything.2Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax The exclusion is per recipient, not per giver. You could write $19,000 checks to ten different people in the same year and owe nothing, report nothing. A married couple can combine their exclusions and move up to $38,000 to any single recipient, as long as they elect to split gifts on their returns.
The $19,000 figure adjusts for inflation, but only in $1,000 increments, so it tends to stay flat for a few years at a time.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2503 – Taxable Gifts
Transfers That Don’t Count as Gifts at All
Several kinds of transfers sit entirely outside the gift tax system. They don’t eat into your $19,000 annual exclusion and they don’t touch your lifetime exemption.
Tuition and Medical Payments Paid Directly
IRC § 2503(e) excludes payments you make directly to an educational institution for someone’s tuition, or directly to a medical provider for someone’s care.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2503 – Taxable Gifts The word “directly” does all the work. A check made out to your grandchild’s university for tuition is exempt in full. Handing your grandchild the same amount so they can pay the bill themselves is a regular gift subject to the normal limits.
On the education side, only tuition qualifies. Room, board, books, and supplies don’t. On the medical side, the exclusion covers most medical and dental services, prescriptions, and health insurance premiums, but not things like gym memberships or elective cosmetic procedures.
Gifts Between Spouses
Under IRC § 2523, transfers to a spouse who is a U.S. citizen are covered by an unlimited marital deduction.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2523 – Gift to Spouse You can move any amount of cash or property to your citizen spouse with no gift tax and no reporting. If your spouse is not a U.S. citizen, the deduction doesn’t apply, but a much higher annual exclusion does — $194,000 for 2026.2Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
529 Plan Super-Funding
Contributions to a 529 education savings plan count as gifts to the account beneficiary, but IRC § 529(c)(2)(B) lets you front-load five years of annual exclusions in one shot.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 529 – Qualified Tuition Programs For 2026, that’s up to $95,000 from one person, or $190,000 from a married couple, into a single 529 in one year, with the gift treated as spread evenly across five years. No gift tax is owed and no lifetime exemption is used, provided you make no other gifts to that same beneficiary during those five years. If the giver dies before the five years are up, the unused portion gets pulled back into the estate.
The $15 Million Lifetime Exemption
When a gift to one person goes over $19,000 in a year and doesn’t fall into one of the excluded categories, the excess starts counting against your lifetime exemption. For 2026, that lifetime number is $15,000,000 per individual.2Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax The exemption is “unified” with the federal estate tax exemption under IRC § 2505, which means every dollar you use on lifetime gifts above the annual exclusion reduces what’s left to shield your estate at death.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2505 – Unified Credit Against Gift Tax
In practice: say you give your daughter $119,000 in 2026. The first $19,000 is covered by the annual exclusion. The remaining $100,000 gets reported on Form 709 and subtracted from your $15,000,000 lifetime exemption. You now have $14,900,000 left. You owe no tax. You only start writing checks to the IRS after cumulative lifetime gifts above all your annual exclusions have burned through the full $15 million. Starting in 2027, the $15 million figure adjusts for inflation, rounded to the nearest $10,000.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2010 – Unified Credit Against Estate Tax
Form 709: When You Must File
Any gift that exceeds the $19,000 annual exclusion has to be reported on IRS Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, even if you owe no tax.8Internal Revenue Service. About Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return The form is how the IRS tracks your running use of the lifetime exemption. Skipping it is a common mistake. If there’s no record of your exemption usage, your estate can be left to sort it out later with no paper trail.
Form 709 is due April 15 of the year after the gift. Filing a personal income tax extension on Form 4868 automatically extends the Form 709 deadline too.9Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709 Spouses cannot file a joint gift tax return. Each spouse files their own Form 709, including when they’re electing to split gifts under IRC § 2513.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2513 – Gift by Husband or Wife to Third Party When spouses do elect to split, both become jointly and severally liable for the full gift tax for that year, so the IRS can pursue either one for the whole amount.
Gifts that stay within the annual exclusion, the direct tuition and medical exclusions, or the unlimited marital deduction don’t need to be reported at all. The filing obligation attaches only to gifts above those thresholds.
The Hidden Cost: Carryover Basis
One thing to think through before making a large gift of appreciated property. Under IRC § 1015, the person receiving a gift takes the giver’s original cost basis in the asset.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1015 – Basis of Property Acquired by Gift If you bought stock for $10,000 and give it to your son when it’s worth $100,000, his basis is still $10,000. When he sells, he owes capital gains tax on $90,000 of gain.
Inherited property works the opposite way. Under IRC § 1014, assets passing from someone at death generally get a stepped-up basis equal to fair market value on the date of death.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent That same stock, if your son inherited it instead, would have a $100,000 basis. He could sell the next day and owe nothing on the appreciation.
For highly appreciated assets like Georgia real estate or long-held investments, the capital gains cost of gifting during life can wipe out any gift tax benefit. The right answer depends on the size of the unrealized gain, how much lifetime exemption you have left, and whether the asset is likely to keep appreciating. Running those numbers before transferring an asset is how you avoid handing your family a tax bill in the name of generosity.