How to Fill Out Form 709 for 2026 Gifts

Do you need to file Form 709?

You (the giver) must file a 2026 Form 709 if any of these is true. Whether any tax is due does not matter.

• Your gifts to any one person, other than your spouse, totaled more than $19,000 in 2026.
• You gave a gift of a future interest of any size, for example into most trusts, where the person can't use it now.
• You and your spouse want to split gifts, so a couple can give $38,000 to one person. Splitting needs a return whatever the amount.
• You put more than $19,000 into a 529 plan for one person and want to spread it over five years (up to $95,000).
• You gave a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen more than $194,000, or gave a citizen spouse an interest that ends later (for example, a life interest in a trust).
• You and your spouse gave community property, or property you own together as joint tenants, and your half to one person was over $19,000: each spouse files for their half.

What you never list on Form 709

• Tuition paid straight to the school and medical bills paid straight to the provider, for anyone, in any amount. Books, room and board and 529 contributions don't count as tuition.
• Gifts to your spouse who is a U.S. citizen, in any amount (outright gifts).
• Gifts to charity, if those are the only gifts you made and you gave your whole interest. If you must file anyway, list the charitable gifts too.
• Gifts to political organizations.

The annual exclusion is per giver, per recipient, per year. You can give $19,000 each to a child, their spouse and every grandchild without filing anything. More on the limit itself: annual gift tax exclusion.

What to gather before you start

• The 2026 Form 709 and its instructions from IRS.gov/Form709. Use the form for the year of the gift, not the year you file.
• For each gift: the recipient's name, address and relationship to you, the date, and a description detailed enough to identify it (account, shares, legal description of land).
• The value on the date of the gift: the cash amount, the average of the high and low stock price that day, or an appraisal for real estate and anything hard to value. Attach the appraisal.
• Your cost basis in any property you gave.
• Copies of every Form 709 you filed for earlier years, for Schedule B. No earlier returns means Schedule B stays empty.
• If you are splitting gifts: your spouse's name, SSN and a signed Notice of Consent (Part III, line 7).
• For a 529 election: the total contributed per beneficiary, the amount you are electing to spread and the beneficiary's name, for the statement you attach.

The order to fill it out

Part II, the tax computation on page 1, uses totals from the schedules, so you fill page 1 last. The IRS's own order is:

1. Decide whether you must file and which gifts to report (above).
2. Decide whether you and your spouse will split gifts.
3. Part I, lines 1 to 21 (page 1).
4. Part III, lines 1 to 7 (page 2), if you are married.
5. Schedule A: list each gift in Part 1, 2 or 3, then Part 4.
6. Schedules B, C and D, if they apply.
7. Part II (page 1), then sign and date.

The IRS says returns with blank fields will not be processed: answer every Yes/No question.

Part I: general information

Part III: gift splitting with your spouse

Line 1 asks whether you and your spouse consent to treat all gifts either of you made to third parties in 2026 as made half by each of you. Answer No and skip to Schedule A if you aren't splitting. If Yes, complete lines 2 to 7: your spouse's name and SSN, whether you were married all year, whether your spouse is also filing (if so, mail both returns in the same envelope), and line 7, which confirms you are attaching a Notice of Consent signed by your spouse.

The election covers every gift either of you made to anyone other than each other that year; you can't pick and choose. Both of you become liable for the whole gift tax. Each spouse usually files their own return, unless only one of you gave and no one got more than $38,000. Full rules and the consent wording: gift splitting on Form 709.

Schedule A: listing the gifts

The two questions at the top

• Line A: does any value reflect a discount (for a minority interest, lack of marketability or a fractional share of real estate)? For ordinary gifts of cash, listed stock or a whole property, No.
• Line B: check it to make the five-year election for a 529 contribution, and attach the statement.

Which part each gift goes in

• Part 1, gifts subject only to gift tax: gifts to your children, other relatives of your generation or your children's, friends and charities. This is where most gifts go.
• Part 2, direct skips: gifts to someone two or more generations below you, such as a grandchild whose parent (your child) is alive. These also involve the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax and Schedule D. A grandchild whose parent has died moves up a generation and goes in Part 1.
• Part 3, indirect skips and other transfers in trust: gifts to trusts that could later benefit grandchildren. This usually means a professional.

If your gifts to someone total more than $19,000, list all of them, including the part the exclusion will cover. If they total $19,000 or less and are present interests, leave that person off entirely, unless you are splitting gifts. When splitting, list every gift to third parties that year at full value.

The columns, left to right

Below your own gifts, each part has a section headed "Gifts made by spouse". Use it only if you are splitting gifts and your spouse also made gifts, listing their gifts the same way.

Part 4: from gifts to taxable gifts

• Line 1: total of column (i) from Parts 1, 2 and 3 (only your share if splitting).
• Line 2: your annual exclusions: up to $19,000 per recipient, and no more than your half of a split gift. Future interests get none.
• Lines 4 to 8: marital and charitable deductions, if you listed such gifts.
• Lines 9 to 11: taxable gifts after deductions, plus any GST tax. Line 11 goes to Part II, line 1.

Schedule B: gifts from earlier years

If this is your first Form 709, answer No on line 18a and leave Schedule B blank. Otherwise list each earlier year you filed, the IRS office where you filed, the credit used that year (column (c)) and the taxable gifts (column (e)), then total them. Gift tax is cumulative: this year's tax is figured on all your taxable gifts since 1976.

If your earlier taxable gifts total $500,000 or less, enter the credit you actually used each year in column (c). Above that, the IRS has you recompute the credit at today's rates on a worksheet in the instructions, a good point to involve a CPA.

Part II: the tax computation

Part II turns your taxable gifts into tax and then subtracts the credit for your lifetime exemption. For 2026, line 7 is $5,945,800: the tax on the $15,000,000 basic exclusion (more if you have a deceased spouse's unused exclusion, on Schedule C). As long as your lifetime taxable gifts stay under $15,000,000, line 12 cancels line 6 and the tax on line 19 is $0.

Lines 4 and 5 come from the Table for Computing Gift Tax. It starts at 18% and reaches 40% above $1,000,000: for example the tax on $41,000 is $8,440. That number isn't owed, it is just cancelled by the credit.

Worked example: a $60,000 down payment gift

She owes nothing. Her remaining lifetime exemption drops from $15,000,000 to $14,959,000, and when she dies her executor will add the $41,000 back on her estate tax return as an adjusted taxable gift.

The same gift, split with a spouse

If Tom consents to split gifts, the $60,000 is treated as $30,000 from each of them. Because Kate received more than $38,000, both must file.

• Margaret's return: Part I line 19 Yes; Part III line 1 Yes, Tom's name and SSN, line 4 Yes, line 6 Yes, line 7 Yes with Tom's signed Notice of Consent attached. Schedule A, Part 1: value $60,000, column (h) $30,000, column (i) $30,000.
• Tom's return: the gift goes under "Gifts made by spouse" in Part 1, with the same $60,000 / $30,000 / $30,000.
• Each return, Part 4: line 1 $30,000, line 2 $19,000, line 11 $11,000. Part II: line 4 $2,000, line 12 $2,000, tax $0.

Splitting cut the exemption used from $41,000 to $22,000 in total, because the gift now gets two annual exclusions. Mail both returns in one envelope.

Signing, mailing, e-file and the deadline

• Due date: April 15, 2027 for 2026 gifts. An income tax extension on Form 4868 also extends Form 709 to October 15, 2027; otherwise file Form 8892 for a 6-month extension. Any tax is still due by April 15.
• Separate from your 1040. Form 709 is its own return. Consumer software such as TurboTax doesn't prepare it.
• E-file is possible only through an authorized IRS e-file provider or a reporting agent, usually a tax professional. Doing it yourself means paper.
• Paper returns go to Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Kansas City, MO 64999. With a private delivery service (FedEx, UPS), use Internal Revenue Service, 333 W. Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO 64108. Certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof of the mailing date.
• Sign and date page 1. Attach appraisals, the 529 statement and the Notice of Consent. Keep a full copy: your executor will need it one day.
• Corrections: file a new Form 709 marked as a supplemental return (line 15), with a statement of what changed and a copy of the original.

Mistakes that get returns sent back

• Using the form for the year you file instead of the year of the gift.
• Listing tuition or medical bills paid directly to the school or provider. They don't belong on the return.
• Listing only the amount over $19,000. List the full gift and take the exclusion in Part 4.
• Splitting some gifts but not others. Consent covers every gift to third parties for the year.
• Filing a "joint" return. Each spouse files their own.
• Checking line B for a 529 contribution without attaching the statement.
• Leaving Yes/No questions blank, especially lines 18a, 19, 20 and 21.
• Giving real estate or a business interest with no appraisal or explanation of value. Without adequate disclosure, the IRS's 3-year limit to challenge the value never starts.
• Putting grandchildren in Part 1 when their parent is alive. They go in Part 2.

Executors: the final Form 709

If someone dies after making gifts that need a return, their executor files it and checks line 14. The return is due by the earlier of the estate tax return's due date (with extensions) or April 15, 2027 (with any gift tax extension) for 2026 gifts. The executor also needs every Form 709 the person filed: taxable gifts after 1976 are added back on Form 706 and count toward whether one is needed at all. Missing returns can be requested from the IRS on Form 4506. See checking the person's lifetime gifts and the Form 706 guide.

If the person had made a five-year 529 election and died before the five years ended, the shares for the years after death are pulled back into their estate.