Estate Planning

Q: I read your answer on your blog regarding the question “What happens if I make a $100,000 gift to my child one year?”. The answer said that “under current law, you can make $11.58 million dollars’ worth of gifts in your lifetime without incurring any gift tax liability”. If so, why do lots of online sites say that we can give up to $15,000, which is the max amount for tax free monetary gift?

A: There are two different exclusions that allow you to avoid gift tax: the annual gift tax exclusion ($15,000 per year in 2021 and $16,000 per year in 2022) and the lifetime gift tax exclusion amount ($11.7 million in 2021 and $12.06 million in 2022). When you gift...