Taxpayers' Gift Tax Bill Rose to $2.8 billion in 2021

U.S. taxpayers reported owing a total of $2.8 billion in gift taxes and generation-skipping taxes (GST) on returns filed in 2021, up from $409 million the year before, according to new data from the Internal Revenue Service.

The number of returns showing taxpayers owed gift or GST taxes increased to 1,820, from 528 in 2020, and the total of returns showing gift or GST obligations of $1 million or more rose to 1,101, from 266.

In 2019, 1,016 returns showed $1.3 billion in gift and GST obligations, with 496 taxpayers owing more than $1 million.

IRS officials suggested in a data summary that one reason for the increase in 2021 gift and GST tax obligations could be taxpayers’ efforts to use the temporary gift, estate and GST tax exemption changes included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The TCJA provision, which increased the lifetime exemption for individuals to $11.58 million in 2020 from $5.49 million in 2017, is set to expire in 2026.