Here's my situation:

My mother is not a U.S. Citizen and not living in the U.S. I am a resident Alien this year, and I legally live and study in the U.S. as a student. My mother would like to make a gift to me for the purposes of purchasing , ideally by wiring money from a bank account from a foreign account (or from a U.S. account) to my checking account here in the U.S. (at a U.S. bank). What might be the best way to go about doing this without incurring a heavy gift tax?

1. Would it be best for me to open my own foreign account, file the FBAR for that account, and then move the funds from my own foreign account to my US account? Does that mean I likely won't have to pay any extra taxes, especially if that account is essentially only used for that purpose (once)? What might be the limit of that transaction?

2. If my mother just wires the money directly, will this always incur the gift tax if it is over the exclusion amount of $13000?

Thanks!

If your mother is NOT a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident for tax purposes, then there will be NO gift tax implications. Have her transfer the money directly to you from her account to your account in the United States, as there is NO transfer tax and NO need to incur FBAR reporting requirements.