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FreesiaNY
Jun 13, 2014, 10:41 AM
Hello,

I know this topic was discussed many times but I am confused with the amounts that may trigger IRS gifts reporting. My uncle overseas transfers money via wire transfer from his bank into my account. Only my name is on the account. I have a family of 4 US citizens, married filing jointly. I thought a gift reporting limit was 13K per person and we never got over 13K in any one year anyway. However, in the IRS form 3520 it appears that amounts under 100K need no reporting if the gift is from a foreign national. This year I received 9K from him already, and he also would like to send about 20K for my son's graduation/college tuition (I would make a payment after receiving money instead of tracking its receipt with the institution). Please clarify what we can receive without raising any issues.

Thank you for any advice:)

smoothy
Jun 13, 2014, 11:10 AM
It's a huge grey area... there is a finite limit the automatically requires a notice... but they also look at smaller ammounts under it... splitting them up to fall under the limit is also a violation called structuring and can get you in trouble on its own.

You are better off legally reporting it than trying to get creative. I've seen several people get in trouble over structuring.

AtlantaTaxExpert
Jun 13, 2014, 12:11 PM
I agree with Smoothy. Better to just report the total amount using Form 3520.

Because your father is NOT a U.S. citizen, no tax will be due.