How Much Can I Gift to a Non-U.S. Citizen: Limits and Form 709

In 2026, you can give up to $19,000 to any non-U.S. citizen without owing gift tax or filing a return, and up to $194,000 if the recipient is your non-citizen spouse.¹² Both limits apply per recipient, per calendar year. Anything above those amounts has to be reported, but a $15 million lifetime exemption absorbs most excess gifts before any tax is actually due. Gift tax is always the donor’s obligation. The recipient owes no gift tax and no income tax on what they receive, regardless of citizenship.

The $19,000 Annual Limit for Non-Citizen Recipients

The annual gift tax exclusion for 2026 is $19,000 per recipient.¹ You can give $19,000 to a non-citizen child, sibling, friend, or any other individual without reporting the gift to the IRS. The limit is per person, so five separate $19,000 gifts to five different people all fall within the exclusion.

The exclusion resets every January 1. A $19,000 gift last year and another $19,000 this year are both covered. These sub-threshold transfers have no effect on your future ability to shelter assets from estate tax.

Once your total gifts to a single person cross $19,000 in a calendar year, the excess has to be reported. Reporting is not the same as paying. The overage counts against your lifetime exemption, which is where most of the real tax-free capacity lives.

The $194,000 Limit for a Non-Citizen Spouse

Spouses who are both U.S. citizens can transfer any amount to each other tax-free under the unlimited marital deduction. That unlimited deduction does not apply when the receiving spouse is not a U.S. citizen.³ Instead, a higher annual exclusion takes its place: for 2026, you can give up to $194,000 to a non-citizen spouse without triggering gift tax.²

To qualify for the $194,000 amount rather than the standard $19,000, the gift has to be a “present interest,” meaning your spouse can use or benefit from it right away.⁴ Outright cash, a stock transfer, or retitled property qualifies. A future interest, like a remainder in a trust the spouse can only reach years later, does not get the higher exclusion and must be reported no matter the amount.

Gift Splitting Is Not Available

Married couples where both spouses are U.S. citizens can elect to split gifts to third parties, effectively doubling their annual exclusion. That option is not available when either spouse is a nonresident alien.⁵ Every gift you make to someone else counts fully against your exclusion alone. Couples who split gifts in prior years sometimes assume the election carries forward automatically once immigration status changes; it does not.

Unlimited Tuition and Medical Payments

Direct payments for tuition or medical care are exempt from gift tax with no dollar cap, and this exclusion stacks on top of the $19,000 annual amount.⁶ You could pay $50,000 in tuition for a non-citizen relative and still give them $19,000 in cash the same year, all tax-free.

Payments must go directly to the institution or provider. A check written to the school’s bursar qualifies. Cash handed to your nephew to pay his own tuition does not. The same rule applies to medical bills: pay the hospital or doctor directly, not the patient.⁷ Medical insurance premiums qualify when paid directly to the insurer.

Only actual tuition counts on the education side. Books, supplies, room and board, and dormitory fees do not qualify.⁷ For medical costs, the exclusion does not cover expenses the recipient’s insurance later reimburses. If insurance repays a bill you paid, the IRS treats your payment as a gift on the date the reimbursement arrives.

What Happens Above the Annual Limit

When a gift to any non-citizen exceeds the annual exclusion, the excess reduces your lifetime exemption rather than producing an immediate tax bill. For 2026, that lifetime exemption is $15 million per donor.¹

An example. You give a non-citizen friend $100,000 in 2026. The first $19,000 is covered by the annual exclusion. The remaining $81,000 counts against your $15 million lifetime exemption, reducing it to $14,919,000. You report the gift, but you owe no tax. You only write a check to the IRS once cumulative lifetime gifts exceed the full $15 million, at which point rates reach as high as 40%.¹

For most donors, the $15 million threshold means no gift tax will ever be owed. The practical task is tracking how much exemption you have used, because the same pool also covers estate tax at death. Every dollar used during life is one fewer dollar sheltering your estate.

Filing Form 709 as the Donor

Any gift that exceeds the annual exclusion has to be reported on IRS Form 709.⁸ The return is due April 15 of the year after the gift. An extension of your individual income tax return automatically extends Form 709.⁹

You will need the recipient’s full legal name and mailing address, a description of what was transferred, and its fair market value on the date of the gift.⁹ Cash is straightforward. Stock, real estate, or other non-cash assets may require a professional appraisal, and getting one is the cheapest insurance against valuation penalties later.

When the Recipient Has to File Form 3520

The rules above put reporting duties on the donor. There is a separate rule that runs the other way. A U.S. person who receives gifts totaling more than $100,000 in a year from a nonresident alien or a foreign estate must report them on Part IV of IRS Form 3520.¹⁰ Any individual gift over $5,000 inside that total has to be listed separately.

For gifts from foreign corporations or foreign partnerships, the reporting threshold is much lower, historically around $19,000 to $20,000 and adjusted annually for inflation.¹⁰ Check the current Form 3520 instructions for the 2026 figure before filing.

Form 3520 is an information return. The recipient does not owe income tax on the gift itself. But the penalty for failing to file is 5% of the gift amount per month, up to 25%.¹¹ On a $200,000 gift, that runs $10,000 a month. Many recipients have no idea the requirement exists, so if a non-citizen relative sends you a large sum, the reporting burden is yours.

Penalties for Late or Understated Filings

For Form 709, the late-filing penalty is 5% of any tax owed per month, capped at 25%, with a separate late-payment penalty of 0.5% per month on any unpaid balance, also capped at 25%.¹² Both require reasonable cause to waive, and not knowing about the filing requirement rarely qualifies.

Valuation problems add another layer. Reporting a non-cash gift at 65% or less of its actual fair market value triggers a substantial valuation understatement penalty; reporting 40% or less escalates it to a gross valuation understatement.⁵

On the recipient’s side, Form 3520 carries the 5%-per-month penalty described above. If the IRS sends a notice of noncompliance and the recipient still does not file within 90 days, additional penalties apply.¹¹ When a large cross-border gift is on the table, both parties should coordinate so donor and recipient meet their respective obligations.

1
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax
2
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 2523 – Gift to Spouse
4
eCFR. 26 CFR 25.2523(i)-1 – Disallowance of Marital Deduction When Spouse Is Not a United States Citizen
5
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 2503 – Taxable Gifts
7
eCFR. 26 CFR 25.2503-6 – Exclusion for Certain Qualified Transfer for Tuition or Medical Expenses
8
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return
10
Internal Revenue Service. Large Gifts or Bequests From Foreign Persons
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 3520
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 6651 – Failure to File Tax Return or to Pay Tax