Gift Tax Overview

A gift tax can be imposed on a transaction involving some kind of gratuity being given to a recipient, as can come in such various forms as physical items, financial products, or other kinds of assets given as a gift, as may be either tangible or intangible. As such, the person who is giving the gift will most often be faced with the particular gift taxes in effect for a jurisdiction.

The judgment that the transfer of a property asset was gratuitous, and as such constitutes a gift and comes under the coverage of gift taxes, is made according the absence of any form of compensation having been offered in return for the asset involved. Gift taxes can also be potentially imposed when a gift is considered to have been gratuitous in part, due to involving some form of compensation being offered to the donor, but one which is sufficiently less than the asset’s value.

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