J—Gift Splitting
A married individual is potentially in a position to double his or her use of the $17,000 for 2023 (as indexed) annual exclusion (and to have taxable gifts taxed at lower bracket rates) by arranging gifts in such a manner that half of the aggregate gift is considered as having been made by his/her spouse. A married couple is not considered a unitary transferor for gift tax purposes; thus, either spouse individually may be a transferor, and each spouse is entitled to his/her own annual per-donee exclusion. Regardless of the division of property ownership within a married couple, IRC section 2513 allows the spouses to treat a gratuitous transfer to a third party as having been made one half by each spouse (but only if at the time of the gift each spouse was a U.S. citizen or resident).
