601 / If a person who is covered under an individual retirement plan contributes to a similar plan covering his or her non-employed spouse, are such contributions considered gifts?

These contributions generally qualify for the marital deduction, however, and do not require the filing of a gift tax return. There should be no question that an individual’s contributions to a spousal IRA would qualify for the marital deduction, so long as the donee spouse is the one who names a beneficiary to receive account proceeds remaining at that spouse’s death.

If the donor spouse (i.e., the contributing individual) designates a beneficiary, the donee spouse’s interest in the IRA would be a nondeductible terminable interest and the marital deduction would not be allowed, except in the case of certain joint and survivor annuities ( Q 619).