Planning · Wealth Transfer & Gifting

The Annual Gift-Tax Exclusion by Year

The annual gift-tax exclusion is set by statute and adjusted for inflation in $1,000 steps.

Written by TTA Editorial

Last verified November 13, 2026 · Update policy: reviewed at least annually and on change in law; statutory tables re-verified each legislative session

What was the gift tax exclusion in past years?

The annual exclusion per recipient was $19,000 for 2025 and 2026, $18,000 for 2024, $17,000 for 2023, $16,000 for 2022, and $15,000 for each of 2018 through 2021 (IRC § 2503(b); IRS gift-tax FAQ). For 2027 it is $20,000 (Rev. Proc. 2026-35). The table below gives every year back to 1999 individually, the statutory amounts for 1955 through 1998, and the 1932 figure; 1933 through 1954 is not verified here.

The annual exclusion by year

Each amount applies to gifts made during that calendar year. From 1999 on, the authority is the IRS revenue procedure that announced the inflation-adjusted figure for the year. From 1955 through 1998 the amount was fixed in the statute itself.

Calendar year of gift	Annual exclusion per recipient	Authority
2027	$20,000	Rev. Proc. 2026-35
2026	$19,000	Rev. Proc. 2025-32
2025	$19,000	Rev. Proc. 2024-40
2024	$18,000	Rev. Proc. 2023-34
2023	$17,000	Rev. Proc. 2022-38
2022	$16,000	Rev. Proc. 2021-45
2021	$15,000	Rev. Proc. 2020-45
2020	$15,000	Rev. Proc. 2019-44
2019	$15,000	Rev. Proc. 2018-57
2018	$15,000	Rev. Proc. 2017-58
2017	$14,000	Rev. Proc. 2016-55
2016	$14,000	Rev. Proc. 2015-53
2015	$14,000	Rev. Proc. 2014-61
2014	$14,000	Rev. Proc. 2013-35
2013	$14,000	Rev. Proc. 2012-41 (I.R.B. 2012-45)
2012	$13,000	Rev. Proc. 2011-52
2011	$13,000	Rev. Proc. 2010-40
2010	$13,000	Rev. Proc. 2009-50
2009	$13,000	Rev. Proc. 2008-66
2008	$12,000	Rev. Proc. 2007-66
2007	$12,000	Rev. Proc. 2006-53
2006	$12,000	Rev. Proc. 2005-70
2005	$11,000	Rev. Proc. 2004-71
2004	$11,000	Rev. Proc. 2003-85
2003	$11,000	Rev. Proc. 2002-70
2002	$11,000	Rev. Proc. 2001-59
2001	$10,000	Rev. Proc. 2001-13
2000	$10,000	Rev. Proc. 99-42
1999	$10,000	Rev. Proc. 98-61
1982–1998	$10,000	IRC § 2503(b), as amended by Pub. L. 97-34, § 441 (transfers after Dec. 31, 1981)
1955–1981	$3,000	IRC § 2503(b) as enacted in 1954 (amendment notes to § 2503)
1933–1954	Not verified here	Not verified here
1932 (as enacted)	$5,000	IRS Statistics of Income, The Estate Tax: Ninety Years and Counting

The IRS publishes its own table for 2011 through 2026 in its frequently asked questions on gift taxes. A row marked “Not verified here” has no amount on this page. It does not mean there was no exclusion.

The amounts set by statute

For most of its history the exclusion was a fixed dollar amount written into the law.

$5,000 in 1932. The gift tax became a permanent part of the federal system in the Revenue Act of 1932, which allowed a $5,000 annual exclusion per recipient, according to the IRS Statistics of Income history of the estate tax.
$3,000 from 1955 through 1981. Section 2503(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 excluded the first $3,000 of gifts to any person in calendar year 1955 and later years. The amount stayed at $3,000 when the gift tax was computed quarterly from 1971 through 1981. Whether the same amount applied before 1955 is not verified here.
$10,000 from 1982. The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (Pub. L. 97-34, § 441) replaced $3,000 with $10,000 for transfers after December 31, 1981. The same section added the separate unlimited exclusion for tuition and medical payments made directly, now § 2503(e).

The amendment notes to § 2503 record the 1954, 1970, and 1981 versions of the text. The period between 1932 and 1955 falls under earlier revenue acts and the 1939 Code, which those notes do not reproduce, so 1933 through 1954 is not verified here.

How the inflation adjustment works

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105-34, § 501) added § 2503(b)(2), which indexes the $10,000 amount for gifts made in calendar years after 1998. The statute still reads $10,000. Each year’s figure is computed from that base in two steps.

Multiply by the cost-of-living adjustment. The $10,000 is increased by $10,000 times the cost-of-living adjustment under IRC § 1(f)(3) for the year, measured from calendar year 1997 as the base year. That adjustment is the percentage by which the price index for the preceding calendar year exceeds the base-year index. Since a 2017 amendment it uses the chained consumer price index (C-CPI-U).
Round down to $1,000. If the result is not a multiple of $1,000, it is rounded to the next lowest multiple of $1,000.

The IRS does the computation and publishes the result, usually each fall, in a revenue procedure covering the next calendar year.

Why the figure holds flat

Rounding down is the reason. A $1,000 step is one-tenth of the $10,000 base, so the published figure moves only when cumulative inflation since 1997 crosses another ten percentage points. Until it does, the unrounded amount rises each year and the rounded amount does not.

The table shows the pattern. The exclusion stayed at $10,000 for the first three indexed years, 1999 through 2001. It then held at $11,000 for four years, $12,000 for three, $13,000 for four, $14,000 for five, and $15,000 for four. It rose in each of the four years from 2022 through 2025, stayed at $19,000 for 2026, and rises to $20,000 for 2027.

What rounding down means: the exclusion never runs ahead of the statutory inflation measure and usually lags it slightly. A year with no increase is a year in which the adjustment had not yet reached the next $1,000.

Which year’s amount applies

The exclusion is applied by calendar year and by recipient. The amount for a gift is the amount in effect for the year in which the gift is made, and gifts to the same person during one year are added together. An unused exclusion does not carry forward to a later year; § 2503(b) excludes the first dollars of gifts “during the calendar year” and nothing more.

In every year the exclusion has covered only gifts of a present interest. What that means, and how spouses can combine their exclusions, is on the annual-exclusion page and the gift-splitting page. A gift above the year’s amount is reported on Form 709 for that year, using that year’s form, and counts against the lifetime exemption.

The five-year election for a 529 contribution is available when the contribution exceeds the exclusion for the year in which it is made (IRC § 529(c)(2)(B)).

The non-citizen-spouse exclusion

Gifts to a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen have a separate, larger annual exclusion under IRC § 2523(i)(2). It is $194,000 for 2026 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) and $201,000 for 2027 (Rev. Proc. 2026-35). It is indexed and rounded the same way from a $100,000 base, so it has changed far more often than the ordinary exclusion. Its year-by-year table is on the non-citizen spouse page.

Sources

Methodology & sources

Each row with an amount names its authority. The amounts for 1999 through 2027 are from the IRS revenue procedure for that year. The $10,000 and $3,000 statutory amounts and their effective dates are from IRC § 2503(b) and its amendment notes (U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel). The inflation rule is § 2503(b)(2) with § 1(f)(3); the five-year 529 rule is § 529(c)(2)(B). The 1932 amount is from an IRS Statistics of Income publication, which is an official history and not the statute. The 1933 through 1954 row has no amount on this page. See our editorial standards.

This information is educational and is not legal or tax advice. For a return covering a past year, confirm the amount against that year’s Form 709 instructions or with a qualified tax professional.

Last verified November 13, 2026.

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