How much can I give my non-citizen spouse tax free in 2026?
For 2026 you can give a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen up to $194,000 free of gift tax and without filing a return (IRC § 2523(i)(2); Rev. Proc. 2025-32). The amount was $190,000 for 2025 (Rev. Proc. 2024-40) and is $201,000 for 2027 (Rev. Proc. 2026-35). It covers gifts of a present interest that would have qualified for the marital deduction if your spouse were a citizen.
A gift above the limit is not taxed on the spot. The excess is a taxable gift that must be reported on Form 709, and it uses part of the giver’s lifetime exemption. Gift tax is payable only once cumulative taxable gifts exceed that exemption.
Why the marital deduction does not apply
A gift to a spouse is ordinarily deductible in full in computing taxable gifts (§ 2523(a)). That is the unlimited marital deduction. Section 2523(i)(1) removes it when the spouse receiving the gift is not a citizen of the United States.
Three points about the test, each from Treas. Reg. § 25.2523(i)-1:
- Citizenship, not residency. A spouse who lives in the United States as a permanent resident is still a non-citizen for this rule.
- The recipient’s status, not the giver’s. If the spouse receiving the gift is a citizen, the marital deduction is allowed whether or not the giver is a citizen or resident. If the recipient is not a citizen, the enlarged exclusion is available whatever the giver’s status.
- Status at the time of the gift. In the regulation’s example, a spouse who is naturalized a few weeks after receiving a gift was still a non-citizen when the transfer was made, so no marital deduction is allowed for it.
What counts toward the limit
The statute works by substitution. For gifts to a non-citizen spouse that would be deductible but for the citizenship rule, it applies the ordinary annual exclusion of IRC § 2503(b) with $100,000 in place of $10,000. Both base figures are adjusted for inflation, which is how the limit reached $194,000 for 2026. Two conditions follow from the wording.
- The gift must be a present interest. The enlarged exclusion is still the annual exclusion, so it reaches only gifts the spouse can use or enjoy immediately. An outright gift of cash or securities qualifies. The annual-exclusion page explains the present-interest rule.
- The gift must be in a form that would qualify for the marital deduction. For gifts made after June 29, 1989, the amount above the ordinary exclusion counts only if the transfer would have been deductible had the spouse been a citizen.
The regulation illustrates the second condition with two trusts. A trust that pays the spouse all income and gives the spouse a general power to appoint the principal at death qualifies, so the value of the spouse’s income interest can be excluded up to the enlarged limit. A trust that pays the spouse income for life with the remainder to a child does not. It would have needed a QTIP election to qualify for the marital deduction, and that election is not available when the spouse is a non-citizen. Only the ordinary exclusion applies to it.
One exception sits outside the limit altogether. The citizenship rule does not apply to a transfer that results from the spouse acquiring rights under a joint and survivor annuity described in § 2523(f)(6), such as a survivor benefit elected at retirement.
The limit by year
The limit that applies is the one for the calendar year in which the gift is made. Each figure below comes from the IRS revenue procedure that announced the inflation adjustments for that year. The table begins with 2010.
| Calendar year of gift | Annual exclusion, non-citizen spouse | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | $201,000 | Rev. Proc. 2026-35 |
| 2026 | $194,000 | Rev. Proc. 2025-32 |
| 2025 | $190,000 | Rev. Proc. 2024-40 |
| 2024 | $185,000 | Rev. Proc. 2023-34 |
| 2023 | $175,000 | Rev. Proc. 2022-38 |
| 2022 | $164,000 | Rev. Proc. 2021-45 |
| 2021 | $159,000 | Rev. Proc. 2020-45 |
| 2020 | $157,000 | Rev. Proc. 2019-44 |
| 2019 | $155,000 | Rev. Proc. 2018-57 |
| 2018 | $152,000 | Rev. Proc. 2017-58 |
| 2017 | $149,000 | Rev. Proc. 2016-55 |
| 2016 | $148,000 | Rev. Proc. 2015-53 |
| 2015 | $147,000 | Rev. Proc. 2014-61 |
| 2014 | $145,000 | Rev. Proc. 2013-35 |
| 2013 | $143,000 | Rev. Proc. 2012-41 (I.R.B. 2012-45) |
| 2012 | $139,000 | Rev. Proc. 2011-52 |
| 2011 | $136,000 | Rev. Proc. 2010-40 |
| 2010 | $134,000 | Rev. Proc. 2009-50 |
The ordinary exclusion often holds flat for several years because it moves only in $1,000 steps from a $10,000 base. The non-citizen spouse figure is rounded the same way but starts from $100,000, so the same inflation moves it sooner; it rose in every year shown. The history of the ordinary exclusion is on the exclusion-by-year page.
Joint property with a non-citizen spouse
Putting property in joint names is a common way for one spouse to make a gift to the other without thinking of it as one. When the spouse receiving the interest is a non-citizen, § 2523(i)(3) applies special rules, spelled out in Treas. Reg. § 25.2523(i)-2.
- Real property. Creating a tenancy by the entirety or a joint tenancy with right of survivorship between spouses on or after July 14, 1988 is not treated as a gift, whatever share of the price each spouse paid. A gift can arise when the tenancy ends other than by a death, for example on a sale. A spouse makes a gift to the extent that his or her share of the proceeds, measured by the share of the cost he or she furnished, exceeds what he or she actually receives.
- Personal property. When spouses create a joint interest with right of survivorship in personal property, each is generally treated as keeping one-half of its value for the purpose of deciding whether a gift was made to the non-citizen spouse.
The regulation gives an example for real property. One spouse furnishes $200,000 and the other, a resident non-citizen, furnishes $50,000 toward real property held as tenants by the entirety. It later sells for $300,000, and the first spouse takes $225,000 of the proceeds. Having furnished four-fifths of the cost, that spouse’s share of the proceeds is $240,000, so the sale results in a gift of $15,000 to the other spouse. Transfers of real estate generally are covered on the gifting real estate page.
Form 709 and gift-splitting
Under the Instructions for Form 709, a gift-tax return is required for a year in which present-interest gifts to a non-citizen spouse total more than that year’s limit, or in which any gift to that spouse is a future interest. Below the limit, and with only present interests, no return is needed for those gifts.
Gift-splitting is a separate question. It applies to gifts to third parties, not to gifts between the spouses, and it is available only if each spouse is a citizen or resident of the United States at the time of the gift (IRC § 2513(a)(1)). A non-citizen spouse who is a U.S. resident can therefore consent to split gifts made to children or others. A spouse who is neither a citizen nor a resident cannot. See gift-splitting.
A giver who is neither a U.S. citizen nor domiciled in the United States is under a different regime. The gift tax reaches that person’s gifts of real and tangible property located in the United States, reported on Form 709-NA; the IRS instructions describe who must file.
The estate-tax parallel
The same rule applies at death. Property passing to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen does not qualify for the estate-tax marital deduction (IRC § 2056(d)), with two exceptions in the statute:
- A qualified domestic trust (QDOT). The deduction is allowed for property that passes to the spouse in a trust that meets IRC § 2056A. At least one trustee must be a U.S. citizen or a domestic corporation with the right to withhold tax from distributions of principal, and the executor must elect QDOT treatment. Estate tax is then imposed on distributions of principal during the spouse’s life, other than hardship distributions, and on what remains at the spouse’s death. Income distributions are not taxed this way.
- The spouse becomes a citizen. The disallowance does not apply if the surviving spouse becomes a U.S. citizen before the estate-tax return is filed and was a U.S. resident at all times after the death.
Sources
Methodology & sources
Primary sources are cited in place: IRC §§ 2523(a) and (i), 2503(b), 2513(a), 2056(d), and 2056A (U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel); Treas. Reg. §§ 25.2523(i)-1 and 25.2523(i)-2 (eCFR); and the IRS Instructions for Form 709 (2025 revision). Each dollar figure in the table is from the revenue procedure named in its row. The table starts at 2010; earlier years are not listed here. See our editorial standards.
This information is educational and is not legal or tax advice. Planning for a couple with a non-citizen spouse depends on citizenship, residency, and domicile facts that this page cannot assess; confirm the details with a qualified professional.
Last verified November 13, 2026.