Federal Annual Exclusion: $19,000 per Person

In 2026, you can give $19,000 to as many people as you want without reporting anything to the IRS. Married couples who split gifts can give $38,000 per recipient. You don’t need to file Form 709 unless a single recipient gets more than $19,000 from you in one calendar year.

Anything above the annual exclusion reduces your federal lifetime gift and estate tax exemption, which sits at roughly $13.61 million per person for 2026. Most Miami residents won’t come close to that number, but for high-net-worth families in Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, and Miami Beach, it matters.

Florida’s Triple Advantage for Gift Planning

No state gift tax means you keep the full benefit of the federal annual exclusion without any state-level haircut. Compare that with New York, where gifts made within three years of death get clawed back into the state taxable estate. Florida doesn’t do that.

No state estate tax means the assets you give away today won’t face state-level taxation when you die, either. The federal estate tax still applies if your estate exceeds the $13.61 million exemption, but Florida itself takes nothing. Twelve states plus D.C. impose their own estate taxes with much lower thresholds. Florida isn’t one of them.

No state income tax means gifting appreciated assets carries one less layer of tax for the recipient. When your daughter sells the stock you gave her, she’ll owe federal capital gains tax on the appreciation, but no Florida income tax on the gain. In California, that same sale would cost an extra 13.3% in state tax. In New York, add up to 10.9% state plus 3.876% city tax. Florida’s zero makes a real difference on large appreciated gifts.

Why People Move to Miami for Estate Planning

It’s not a secret. Florida’s tax-friendly environment attracts wealthy individuals from New York, California, New Jersey, and Connecticut specifically because of the estate and gift tax advantages. Establishing genuine Florida domicile before making large gifts or dying eliminates state estate tax exposure entirely.

But the IRS and other states will challenge your residency if you’re splitting time. New York in particular audits former residents aggressively. You need to actually live in Miami, not just own a condo here. That means Florida driver’s license, Florida voter registration, Florida bank accounts, and spending more than 183 days a year in the state. Half-measures invite audits from the state you left.

Gifting Strategies for Miami Families

Real estate gifting in Miami-Dade County works differently than in states with property tax reassessment triggers. Florida’s Save Our Homes cap limits annual assessment increases to 3% for homesteaded property. Gifting a homesteaded property to a non-spouse can reset the assessment to market value, which in a market like Miami could triple the property tax bill overnight.

For investment properties and condos without homestead, there’s no assessment cap to lose. Gifting those properties during life can make sense, especially if the property is in an LLC and you’re transferring membership interests rather than the real estate itself, which avoids documentary stamp tax.

• Annual exclusion gifts — $19,000 per person, $38,000 if married, no reporting if you stay under the limit
• Direct tuition payments — pay the University of Miami or any school directly, unlimited and doesn’t count as a gift
• Direct medical payments — same rule, pay the provider directly for unlimited gift-free transfers
• 529 superfunding — contribute $95,000 per beneficiary in one year, spread over five tax years
• Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT) — transfer your Miami home at a discounted value while continuing to live there

The Lifetime Exemption and 2026 Sunset

The $13.61 million lifetime exemption is historically high, and it’s scheduled to drop roughly in half after 2025 unless Congress acts. For Miami families with estates in the $7 million to $14 million range, making large gifts while the higher exemption is available could save millions in future estate taxes.

The IRS confirmed in final regulations that it won’t penalize taxpayers who used the higher exemption. If you give away $10 million in 2026 and the exemption drops to $7 million in 2027, the IRS won’t come after the extra $3 million. That’s a one-way door, and walking through it before it closes is something every high-net-worth Miami resident should discuss with their CPA and estate attorney.