In 2024 the Annual Gift exclusion increases to $18,000 per done, so mom and dad can give $36,000 to a child to buy their first home with no gift tax consequences.
Also it has no impact on your lifetime estate and gift tax exemption or filing a gift tax return.
Annual gifts over the exclusion amount will trigger filing of a gift tax return for 2024, but no gift tax will be due unless your total lifetime gifts exceed $13,610,000.
Also, most tax-free gifts you make now won’t trigger post-2025 estate tax bills. Estates use the higher lifetime exemption for gifts to calculate post-2025 estate taxes.
So, many people who made or make big gifts from 2018 through 2025 won’t lose out on the benefit of the larger exemption amount if it drops back down in 2026