2003 HTML Instructions for Form 709,

This is archived information that pertains only to the 2003 Tax Year. If you
are looking for information for the current tax year, go to the Tax Prep Help Area.

Table of Contents

For Gifts Made After	and	Before	Use Revision of Form 709 Dated
— — —		January 1, 1982	November 1981
December 31, 1981		January 1, 1987	January 1987
December 31, 1986		January 1, 1989	December 1988
December 31, 1988		January 1, 1990	December 1989
December 31, 1989		October 9, 1990	October 1990
October 8, 1990		January 1, 1992	November 1991
December 31, 1992		January 1, 1998	December 1996

Important Changes

We have substantially revised Form 709 for 2003.

We have added a new Part 3 to Schedule A. The taxable gift reconciliation is now Part 4. Use the new Part 3 to report gifts to trusts that are currently subject only to gift tax but may later be subject to generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax. These are transfers that are not direct skips (and therefore do not go in Part 2) but that could have taxable GST distributions or terminations in the future. For more information, see Part 3 — Indirect Skips on page 9.
If you have chosen to use gift splitting, Schedule A and Schedule C now require you to list individually all gifts that were made by your spouse and are being split between spouses. Previously, only the total of your spouse's gifts was reported on your return. We have deleted the lines in the Taxable Gift Reconciliation that were previously used to report the split gifts. See page 5 for information on gift splitting and page 8 for more information on how to report these gifts.
Column C in Schedule A, Parts 2 and 3, is now used to make certain elections regarding allocation of the GST exemption. See page 9 for more information.
Schedule C has a new line 5 that is used to report the allocation of GST exemption to transfers reported on Part 3 of Schedule A. The other lines have been renumbered accordingly.

Other Items To Note

The annual exclusion for gifts of present interests made to a donee during the calendar year is $11,000.
The unified credit is $345,800.
For gifts made to spouses who are not U.S. citizens, the annual exclusion has increased to $112,000. See page 3.
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) lifetime exemption has increased to $1,120,000. See page 11.
Form 709-A, United States Short Form Gift Tax Return, is obsolete. All gift tax returns must now be filed on Form 709.

Photographs of Missing Children

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Instructions for Form 709 - Introductory Material