tax-law hypothetical federal-tax-law
Account worth $1 shared with 11.7 million people
<p>If I found a bank that let me have 11.8 million other (non spouse) people on it and put $1 in that account would I be liable for paying gift tax?</p>
<p>This is a &quot;reductio ad absurdum&quot; of the fact that joint accounts are considered &quot;gifts&quot; for the purposes of the gift tax.</p>

<p>Under U.S. law, each donor can give up to $15,000 per person, per year to as many people as desired gift tax free (this is called the &quot;annual exclusion&quot;).</p>
<p>So, yes you could.</p>
<p>The gift tax portion of the Internal Revenue Code is specifically designed so that <em>de minimis</em> gifts don't have to be accounted for.</p>
<p>Also, the amount of the gift for gift tax purposes if you had 11.8 million co-owners of an account would be 1/11,800,000 dollars, not $1 dollar each. While co-ownership of a joint account is a gift, it is not a gift of 100% of the value of the co-owned account to each co-owner.</p>
<p>The default rule in absence of evidence to the contrary, is that co-owners of property have equal ownership of it. Adding one joint owner to a solo account is a gift of half of the amount in the account.</p>
