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My husband and I got married in January 2014. He is from Australia and works from home as a web designer for clients who are all abroad. He received his green card in April 2014. All of his income is paid in Australian Dollars and wired to his Australian account, with the exception of $3,500 that he's earned in USD from US clients while here.

Over the course of the year, he has wired me approximately $48,000 to help cover our rent and living expenses. If I say this is a gift, do I have to report it? Some of this money wasn't even earned in 2014 while he was living here. I am under the impression that he should owe tax for this in Australia, not in the US.

Also, I received about $5,000 in cash gifts from my relatives when I got married. Do I need to report this to the IRS?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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    I assume that you a US citizen? As a permanent immigrant in the US as of 2014, your husband must pay income tax on world-wide income during 2014 to the IRS, but can get credit for taxes paid to Australia. Tax treaties, if any, between the US and Australia might affect matters too. With regard to gifts, you do not report them as income anywhere on your income tax return, and you don't pay any taxes on them. If any gift tax is to be paid, it falls on the donor, not the recipient. Also, in general, gifts between spouses are not taxed at all; it is called the unlimited marital exemption.
    – Dilip Sarwate
    Jan 27, 2015 at 20:14
  • The only thing I'd wonder is whether this would need to be reported in some fashion, since it's effectively his money the whole time (since you're married); since you need to report to the IRS when you bring money into the country, would this be in the same kind? Not necessarily needing to be taxed, just reported.
    – Joe
    Jan 27, 2015 at 20:17

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You do not need to report gifts from US residents (US citizens/green card holders/tax residents due to length of stay) since filing gift tax return is their responsibility.

In case of foreigners you need to report gifts in excess of $100K.

In any case, transfers between spouses are exempt from gift tax.

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