Those who do not deal with tax laws and Medicaid rules on a regular basis usually have a misunderstanding on gifting rules, because the tax laws and Medicaid rules are totally different. Gift tax laws as of 2022 state that gifts up to $16,000 per person per year do not count as a taxable gift. If a parent gives $17,000 in one year to a child, the gift has exceeded the $16,000 limit by $1,000, and in theory theory the $1000 is countable as a gift. But the gift and inheritance tax law Connecticut has an overall $7.1 million lifetime exception. That means the excess gift of $1,000 will be subtracted from the persons $7.1 million lifetime exemption and should bring a smile to almost everyone reading this, because very few people gave more than $7.1 million in assets. In short, there is no tax on that gift unless the total of countable lifetime gifts and transfers after death exceed $7.1 million.