Canada does not have any limits regarding receiving or gifting money.
<aside> 💡 Canada has no gift tax laws
</aside>
Unfortunately, the United States does impose taxes for gifts exceeding certain limits.
Each individual is allowed to send up to $16,000 to each recipient without any tax implications. If a gift total for a recipient surpasses this annual exclusion limit, then they must report the gift by filing a Form 709.
<aside> ⚠️ Gifts totaling over $16,000 (2023) within the same year for each recipient needs to be reported
</aside>
For gifts surpassing the annual exclusion limit, even with the reported Form 709, they can still be tax free under the lifetime exclusion limit.
For gifts above the annual exclusion limit of $16,000, the surplus amount can be counted towards a lifetime exclusion limit of $11.7 million (2021).
<aside> 💡 Individuals can gift up to $11.7 million on top of the annual exclusion limit ($16,000) tax free
</aside>
Gift exclusion flow (NerdWallet)
Based on the current lifetime exclusion limit, most Americans do not need to deal with having to pay taxes on gifts.
Conversely, even if an individual does gift enough money to reach the limit, they can expect the limitation to change in the future as it has significantly increased in the past: