Documenting a small gift

My Mum wants to gift me, my wife, and our 2 young kids €3,000 each. My wife and I obviously have our own bank accounts and I have credit union accounts for the kids. My Mum is elderly and, for convenience, just transferred €12,000 to me. I was planning to simply transfer €3,000 each to my wife’s bank account and my kids’ credit unions account. I’m conscious that, from a Revenue perspective, it could look like my Mum simply gifting €12,000 to me (higher than the small gift exemption) and me gifting €3,000 to the others.

My question is - do we need to document my Mum’s arrangement in some way? Would a simple letter, signed by my Mum and kept on file at home, suffice, in case it was ever queried? Basically a letter that says something like: “I hereby transfer €12,000 to you, which is intended as a gift of €3,000 to you and €3,000 to each of your wife and your two children Y and Z”.

Thanks.

Yes, a simple letter will do it, or even a card. It doesn't have to be formally worded. "Dear INYWIFNW — Here's €12,000. It's a gift for you and Esmerelda, and little Crimplene and Dralon. Love, Mum". Make sure it's dated, and the date matches the date of the cheque/payment to you.

TomEdison said:

Yes, a simple letter will do it, or even a card. It doesn't have to be formally worded. "Dear INYWIFNW — Here's €12,000. It's a gift for you and Esmerelda, and little Crimplene and Dralon. Love, Mum". Make sure it's dated, and the date matches the date of the cheque/payment to you.

Click to expand...

Great - thanks, TomEdison.

It is well documented from cases, that the Revenue are looking for records of the transactions. Once it is recorded, they are fine.

One of the life companies only has space for one third party payor on their form. We simply have a note on file to say that the money being paid into this account for the child is coming from both parents.

In the OP case, it is very unlikely that the Revenue are going to come after cases of €12,000 but having a simple note on file, signed by the giftor is fine.

Thanks Steven.