ZephyTax question. Let's say I win the lottery. If I make a joint account and put money into that account, but my brother also has access to the joint account and uses it to pay for gas or bills or whatever, does that count as me giving him money (taxed on transfer), or is he just spending my money?
Laguna, pink Dadger@zephy so two things here!
The first is that you're allowed to give your brother $18,000 before any gift tax is owed. This is further compounded by the lifetime exclusion, who's number I don't recall off the top of my head but is in the millions.
Second is that its existence in a joint account isn't specifically what the IRS is looking at, their looking at the benefit. So you'll be gifting however much money your brother uses, not just has access to.
Source: Tax Badger, EA