Taxation of Estates and Gifts

Skip Person


A skip person is an individual two or more generations below the the transferor. 26 U.S.C. § 2613(a)(1).

  • If someone is not a descendent of the transferor's grandparents, he is assigned two generations below the transferor if he was born more than 37½ years after the transferor was. 26 U.S.C. § 2651(d).
    • However, if one has been married at any time to the transferor or a non-skip relative of the transferor, he is assigned the same generation as the transferor and is not a skip person. 26 U.S.C. § 2651(c).
    • Or if one is the descendant of a transferor's spouse's or former spouse's grandparents, he is not a skip person if he is not two generations or more below the spouse. 26 U.S.C. § 2651(c).

A trust also counts as a skip person if all interests are held by skip people. 26 U.S.C. § 2613(a)(2).

Entities are treated as being owned by the individuals owning them. 26 U.S.C. § 2651(f)(2).

Interest

A skip person has an interest in a trust if he can receive current distributions of income or principal. 26 U.S.C. § 2612(c).

This is different that what is a "present interest" for annual exclusion purposes.