Hi all,
I am working in Germany and am a GCler. My brother is in US and he is sending me some money as gift. I wanted to know if I need to pay tax for such money I receive? Can anyone throw light on this?

I am getting this gift in form of check.

Thank you,
Raj Soman

Not AFAIK, I sometimes receive money from my brother from Italy and I pay nor declare anything on that.

D.

Hey,

You dont need to pay tax if it is a gift.If you are a student you can also be redeemed of tax if you declare it is for educational purposes.
But,i guess your brother has to declare it as a gift at the time of sending it so that you wont have any complications here.

wishes,
Ravi.

I recd a winter jacket from the US as a gift and was taxed by customs a flat 15 % or something..You are not taxed if something comes from EU as a gift. I do not know about money you better you check it out !!!

Regards.

"I recd a winter jacket from the US as a gift and was taxed by customs a flat 15 % or something.."

there is a difference between customs and tax authorities. customs is on the border, they can turn a shipment back - it will be then your problem to prove that they were not right. therefore they can demand a payment in any case when they want it and you can try to get your money back later. if it's a jacket you most surely will not succeed in such case because the courts of law can turn your claim down even if you are right when it's worth - for example - something like 30 USD.

In Germany, the good thing is that customs normally lets the shipment cross the border (talk about "nasty Germans" ) and then sends you an invoice - so that you can claim and pay nothing

tax authorities in any case do not have such a possibility that customs does. if you are employed, your employer pays taxes, if you are self-employed - the taxes are calculated on the basis of your last years' declaration. any differences are calculated when the year - in terms of accounting - is closed; so they can not demand from you "here and now or ..." like customs can

Hi all,
Thank you very much for replies...He is sending me that money as a "gift" and now I am not worried so as to pay tax on it

Thanks,
Raj

Hi,
thanks for the info !!! never knew about all this. But surprisingly I got a custom bill after one month and that also from the courier service provider. I did pay the bill but felt that atleast I should have been informed before hand about the applicable custom duty !!!

Amol.