I have a question about what’s the maximum contribution for 529 for a particular situation. We have a 529 account for our adult child who is in college(undergrad). If the max parent contribution is 20k(filing jointly), but the child has also earned money from investments and is filing taxes separately, can she contribute another 10k ?
There is no “max parent contribution” or student/beneficiary “max contribution.” Each plan/state will have an overall max account amount, meaning that once the account balance has reached a certain amount, no further contributions will be accepted (but any earnings will still be credited to the account). This is generally a very generous amount that exceeds the amount that the most expensive school in the state will cost over four years (for example, $500,000). Any person at any time would be able to open a 529 account and make a single contribution that maxes out the account.
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There are also often maximums for state tax deductibility and gift tax exemptions.
Your student can open their own 529, unless he/she is OK putting it in your account, in which case he/she has surrendered control to you.
For 99.99% of the population, exceeding the current $15,000 annual gift tax exclusion will mean completing and filing IRS Form 709, without the payment of any tax. It’s an administrative requirement for tracking the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption, which is currently over $11 million. Who knows what future legislation might do to change this number, but I think it’s unlikely that a gift made under today’s rules would be retroactively applied to any smaller lifetime exemption.
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Yes, that was my question. We can only deduct up to 20K. We own the account, but she is the beneficiary. It looks like she can also contribute to the account and deduct from her taxes. Thanks everyone.