The generation-skipping transfer tax (GSTT) is a separate federal transfer tax imposed at a flat 40% rate on transfers that skip a generation - passing wealth directly to grandchildren or more remote descendants, or to unrelated persons more than 37.5 years younger than the transferor. Without the GSTT, a wealthy family could transfer assets to a trust for multiple generations, paying transfer tax only once, while the assets compounded free of additional estate tax at each generation. The GSTT was enacted to close that gap. The exemption - $15 million per person for 2026, made permanent by OBBBA - allows most families to transfer significant wealth to grandchildren and dynasty trusts without GSTT.
GST exemption: $15,000,000 per transferor (same as the estate and gift tax exemption - they share the same unified exemption amount). Portability does not apply to the GST exemption - a surviving spouse cannot use a deceased spouse's unused GST exemption.
GST tax rate: 40% flat rate on all generation-skipping transfers, regardless of the transferor's marginal rate.
Annual exclusion: The $19,000 annual gift tax exclusion (2026) also shelters direct skips to grandchildren from GSTT if the transfer qualifies as a present interest gift.
OBBBA status: The $15 million exemption is now permanent. No sunset risk. The clawback concern (using exemption now, dying after a lower exemption) is eliminated.
Direct skip: A transfer of property directly to a skip person (a person two or more generations below the transferor, or an unrelated person more than 37.5 years younger). Example: grandparent gives $5 million directly to grandchild. The GSTT is imposed at the time of the transfer. The transferor (or the transferor's estate) pays the GSTT on direct skips.
Taxable termination: A termination of an interest in a trust when, after the termination, all remaining trust interests are held by skip persons. Example: a trust pays income to the grantor's child for life, then distributes to grandchildren at the child's death. The child's death is a taxable termination. The trust pays the GSTT from trust assets.
Taxable distribution: A distribution from a trust to a skip person that is not a direct skip and not a taxable termination. Example: a discretionary trust distributes principal to a grandchild while the grantor's child is still alive. The grandchild (or the trust) pays the GSTT on the distribution.
The most powerful use of the GST exemption is funding a dynasty trust - an irrevocable trust designed to hold assets for multiple generations without additional transfer tax. A transferor who funds a dynasty trust with $15 million of GST exemption has created a vehicle that can grow to $50 million, $100 million, or more over generations without ever triggering estate tax (if the assets are not included in beneficiaries' estates) or GSTT (if the trust was properly structured with adequate GST exemption allocated at funding).
Under IRC §2632, the GST exemption is automatically allocated to transfers that are direct skips and to transfers to GST trusts (trusts that could be subject to GSTT in the future). The automatic allocation happens without any affirmative election by the transferor. This is generally beneficial - it ensures exemption is applied to transfers that need it - but it can produce unintended results when a transferor would prefer to save exemption for a different transfer. The automatic allocation can be opted out of on a timely filed gift tax return (Form 709) for any specific transfer.
Unlike the estate and gift tax unified credit, the GST exemption is not portable between spouses. A deceased spouse's unused GST exemption cannot be transferred to the surviving spouse. This makes lifetime use of the GST exemption important for married couples - a spouse who dies with significant unused GST exemption loses that exemption permanently. Credit shelter trusts (bypass trusts) funded at the first death can be structured as GST-exempt trusts to preserve the first-to-die spouse's GST exemption for use by future generations.