<prompt> Human: My parents are working and having no problems meeting financial obligations and have money saved for retirement. They will both be retiring within the next 2 years. They have a relatively small amount left on their home mortgage approximately 50k. I am planning on surprising them this Christmas by paying off the rest of their mortgagereasons at the bottom if it matters. I am not looking to take over or partner in anyway with the mortgage, just simply paying it off so they own it free and clear.From what I have read so far my plan is to write them each a gift check for 14k in December and do the same thing again in Jan. This should avoid me having to pay taxes if I read correctly. My questions is what kind of other tax issues should I be on the lookout for? Is that the actually best way to accomplish this? Is there a tax-free way to directly pay it off with the bank if I know the account number?I assume I will get a few questions so Ill try and pre-empt them.Why? Because my parents are awesome and have worked very hard raising myself and my siblings. My parents are not getting any younger and I want them to be able to enjoy life as stress free as possible.Do you trust them to pay off the loan with the gift? Yes, absolutely. They will balk at the thought of a child helping their parents but only superficially and will definitely use the money for the intended purpose.Shouldnt you be saving for retirement? Yes, I already am and the money being used to pay off their loan is from investments not related to retirement accounts.  <response>: Gift taxes dont ever apply until the gifter has given over 5.49 million per person. I assume this doesnt apply to you.You must report any gifts given above 14k in one calendar year per person. So even if you give all 50k to them right now, you would only have to report the 22k you gave above the annual exclusion limit, not pay taxes on it. If you want to avoid the reporting requirement, then simply do it as you said and write them each a check for 12.5k per person each in December and January. Or in whatever way you want to structure it so that both years stay below the 14k reporting limit. 