<prompt> Human: My dad owned a business for 30 years selling used cars and real estate. Hes 75 now and wants to offload his assets and distribute them to us now. Hes always been very secretive on all his investments even to us and even now. The 600K that he wants to distribute to us would be in cash which he keeps in a safe. Ill receive about 300K soon. I want to invest this money in stocks and bonds. However, these funds came from my dads vault, which may have come from unreported money. Just how legitimate or illegitimate is this money, I dont know. But I do know that his business has been audited by the state on more than one occasion, and the auditors discovered that hes clean in his business dealings. However Im concerned about the following, and I need your help: I want to legitimize this money and pay taxes on it so that I can invest it in stocks and bonds. Whats the tax efficient way for my dad to give us this money? Im familiar with the 15,00year gift exemptions. Ive never owned a home before. Could I use the funds to tax efficiently buy my first home?  <response>: You should consider talking to a CPA...But as I understand it, he needs to fill out a gift tax form, no tax will be owed because he has 5m lifetime limit before taxes are owed, and Im guessing he hasnt already given away almost 5m.You dont owe taxes either. Its a gift, not wages. :You should be able to buy a house though you should have a letter maybe notarized from your dad to you that explains the gift and that there are no strings attached.Congratulations!Edit: as for your mom... is he married to her? If so then its a non-event, if not, probably another gift tax form to fill out. 