In most cases, you don’t have to pay taxes when you receive a gift.  In Washington, when you receive a gift, the person who gave you the gift pays the taxes (I talked about the taxes that the gift giver may have to pay in my January 4th post). The one exception is when you receive a gift of a “capital asset” (real estate, stocks, etc.). You don’t pay taxes when you receive the gift, but if you sell it later, you’ll have to pay capital gains tax.