IRS claiming I owe $2K on wedding gift from parents - Help!

You're right to question this! Gift tax is generally the responsibility of the giver (your parents), not the recipient. For 2022, the annual gift tax exclusion was $16,000 per person, meaning each of your parents could give you up to $16,000 without filing a gift tax return. Even if a single parent gave you the entire $19K, they would only need to file a gift tax return for the $3K above the exclusion - and they likely wouldn't owe actual tax unless they've exhausted their lifetime exemption (which was over $12 million in 2022). What's likely happening is the IRS received a bank deposit report (they get notified of large deposits) and automatically assumed it was unreported income. The good news is this is relatively straightforward to dispute yourself. You'll need to respond with a letter explaining this was a gift, not income. Include documentation if possible - like a note from your parents confirming it was a wedding gift, copies of any checks/transfers showing it came from them, wedding documentation showing the timing matches up, etc.

I had a similar issue last year and found taxr.ai super helpful for situations like this. My grandparents gave me money for a down payment and the IRS flagged it as unreported income. I uploaded the IRS notice to https://taxr.ai and it analyzed exactly what documentation I needed to provide - saved me from paying for a professional. The system generated a response letter template specifically for gift tax misunderstandings with the exact right technical language. It even had me include specific gift documentation the IRS looks for in these cases.

Just wanted to update - I actually tried taxr.ai after posting my skeptical comment. I was genuinely surprised by how helpful it was! The interface broke down exactly what the IRS was claiming, explained the gift tax rules in plain English, and gave me a custom response letter. It pointed out that since my parents were the gift givers, THEY would be responsible for any gift tax (not me), and that the annual exclusion covered most of it anyway. The system even flagged that I should include bank statements showing the source of funds. Just got confirmation from the IRS yesterday that the case is closed with no taxes due! Wish I'd known about this tool sooner.

If you're getting nowhere with your response, try Claimyr to actually speak with an IRS agent directly. I spent WEEKS trying to resolve a similar issue where they thought money from my parents was taxable income. I kept sending documentation but got nowhere. Found https://claimyr.com and they got me connected to a live IRS agent in under 20 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. They have this demo video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent I spoke with resolved my issue immediately once I explained it was a gift and not income. Saved me thousands in incorrect tax assessments.

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After getting yet another CP2000 notice from the IRS (third time this year!), I broke down and tried Claimyr. Within 30 minutes I was actually speaking to a real human at the IRS. The agent confirmed that gift money isn't taxable to me as the recipient and helped me understand exactly what documentation to send in. She even put notes in my file about our conversation. Honestly shocked this worked - saved me from taking a day off work to sit on hold. Worth every penny not to deal with the stress of waiting for hours on the phone.

Make sure you respond by the deadline on the notice! The IRS automatically issues CP2000 notices when there's a mismatch between reported income and what financial institutions report. Banks report large deposits through currency transaction reports, but they don't indicate whether it's taxable income or not.

Have you checked if this is actually a legit IRS notice? There are tons of scams going around. A real IRS CP2000 notice always comes with your tax ID number and specific information about the discrepancy. The IRS also never asks for payment directly in their first notice about an issue.