Tax implications of large donations to my GoFundMe - passing extra money to other campaigns

You're generally on the right track regarding the tax treatment here. When people donate to your GoFundMe, those are considered personal gifts to you, not taxable income. The person making the gift might have gift tax implications if they give over $18,000 to an individual in 2025, but that's their concern, not yours as the recipient. When you then pass those funds along to other GoFundMe campaigns, you are essentially making gifts to those individuals. If you give any single person more than $18,000 in 2025, you'd need to file Form 709 (Gift Tax Return). This doesn't necessarily mean you'll owe gift taxes though - you'd just be using a portion of your lifetime gift tax exemption, which is quite substantial ($13.61 million in 2025). One thing to consider is how you're transferring these funds. If you're making the donations directly through GoFundMe to other campaigns, there's a clear paper trail. Keep documentation of all these transactions for your records.

After struggling with a similar situation last year, I discovered this amazing service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that was super helpful for sorting out these exact kinds of gift tax questions. I had run a community fundraiser and wasn't sure about the tax implications of redistributing the funds. I uploaded my GoFundMe statements and they analyzed everything, explained what counted as gifts versus income, and gave me personalized guidance about what forms I needed to file. Their system even detected that some of my "redistributed" funds could potentially be categorized differently depending on how I structured them, which saved me a lot of headaches.

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai - I finally tried it after seeing the recommendation here. Seriously, what a relief! I uploaded my GoFundMe statements, bank transfers, and the descriptions of my campaigns. Their system flagged exactly how to handle the "pass-through" donations where I received funds and then redirected them to other campaigns. The analysis showed I was under the annual gift exclusion limits so I don't need to file anything special, but they also provided documentation to keep with my tax records just in case. They even identified that two of my donations could be categorized as qualified medical expenses rather than gifts, which has different tax implications. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a similar situation!

After seeing this thread, I wanted to share something that really helped me with a similar situation. When I needed to contact the IRS about gift tax questions for a charity fundraiser, I kept hitting a wall trying to get through to an actual person. I wasted literally DAYS on hold. Then I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real IRS agent in under 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically navigate the IRS phone system and wait on hold for you, then call you when they've got an agent on the line. I got specific guidance directly from the IRS about my GoFundMe redistribution situation. The agent walked me through exactly what documentation I needed to keep and confirmed I was handling the funds correctly. Saved me tons of stress!

I have to come back and apologize for being so skeptical about Claimyr. I was seriously doubtful this would work, but I was desperate to get clarification on my GoFundMe situation before filing my taxes. So I gave it a shot, and wow - it actually worked exactly as described. I put in my number, and about 45 minutes later got a call connecting me directly to an IRS agent. The agent confirmed that in my case, since I was passing along funds exactly as described in my original GoFundMe campaign, I should document everything clearly but wouldn't need to file gift tax returns as long as I stayed under the $18,000 per-person threshold. They also explained exactly what records I need to keep. Saved me from the 3+ hour hold times I dealt with earlier this tax season!

Something important to consider that nobody's mentioned yet - how you WORDED your original GoFundMe campaign matters a lot for tax purposes. If you clearly stated upfront that excess funds would go to other campaigns, you could potentially argue you're acting as a conduit rather than receiving and then making new gifts. I'd recommend printing and saving screenshots of your original campaign wording, all donations received, and documentation of where the excess funds went. The IRS looks at intent, and having clear documentation that this was always your stated plan helps your case.

Has anyone here actually reported their GoFundMe on their taxes? I ran one last year and got about $12k, used it all for my medical bills, and honestly didn't report anything. Did I screw up??

This is a really thoughtful way to handle the excess funds, Sean! One additional consideration I'd mention is timing - if you're planning to redistribute the $9,000 before the end of this tax year, make sure to space out your donations if you're concerned about hitting the $18,000 annual exclusion limit per recipient. Also, since you mentioned tax season is coming up, keep detailed records of everything: your original GoFundMe description, all incoming donations with dates and amounts, your medical expenses, and then all outgoing transfers to other campaigns. The IRS loves documentation, and having a clear paper trail will make everything much smoother if you ever need to explain the transactions. One last tip - consider reaching out to the recipients of your donations to let them know the funds are coming from your redistributed GoFundMe rather than directly from you personally. This can help establish that you're fulfilling your original campaign promise rather than making independent personal gifts, which could support the "conduit" argument Carmen mentioned above.