Money Gifts to Children: When a Bank Transfer Is Enough and When a Notary Is Needed

Helping children and grandchildren is a natural choice; doing so without distinguishing between gifts, loans and simple delegations can create tax problems and family disputes. The new rules do not remove the need to structure the transfer properly.

The simplicity of a bank transfer can hide a problem

A helping hand to buy a first home, launch a business or face a major expense: in Italian families, the transfer of money between parents, children and grandchildren is a common practice, often handled with the same ease as an ordinary payment. After all, a bank transfer is immediate, traceable and seemingly reassuring. But documenting the movement of the funds does not mean every issue has been resolved: one must understand whether the transfer is a gift, a loan to be repaid, the fulfilment of a family obligation or payment for a purchase made for the beneficiary’s benefit. These are transactions that may produce similar economic outcomes, but they follow different rules. The difficulty often emerges years later, when relationships change, a succession opens or someone challenges what initially looked like a simple gesture of generosity.

When a notary is needed and what “modest value” means

For a direct gift of money of non-modest value, civil law requires a public deed, with the involvement of a notary and two witnesses. The bank transfer serves to carry out the transaction, but it does not replace the form required to make it valid. A precise payment reference and a private agreement may document the parties’ intention; by themselves, they cannot cure the absence of the public deed when one is required. The distinction was reaffirmed by the Notariato also when commenting on the tax ruling of the Cassazione, no. 7442 of 20 March 2024: the tax treatment of a bank transfer and the civil validity of a gift answer different questions. A transfer may therefore have tax relevance and, at the same time, raise a validity issue in the relationship between the parties.

The exception concerns gifts of movable property of modest value, which are valid even without a public deed, provided the item is delivered. There is, however, no universal threshold below which any transfer of money automatically becomes safe: value must also be assessed in relation to the donor’s financial circumstances. An amount that is manageable for someone with substantial assets may significantly affect a pensioner’s savings. Nor does the operational limit allowed by the banking app provide a legal indication: the technical ability to make a bank transfer of a certain amount does not show that the amount is modest. For parents and grandparents, the correct question therefore concerns the actual impact of the gift on their assets, as well as the sum transferred.

The tax changes from 2025: be careful not to confuse exemption and validity

Legislative Decree No. 139 of 18 September 2024 updated the rules on inheritance and gift tax, with provisions applicable from 1 January 2025. For transfers in favour of a spouse and relatives in the direct line, therefore also between parents and children or between grandparents and grandchildren, the ordinary rate remains 4% on the portion exceeding the €1 million exemption per beneficiary. For brothers and sisters the rate is 6% above €100,000; for other relatives and affines identified by law it is 6% without that exemption, while for all other subjects the ordinary rate is 8%. The rules also provide for a specific exemption for beneficiaries with severe disability recognised under Law No. 104/1992.

The exemption, however, is not an amount that can be gifted afresh every year starting from zero: one must check previous relevant gifts made by the same donor to the same beneficiary. Two parents are two separate donors, but the transfers made over time by each of them require a consistent reconstruction. Above all, being below the tax threshold does not mean you can do without a notary: the absence of proportional tax on gifts is not the same thing as the absence of the required formalities. Giving a son or daughter a substantial sum may not trigger that tax, thanks to the available exemption, and may still require a public deed. It is this overlap between tax and civil rules that generates many of the most costly misunderstandings.

Informal bank transfers are not all automatically exempt

The reform also updated Article 56-bis of the consolidated text, concerning the assessment of gifts other than formalised donations. For the situations governed by the provision, assessment is linked to the emergence of the gift from statements made by the interested party in proceedings aimed at assessing taxes; in such a case, the rate of 8% applies to the portion exceeding any applicable exemption. Voluntary registration, on the other hand, follows the ordinary rates and exemptions. The exclusions provided by law and the rules relating to gifts arising from deeds subject to registration remain unchanged. The message to draw is therefore not that every family bank transfer is exempt, nor that every sum received must be taxed: one must identify the nature of the transaction and the applicable rules, without turning a court ruling or a shorthand formula into a blanket pass.

Helping a child buy a home: the gift may be indirect

When parents pay the price of a home purchased and registered in the child’s name, an indirect gift of real estate may arise: the enrichment stems from the purchase financed by someone else. It would not be correct to say that, because the parent is involved in the sale, there is no gift at all. The difference lies in how it is carried out and in the related rules, according to the distinction set out by the Joint Chambers of the Cassazione. The link between the money made available and the purchase must be real and documented; for this reason, it is advisable to agree with the notary, before making the payments, on how to structure the transaction. Simply transferring a sum left at the child’s free disposal should not automatically be treated as the payment of that specific property for their benefit.

For tax purposes, the law provides that gift tax does not apply to gifts connected with certain transfers of real estate or businesses, where the deed is subject to proportional registration tax or VAT. This does not make the purchase exempt from all taxes: it concerns the treatment of the connected gift. In practice, keeping bank transfers, agreements and the deed documentation helps reconstruct who financed the home, to what extent and for what purpose. It is an important precaution even when family relationships are excellent, because a clear choice today can avoid conflicting interpretations in a future succession.

Joint account: being able to withdraw does not settle ownership of the funds

Joint registration of a current account is often used to allow a child to help a parent with day-to-day management. But banking operation and the substantive ownership of money do not necessarily coincide: between joint holders, there is a presumption of equal shares, which may be rebutted by available evidence. Moreover, a joint account may amount to an indirect gift when the owner of the funds is shown to have intended to enrich the other account holder gratuitously. The mere presence of two names on the account is therefore not enough to clarify everything. The Cassazione has stressed the need to establish the animus donandi, that is, the actual liberal intention: an issue that becomes particularly delicate when one of the joint holders dies and the heirs must reconstruct the estate.

If the goal is simply to allow the child to make payments and assist the parent, a banking delegation may be more consistent than a joint account. The delegation grants operating powers within agreed limits, without thereby assigning an ownership share in the funds. In any event, it is useful to keep documentation proving the source of the money, avoiding any unstructured mixing of the parent’s savings, the child’s income and sums intended for third parties. Access to the account should not become an implied authorisation to use other people’s resources freely: defining the purpose of the transaction and documenting the movements protects both the person receiving assistance and the person providing it.

Heirs and creditors: a valid gift does not eliminate every risk

Gifts to children can affect the balance of a future succession, even when they have been carried out correctly. A distinction must be made between collation, which concerns the bringing into account of gifts received in the cases provided by law, and the action for reduction, which protects a compromised reserved share. Exemption from collation does not in any case allow one to freely sacrifice the rights reserved to the other forced heirs. From the standpoint of family planning, it is therefore important to keep track of significant assistance: a home financed for a child, a sum intended for another child’s business, a transfer to the grandchildren. Generosity does not always require arithmetical equality, but it does benefit from choices that are understandable and coordinated, especially in families with several branches or complex relationships.

It is also necessary to abandon the idea that a valid gift automatically shields the asset from the donor’s creditors. When the conditions for a revocatory action are met, the transfer may be declared ineffective against the creditor bringing the action, allowing that creditor to satisfy its claim from the transferred asset. On the other hand, whatever is actually acquired by the beneficiary becomes part of their estate and may be exposed to the claims of their own creditors. Giving to children is therefore not a universal asset-protection technique: it changes ownership of the resources and may shift some risks without eliminating them. Before proceeding, one needs to assess the donor’s needs, the recipient’s circumstances and the consequences for the entire family.

The 2025 reform on gifted assets does not abolish reserved shares

Another new development came with Article 44 of Law No. 182 of 2 December 2025, in force from 18 December that year, which amended the rules on the circulation of assets deriving from gifts. The new framework strengthens the protection of third-party purchasers and the stability of securities, while preserving the protection of forced heirs in their dealings with the donee. This does not mean that gifts have become incontestable, nor that a transfer of money lacking the required form has been cured. The transitional rules also require attention in relation to successions opened before the reform entered into force. The change is especially important when considering real estate that has been gifted and later sold or mortgaged; it should not be used to attribute to family bank transfers a security that depends on other rules.

First decide what you want to do, then transfer the money

Proper planning starts with a concrete question: do you want to give a sum of money, finance a purchase, grant a loan or allow a family member to manage the account? If it is a loan, the obligation to repay must be real and documented, with a check of any tax formalities; if it is a gift, its value, form and consequences must be assessed; if operational assistance is needed, the appropriate banking powers must be chosen. The payment reference should also describe what is actually happening, without resorting to formulas designed to circumvent the rules. Family wealth is transferred best when intentions and documents tell the same story: the bank transfer then becomes the execution of a conscious choice, rather than the starting point of a dispute.