After it lost court cases on whether a basis overstatement is an omission of gross income for purposes of the longer limitations period, the IRS recently modified treasury regulatMake year-end gifts. A person can give any other person up to $13,000 for 2009 without incurring any gift tax. The annual exclusion amount increases to $26,000 per donee if the donor's spouse consents to gift-splitting. Anyone who expects eventually to have estate tax liability and who can afford to make gifts to family members should do so.