Joint CDs and gift tax

The answer depends on more facts. Putting money into a "joint tenancy" bank account with a child (or anyone else) isn't considered a gift at that time. It's considered as having been done for convenience. It's only when money from the account goes to the other joint tenant, in an unrestricted way that it becomes a gift. So if your daughter takes money out at your request or for your benefit, it's still considered your money, not hers. So you have not made a gift of that money.

When a withdrawal is a gift, it's only reportable on IRS Form 709, when total gifts for the year to that person exceed $16,000. Even then it is highly unlikely that any gift tax will actually be due, because each person has a lifetime of exemption of just a bit over $12 million (scheduled to be cut in half for people dying after

In that case the withdrawal isn't a gift and doesn't have to be reported as one.

According to Jane snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com:

I'd expect the CDs to be considered to be 50/50 owned by you and her, so if she cashes them and keeps the money, I suppose that's a gift. If you funded them in the first place, that half interest was also a gift, so you should probably consider the whole thing a gift.

There is a lifetime exemption from gift tax of about $11 million, shared with the estate tax, so unless we're talking about seven digit amounts, you file the gift tax return but you don't have to pay anything.

If you are dealing with seven digit amounts, you presumably have paid tax advisors who can give you real advice,

Correct if it's held as tenants in common. If it's joint tenancy its not considered a gift until it's cashed in.

The lifetime exemption amount is currently affected by inflation. For people dying in 2022 it's $12,060,000. For people who die after

I agree with that completely.