Old, joke, urban legend. But not true. In the US the receiver almost never gets taxed, and neither does the sender until for the first $17,000 gift (in 2023) for the year, and past that there is a $12.92 million lifetime exemption (for 2023), you need to file a form telling the IRS so they can track it, but you don’t pay until you exceed $12.92 million. About the only thing that might apply is if Grandpa put it in a 529 plan for his college and it exceeded the $17,000 for that year.
Old, joke, urban legend. But not true. In the US the receiver almost never gets taxed, and neither does the sender until for the first $17,000 gift (in 2023) for the year, and past that there is a $12.92 million lifetime exemption (for 2023), you need to file a form telling the IRS so they can track it, but you don’t pay until you exceed $12.92 million. About the only thing that might apply is if Grandpa put it in a 529 plan for his college and it exceeded the $17,000 for that year.