How much money can you give a person and can you deduct it from your taxable income?

I know you can give your children several thousand dollars per year, my question is how mich, can you deduct it from your taxable income and do they have to pay taxes on it?

Public Comments

1. $0. It's not deductible by you and it's not taxable to them. If you give MORE than $13,000, you the giver must file a gift tax form.
2. NO you can't deduct it, and no they don't have to pay tax on it. The limit just went to $13K this year where you don't have to file a gift tax return on it. That doesn't mean you can deduct it though, you can't.
3. Zero. End of story.
4. It is not deductible. You can give gifts of up to $13,000 in a year (it was $12,000 in 2008) to any number of individuals.If any gift exceeds $13000, you must file gift tax return. Read more about gift tax http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/03/us-gift-tax.html