Over the years I have received gifts from my parents within the rules of the small gift exemption. Your parents are simply signing to confirm it is a gift and not a loan. In your case, as with an increasing number of families, availing of the small gift exemption has simply become a sensible part of your family’s tax planning arrangements. That means your two parents can legitimately gift you up to €6,000 between them with no tax liability, either for you or your parents. Of course, it could be that the bank looks at your application – and accompanying bank statements – and makes the common-sense judgment that this is simply parents availing of the small gift exemption, not requiring any “gift letter” form-filling.

Source: The Irish Times January 21, 2018 16:52 UTC