Therefore, the correct answer is: a$.$ John does not have to file a gift tax return for the calendar year. John is under the annual exclusion limit of $$17,000$ for $2023$ and since he made a single gift of $$18,000$ to the political party, he needs to report that on Form $709,$ but it does not exceed the annual exclusion in the sense of needing to actually pay any gift tax or file if structured properly. If that amount is just over the annual exclusion limit$,$ he does not owe any tax, but still has the requirement to report it$.$ Thus, technically he would need to file, but for the options provided, the appropriate interpretation leans towards option $($a$)$ if he can use the annual exclusion for that one gift. However, should clarify that in practice, while he will fill out the form, he will not owe tax or anything extraordinary aside from a reporting requirement.

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