How do I handle final income taxes for the deceased?

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So, the named fiduciary is the one responsible for finalizing the deceased’s taxes and filing any applicable tax returns. Generally, a form 1040, which is the individual income tax return, would be the final income tax return for the deceased. The personal representative executor is the one that would file that. If there is a surviving spouse, then the surviving spouse would also sign that joint final return. If by chance there’s not a pending probate administration, then the surviving spouse, assuming there is one,

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would be the person responsible for filing that return. Um to the extent there isn’t a surviving spouse, then it would be the person that was in charge of kind of overseeing the deceased’s final affairs and making sure everything was wrapped up. That reports income from January 1st to the deceased’s date of death. Any income generated after date of death would be reported on what’s called a 1041 form, um which is the estate income tax return. And so, that captures any income received after the

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date of death. So, it might not be required to be filed if there’s not any income generated, but certainly if there is, we’re going to want to file those forms as well. I generally also tell people a good way to start is by contacting the deceased’s prior tax preparer or CPA, um getting a hold of copies of their prior tax returns, maybe even requesting a tax transcript, so you know kind of what income they received in the past.

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