How do I know if a trust is a grantor trust?

[RO664]

My mother-in-law had a Revocable trust and paid taxes on her personal filings.  She died last year and the trust became an irrevocable trust.  All the assets have been sold and cash distributed to the beneficiaries.  I am using TT Business to do the 1041.  Is this type of trust a Complex trust or a Grantor?  

Also, should I be using calendar year or short year?  All monies were sent to the beneficiaries by the end of June.

[Irene2805 · Accepted solution]

I'm sorry for your loss.

The trust could be either:

• simple - All income must be distributed currently;
• complex - A trust that isn't a simple trust; or
• grantor trust - the individual who creates the trust (grantor) is also the beneficiary.  Look at the 1041 tax returns filed for the trust in previous years. 

Look at the previous years' tax returns--the type of trust will be noted on the first page.  If it's a grantor trust, on the face of the Form 1041, you'll see: “Under the terms of the trust instrument, this is a grantor trust."

You can use either a:

• calendar year and mark it also as a short year ending in June (since all the distributions were made then); or 
• fiscal year starting on the date the irrevocable trust was created (date of death)

I recommend the calendar year/short year because I think it's less confusing.