Estate tax return for deceased

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 5, 2019
2 replies
4 views

We have a tax id for my mom's estate. She passed Jan 2016. We have only one 1099-R from an annuity with "taxable income" in box 2a. Her entire estate is significantly less than the $100K. Do we need to file an estate tax return?

TurboTax Self Employed Online

Best answer by dmertz

If the amount in box 1 of the Form 1099-R combined with any other income received by the estate in the same estate tax year is more than $600, the estate must file an estate income tax return, Form 1041. TurboTax Business (not Home & Business) supports the preparation of Form 1041.

Even though her gross estate is under $100k, if she has a surviving spouse it may be worth filing an estate tax return (Form 706) to provide the surviving spouse with Deceased Spousal Unused Exclusion. TurboTax does not have a product to prepare Form 706.

darladzAuthor

Level 2

If we do need to file an estate tax return, how do we do this in turbo tax?

dmertzAnswer

Level 15

darladzAuthor

Level 2

We found information regarding estate tax return that leads us to believe we do no have to file an estate tax return -- your thoughts?
"Most relatively simple estates (cash, publicly traded securities, small amounts of other easily valued assets, and no special deductions or elections, or jointly held property) do not require the filing of an estate tax return. A filing is required for estates with combined gross assets and prior taxable gifts exceeding $1,500,000 in 2004...., $5,450,000 in 2016"