Thank you. So my assumption that I do need to file a 1041, based on this 1099-R "life insurance" income seems correct. At that point, I guess I will benefit from deducting allowable expenses as well.
This is where the attorney's advice gets confusing in my POV... And it seems to be along the same lines of the other answer here about it being "cheaper" to pass the taxes onto the beneficiary (me).
When I "paid" myself the remainder of the estate account, as instructed and after all other expenses were paid, the money in that account was a result of 2 things: the check for $4500 from the pension "life insurance" after $500 was deducted as taxes from the initial $5,000 and the remainder was money from her bank account that existed when she passed away.
All that said it seems I, as the admin of the estate, need to file form 1041. Is that $5000 the only income (based on the provided history obviously)? And I assume I also need to present myself a K-1 as the only beneficiary. What is to be included on that K-1? The K-1 being for "Income distributed from a trust or estate" makes it seem to me that the K-1 is just for that taxed $5000, correct? That does not include the money that I received that was from her existing bank account (which of course had already been taxed when she earned it).
Lastly, can turbo tax handle this intuitively for me, and if so what option do I need to make this happen? ...Or should I just give it all up and find an actual tax person who knows what they're doing (not sure where to find one though)?
I've done my own personal taxes for YEARS and never had this many questions. lol
