My father passed away on May 30, 2019, and I'm preparing the estate’s Form 1041 as his executor. I’ve chosen a fiscal year for accounting and tax purposes, beginning May 30, 2019 and ending April 15, 2020, with a filing deadline of August 15, 2020.
The estate received income in both 2019 and 2020. All income will have been received by the estate and all distributions to the beneficiaries will be made prior to the April 15, 2020 fiscal year end.
Can I file just one 1041 based on this fiscal year? Or do I need to file an initial one in 2019 and a final one in 2020? The IRS instructions state: “Period Covered: File the 2019 return for . . . fiscal years beginning in 2019 and ending in 2020. “ I read this to say that if all income is received and all distributions made during the period covered by the chosen fiscal year that begins in 2019 and ends in 2020, that only one 1041 would need to be filed.
If the answer is that I may file only one 1041 return covering the May 30, 2019 to April 15, 2020 fiscal year, my concern is that I haven’t yet received 1099-DIVs for the dividend income in early 2020, and won’t receive them until early 2021. Can I request 1099-DIVs from the estate’s brokerage firm, and if so, will the brokerage immediately provide them as well to the IRS so they match my 2019/2020 fiscal year 1041 filing?
Thank you!
