Before I forget, the Social Security Administration locks down the Social Security Number immediately/ very promptly.
What the IRS wants when e-filing is what FREETAXUSA dot COM figured out: require inputting the surviving spouse's State ID info and the deceased spouse's State ID info. Not just one spouse, but BOTH of them.
The day after my mother passed and we had the funeral home and hospital inform all the necessary county health and government authorities, her Social Security account and log-in information was inaccessible and closed. Why did we try to log-in? Because the day after she passed, the Social Security Administration sent an automated email that there was a notice in her account, but we could not access it.
Alas, deaths are reported immediately and to prevent fraud the Social Security absolutely "locks down" the deceased person's SSN, but this is not the reason why TurboTax tax returns e-filed are rejected. It is because TurboTax does not ask for sufficient identifying information for both living and deceased spouses.
