It appears that this would be Method 1 (certainly not Method 2 as we did not submit any 1099's to the IRS as trustees)?
If Method 1, she files her 2023 1040 as she would normally have in prior tax years except now the only difference from prior 1099 brokerage account statements (i.e. imported 1099 data into T-T from JPM) is that it will now show the respective info under her irrevocable trust name, U/A DTD and trustees' names (wife and I) with our address - is this an accurate statement?
Also, in reading the Method 1 info below, with us overseeing the trust as the trustees (we have general/enumerated powers), and expecting the 1099's will be reported to the IRS by JPM under her SSN, is there even a need for a W-9 Form?
We did not deal with any W-9's that I'm aware of.
The rest of the bullet items below I interpret as, with us being the trustees, we will need to forward the 1099 JPM tax statements to her so that she can file her personal 1040 return - is this correct?
Optional Method 1. For a trust treated as owned by one grantor or by one other person, the trustee must give all payers of income during the tax year the name and TIN of the grantor or other person treated as the owner of the trust and the address of the trust. This method may be used only if the owner of the trust provides the trustee with a signed Form W-9. In addition, unless the grantor or other person treated as owner of the trust is the trustee or a co-trustee of the trust, the trustee must give the grantor or other person treated as owner of the trust a statement that:
• Shows all items of income, deduction, and credit of the trust;
• Identifies the payer of each item of income;
• Explains how the grantor or other person treated as owner of the trust takes those items into account when figuring the grantor's or other person's taxable income or tax; and
• Informs the grantor or other person treated as the owner of the trust that those items must be included when figuring taxable income and credits on their income tax return.
Grantor trusts that haven't applied for an EIN and are going to file under Optional Method 1 don't need an EIN for the trust as long as they continue to report under that method.
