If a complex trust has capital gains from sale of a rental property and distributes gains to beneficiaries why does turbo tax show the trust paying the capital gains tax?

[ttalimon]

Can the capital gains tax be passed through to the beneficiaries?

[Carl]

Assuming this trust came into existence because of the passing of someone, then the trust owned the property that was sold, and the trust is legally liable for all taxes. The trust must settle all debts first, including taxes, before any distributions can be made to the named beneficiaries of the trust. Then the trust is dissolved when all distributions are made and K-1s are issued. Generally, the K-1s are only to show the IRS the disposition of the assets. The recipients will not report the K-1s on their tax return at all, because an inheritance of less than $5.2M is not taxable or reportable for the beneficiary recipient.

[Anonymous_ · Accepted solution]

"....why does turbo tax show the trust paying the capital gains tax?"

Consistent with Treas. Reg. §1.643(a)-3(a), the default mode for TurboTax is to treat capital gains as part of the trust corpus which remains with the trust and is not available for distribution to the beneficiary(ies).

However, circumstances delineated in Treas. Reg. §1.643(a)-3(b) (reproduced below) provide for the distribution of capital gains to the beneficiary(ies). If that Reg section is applicable, you can easily change the default distribution scheme in TurboTax by allocating capital gains to the beneficiary(ies). [see screenshot]

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§1.643(a)-3: 

(b) Capital gains included in distributable net income. Gains from the sale or exchange of capital assets are included in distributable net income to the extent they are, pursuant to the terms of the governing instrument and applicable local law, or pursuant to a reasonable and impartial exercise of discretion by the fiduciary (in accordance with a power granted to the fiduciary by applicable local law or by the governing instrument if not prohibited by applicable local law)—

(1) Allocated to income (but if income under the state statute is defined as, or consists of, a unitrust amount, a discretionary power to allocate gains to income must also be exercised consistently and the amount so allocated may not be greater than the excess of the unitrust amount over the amount of distributable net income determined without regard to this subparagraph §1.643(a)-3(b));

(2) Allocated to corpus but treated consistently by the fiduciary on the trust's books, records, and tax returns as part of a distribution to a beneficiary; or

(3) Allocated to corpus but actually distributed to the beneficiary or utilized by the fiduciary in determining the amount that is distributed or required to be distributed to a beneficiary.

[markblevine]

I did what you showed in the screen shot, but still show as owing the tax from the trust.

[daliasummerour]

How do you fix this in 2019  turbo tax business to distribute capital gains from sale of stock to the beneficiary? It is defaulting to the trust.

[daliasummerour]

same for me... I need the specific steps to eliminate the tax from the trust and shift to the beneficiary.

[DianeC958]

When you have the trust return open click in the upper right hand corner of TurboTax to switch to the forms mode.  On the left hand side you will see a list of forms.  Open the Dist Inc K-1.

This form shows any income that is distributable to the beneficiaries.  If the amount do not show there you can add them on the appropriate lines.  Then the information should flow to the beneficiaries.

[pattypuzzled]

I am preparing the final return for a Trust which has a carry-over capital gains loss from previous years.  We sold land in 2020 which resulted in a gain to the Trust on that sale, I distributed an equal portion of the proceeds of the sale to the 3 beneficiaries during 2020.  The gross proceeds did not eliminate the loss for the Trust.  Do I need to report the $22K on a K-1 for each beneficiary?  The Trust owned the land as a result of a death. 

[AlanT222 · Accepted solution]

In the final year of an estate/trust, unused net capital losses can be passed through to the beneficiaries. As a result, the beneficiaries may carry forward their pro-rata share of these losses during their lifetimes. 

Capital loss carryovers and Net Operating Loss (NOL) carryovers are reported to the beneficiaries on the final Schedule K-1 (Form 1041).  These Final Year Deductions are reported in Box 11 on Schedule K-1 (Form 1041).

[Schagane]

 Could you please say where NOL carryover from K-1 is placed on Ca return?