Estate Taxes - Income question

[rbroadfield]

I am working on an estate tax return for my aunt. I am the administrator as well as the sole survivor. Income I have received is the monies that were in her checking account and savings account, as well as life insurance. I know life insurance is not taxable, but the checks were written out to the estate, not me. Does that change things then? Would I have to claim that amount for the estate?

Also, what all income/monies can be included for the estate?

Thank you in advance!

[RobertB4444]

Life insurance proceeds are not taxable to you or the estate.  

What the estate needs to enter is any money that was earned after your aunt's death.  Things that she couldn't pay taxes on while she was alive.  Interest earned on her bank accounts or the estate's bank accounts, proceeds from the sale of stock or property that she owned, that kind of thing.  You don't need to file if the estate earned less than $600.

If it is all going to go to you then you can just move all of it over to you personally and pay any taxes due on your personal return and not be in the estate business anymore.  

@rbroadfield 

[rbroadfield]

Thank you so much! In that case, I don't need to file anything then. I did get a letter from the IRS though saying that I need to file so I will call them in the morning and just double check. I don't want to get a knock on my door!

[dmertz]

The IRS does sometimes send out reminders of the filing deadline based on the calendar or fiscal year that you indicated the estate would likely be using when you obtained the EIN for the estate.  A reminder of the filing deadline does not mean that the estate actually has taxable income that is required to be reported.  Also, the estate's choice of a calendar or fiscal income tax year is not actually established until the estate files its first income tax return so the deadline indicated in the reminder might not even be accurate.

If the letter describes something other than a simple reminder of a filing deadline, you might want to ask the IRS about it.