Filing for $1400 stimulus for deceased family member

[maruck]

My son passed away on 1/12/21. The $1400 (3rd) stimulus check arrived for him in March (check made out in his name).. I stuffed it away and just recently mailed it back to the IRS a couple of months ago. I filed his 2020 taxes last summer noting that he was deceased. The IRS sent me his refund and his 2nd stimulus check in my name since had never received it. Since he didn’t earn any income in 2021, do I just file a 2021 return with a zero in the income section and then add the IRS 1310 form? I’m not sure if I need to file another tax return and what lines need to be filled out on the 2021 tax return since there’s no W2 or any income. My son was not married/no children, no debts, and was not listed as a dependent on my taxes. I’ll also note that a letter from the IRS arrived this week addressed to him that said to contact the IRS  to request another check since the first check was never cashed and had also expired. 

[NCperson]

sorry for your loss

your son's estate is entitled to the 3rd stimulus.  The rule is that anyone who passed away after 12/31/20 who was eligible for the 3rd stimulus is entitled to it.

I would just respond to the IRS request to obtain another stimulus check and cash it.  Explaining the situation may be a good idea. 

if there was no income in 2021, why muddy the waters with filing a tax return? there is no requirement to file. My fear is if you file, you would have to answer that you didn't receive the 3rd stimulus, which creates a $1400 refund on the tax return and then when the IRS tries to process it, their records are going to show they already sent out the stimulus payment, they adjust the refund to zero and you are back to square one. 

[maruck]

I don’t know if the IRS would just send a check in my name without some type of IRS form filed stating I was his parent. I couldn’t do anything with the original check since it was made out to my son.

I guess I’ll call the IRS on Monday and see what they say.  I received incorrect information from an IRS employee when I called them about this check last year. I was told I couldn’t claim it on behalf of my son and to check the box on the envelope “recipient is deceased” and send it back. I told the IRS rep that I had read that I could claim the stimulus on behalf of my son since he was alive on 1/1/21, but the person on the phone said that was incorrect (which was obviously wrong).  Therefore,  I’m reluctant to call them again. I wasn’t up to dealing with it anymore at the time, so I put the check in a file folder and left it alone. I only recently mailed it back a couple of months ago thinking it would be easier for me to claim it if the IRS did not have to run a search to see if it had ever been cashed. 

[NCperson]

<<I told the IRS rep that I had read that I could claim the stimulus on behalf of my son since he was alive on 1/1/21, but the person on the phone said that was incorrect (which was obviously wrong). >>

last spring there was a lot of confusion and shifting rules about deceased individuals and whether they were eligible for the stimulus payments, so not surprising you may have received incorrect info.  Originally, the 1st two stimulus payment rule was if you died before receiving the payment, your estate had to return the payment - that proved very difficult to administer so by the time of the 3rd stimulus payment (and retro to the 1st two), the rule was simplified to alive on 12/31/19 (for the 1st two stimuls payments) and alive on 12/31/20 for the third payment.  

the estate is certainly eligible for the stimulus, the question is what is the easiest method to obtain it.  Note getting through to the IRS on the phone is painstakingly difficult (and normally 'impossible') which is why I suggested just responding to the IRS letter you recently received and explaining the situation with the required documentation.

[Opus 17]

Your adult son is entitled to a round 3 payment since he was alive for at least part of 2021.  The question is how best to obtain it.

While I would generally agree that responding to the IRS letter to re-issue the check would be easier, here it won't work.  The IRS can't talk to you about someone else's check, and can't re-issue the check to them if the person is deceased.

In this case, I think you ignore the letter offering to re-send a check, and you file a 2021 tax return with zero income that claims the rebate.  You need form 1310 to get the refund in your name, and you need to follow the other steps needed to file for a deceased taxpayer.

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/how-do-i-file-a-deceased-persons-tax-return

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-559

You probably can't e-file in your situation, for at least 2 reasons.  First, your son's SSN is probably blocked, and second, even if it is not, you must sign the return as personal representative, and I don't know if you can do that when filing online.  You can try of course, but I also believe you need to create at least $1 of income because you usually can't e-file with no income.  You can create $1 of bank interest without a 1099-INT, it won't raise any red flags and will allow you to e-file.