How do I notify IRS of my wife's death on my joint return using turbo tax? How do I sign her name?

[wctilley]

My wife died 12/4/16 and I'm wondering out how to complete the joint filing for 2016 using turbo tax

[ScruffyCurmudgeon]

When you begin in TurboTax, in the "Getting Started with TurboTax" section, if you used TurboTax last year and have transferred in last year's data, the program asks you to review the personal information about "You and Your Family"

You will have to make the following changes to indicate that you are filing as "Widowed", and the order of changes here assumes that your name is the first name that was entered last year.  

1. See image #1 below- you will still file a joint return in the year of your late wife's death [and there are certain provisions that may allow you to do so the second year also].
2. In describing yourself see image #2, you will change your marital status from "Married" to "Widowed" and indicate the year of death of your late wife.
3. In reviewing the personal data for your wife, you will change data in the 3rd section as shown in image #3 - and answer "Yes" to the question "My spouse passed away before filing this return." and enter the Date of Death in the fill-in box right below that.

You will still be filing in status "Married Filing Jointly."     If your wife received in her own name income after her death, you will have to allocate that income separately on an Estate Filing Form 1041.  If this is an issue, please come back and ask about that.

[wctilley]

Thank you so very much!

[ScruffyCurmudgeon]

You are most welcome - and sorry to hear of your wife's death.  The Taxation system does not make a death in the family any easier - unfortunately.

[fanfare]

Your wife can't sign, obviously. When filing Jointly "as surviving spouse", your signature is all that is required.

[fanfare]

See IRS Pub 559 "Survivors..." available at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.irs.gov">www.irs.gov</a> for all the details of how to file.

[hgarside42]

It doesn't seem to let me e-file.  I have her PIN for e-filing but it doesn't ask me to enter it anywhere.  The error message I'm getting is as follows:

IND-032-04 - 'SpousePriorYearPIN' or 'SpousePriorYearAGIAmt' in the Return Header must match the e-File database.

I can file via snail mail, but would prefer to e-file.

[JohnW222]

Please see the TurboTax Help article “E-file reject IND-031-04 or IND-032-04: The AGI or Self-select PIN from last year doesn't match IRS ...” for guidance in getting past this reject.