How to report 1099 income earned after tax year through date of death for deceased person's final tax return?

[keymaster]

I'm using TurboTax Premier to prepare my mother-in-law's final Form 1040. She passed in February 2024 following a long and happy life:) I've already entered into TurboTax all of her reported 1099-R and SSA-1099 income for the current 2023 tax year. However, I know that I also need to report on her final 1040 any income and taxes withheld she received in January and February 2024 (pension and SSA) prior to her date of death through the filing date. Question: where do I enter these 2024 amounts in TurboTax for her 2023 Form 1040? Thanks for any guidance. 

[fanfare]

Her final return is a 2024 tax return, not 2023.

That's where 2024 income goes.

@keymaster 

[keymaster]

Thanks. I think 2023 is the final return if the deceased died prior to filing. Your understanding would be correct if the deceased filed their 2023 tax return prior to their death. In my case, my mother-in-law died prior to filing her 2023 form 1040, therefore her executor will file (and sign) her final 2023 tax returns on her behalf. This is consistent with TurboTax programming. The Personal Info interview directly asks if the Taxpayer: "passed away before filing this return," in which case an affirmative response automatically adds the Taxpayer Deceased notation at the top of the 1040 and generates Form 1310 for the executor to sign on behalf of the deceased for a refund. My guess is that TurboTax got this part of the programming correct. 

[dmertz · Accepted solution]

fanfare is correct.  The final tax return for a decedent dying in 2024 is the 2024 tax return if there is any income earned in 2024 before death, as is the case here.

The notice at the top of the Form 1040 does not necessarily imply a final tax return.  It informs the IRS that someone other than the decedent has signed the tax return and any refund is to be paid to the appropriate recipient, perhaps the decedent's estate, not to the decedent.

[keymaster]

Thanks, I think that final doesn’t really mean final resolves my confusion. But just to reaffirm, you’re saying that IRS will accept two marked as final tax returns, one 2023 and one 2024, for the same taxpayer? 

[dmertz]

Nothing on the filed tax return marks it as "final" even if it is the final tax return.  The notation at the top simply indicates that the taxpayer died before filing.

[keymaster]

Thank you @dmerz and @fanfare.