I received a 1099 misc form “to the estate of” for my deceased spouse with only income in box 3. Do I put this on my return for us or do I file one for the “estate”?

[ifly4free]

Spouse died 2018. 1099 misc from employer. But addressed to the estate of.  I hate to create an estate account last year but no interest was made. 

[Lisa995]

how much $$ is it for?   Is it in the EIN of the estate?

[ifly4free]

11,000.00. And it has his ssn on the 1099

[ScruffyCurmudgeon]

@ifly4free

As you are recently widowed, and given that your husband ('his") passed away in 2018, you should be still filing a Married-Filing-Jointly for 2018 but enter the date of his death in the personal information.  That will significantly benefit you in the taxes applied.

As to any income received after this death and received in his name there are two answers available:

1. The legally correct answer as required by the IRS is that if $600 or more income was received in the name of a decedent in a year, then for the income received (and any possible deductible expenses owing to that income or any credits related) must be reported not on your joint filing, because it was after death, but on a separate Form 1041 in the name of his Estate (whether or not you file for a different EIN).  That means you would have to use a product such as TurboTax BUSINESS to create the 1041 and then have it generate the Schedule K-1 that would "pass through" that income (and expenses if any) to you or to whoever is the beneficiary who received the money ultimately. Given that $11,000 is considerably over $600, that is the legally structured reporting.  Note that for all practical purposes, the $11,000 is either taxes on the Form 1041 or taxed on your (assuming you are the beneficiary) Form 1040, so the IRS gets its money (more or less) either way.  However, if your husband did have considerable income and/or expenses that were received in 2018 after this death, it may be worth pursuing filing the Form 1041 (tax return for a decedent's estate or trust)
   
   
2. A work-around that you might consider, but again #1 is the legally correct way, would be for you to assert that the $11,000 was received "in Respect to a Decedent" ("IRD") and to simply report it on your Form 1040 and enter the Form 1099-R with the additional information (click on the Form 1099-R Box 1 Field and enter additional information with the dollar amount) that this was IRD.  That way, you still pay tax but it is a simplified process, albeit not the more complex process.

[Daisy27]

My husband died in 2016 and I  received  a 1099 C  in 2019 in his name. He didn't have an estate. My CPA told me to not worry about it. Is this true? 

[ThomasM125]

If he didn't have an estate, then he would be considered insolvent in the year the debt was forgiven, in which case he wouldn't have to pay tax on the cancellation of debt income. However, you need to complete a tax return to assert the insolvency defense.

As a practical matter, the worst that would happen is the IRS would assess tax on the income and mail you a notice, to which you could simply respond he is deceased with no estate in existence and that would probably resolve the issue.

So, I think the CPA gave you good advice.

[Daisy27]

Thanks! Another question we are in the middle of a worker's comp case. If a settlement is issued would that then make him have an estate? Would I have to pay taxes on the settlement if he is deceased?  I am a disabled widow under 40 who receives social security disability. Not SSI.

[ThomasM125]

If there was a check issued in his name or the name of his estate, then that would create an estate. However, the money would be received after the debt was cancelled, so that wouldn't change the fact that the estate was insolvent at the time the debt was cancelled. 

That is assuming the case was not settled at the time debt was cancelled. 

[RennaeMac]

If you are currently in the middle of a lawsuit involving your dead husband's worker's compensation claim, then all income is the estates and I would defer to the attorney handling that case as the estate cannot legally close until the lawsuit has been settled. When my mother passed midway thru her own law suit against a major hospital system, her attorney worked with the estate attorney and made sure all the proper paperwork was handled. As long as the suit is open, your deceased spouse still has an estate and possible income when the suit settles.

I have been a professional income tax preparer for nearly 40 years and I would still let the attorneys handle this one just to make sure it is done properly with all the involved agencies, both federal, state, and possibly local.