1099 on joint account after death of Primary Account Holder

[ben382]

I share a joint brokerage account with my Uncle who passed away on Jan 10th.  The 1099 will come under his SSN.  Does that mean I need to file the 1099 under his tax return for 2021.  If it helps in 2020, it was filed under his SSN.  Do I have the option to file under my SSN?  I read somewhere that I would file profit/loss of the accounts through his date of death (Jan 10th, 2021) then any profit/loss after that I would file under my SSN?

Could I sign up right now with Turbo Tax Live for 2021 to talk to a CPA even though I don't have the 1099 yet?

[Mike9241]

how was the a/c titled and did you have your own money in the a/c. best to talk to a lawyer because whether you had an ownership interest in the a/c pre-death is a legal question, not a tax question. 

however, if you had an ownership interest in the a/c in past years, each of you was supposed to report their respective share of the activity. the same would be true in 2021 until he died. then if you're the heir, you would report 100%

[Opus 17]

Be aware that any income he receives after his death must be reported on a separate estate tax return, not his personal return.  

I would expect that, as of the date of his death, you are the 100% owner of the account and all the income after that date is reported in your name.  Did you call the broker?  Are they able to change the account to list you as the primary owner?

For income earned prior to his death, that would be reported however you reported it before.  Depending on what the account activity was, there might not actually be any income between 1/1/21 and 1/10/21 that would be attributable to your uncle.  I would imagine that most investments won't pay interest or dividends during that time frame, so unless you sold something with a capital gain or loss during those 10 days, there might not be any 2021 income in your uncle's name.

I would start with the estates department at the brokerage, then contact a professional tax advisor if you are still unsure. 

[ben382]

A/c titled under both our names for the last 2 years. I'll check with the lawyer. Thanks!

[ben382]

You are right not much happening between Jan1-Jan10. The first transaction yielded income after the 10th, so that makes is simpler.  Brokerage is saying they will issue a 1099 to uncle's SSN and they won't separate the income after Jan 10.

Definitely consulting with a CPA, just curious and so I posted the question to the forum.  Thank you for your response.