My mother passed in March 2020, I know I have to file a filed return for her. Do I need to file an estate return and trust return. The assets go to trust in Oct

[ericbreineriii]

Income up to Oct will be over $10K and over $10K from Oct to Dec

[Texas Roger]

IRS Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts, is required if the estate generates more than $600 in annual gross income. The decedent and their estate are separate taxable entities. Before filing Form 1041, you will need to obtain a tax ID number for the estate.

You must buy, download and install on a PC computer the TurboTax Business product to prepare and file a form 1041 using TurboTax: https://turbotax.intuit.com/small-business-taxes/

[Texas Roger]

Do not download TurboTax Business now. You will be filing the 1041 for tax return 2020 and the 2020 software will not be available until late 2020 or early 2021. 

[fanfare]

you will file a 2019 return and a  final individual return for 2020 and I believe you can file a 12 month estate tax return for 2021 in 2022.

what does it mean : "go to trust". ?

If the trust is your inheritance of the estate, I suspect that changes things.

[tagteam]

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@ericbreineriii wrote:
Income up to Oct will be over $10K and over $10K from Oct to Dec

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Please secure guidance from a tax professional for your particular scenario, particularly if you are not familiar with accounting practices for trusts/estates and have no experience in handling tax issues for the entities.

[Carl]

I would suggest you seek the services of a tax professional in your jurisdiction. Especially if your state taxes personal income.

Doing an estate return incorrectly or filing the estate return late can cost you. With an estate return, it has to be prepared and signed by the legally appointed/recognized administrator of that estate. When things are wrong that result in fines and penalties, it is the estate adminitrator that pays those fines and penalties out of their own pocket - not the estate. Those fines/penalties can be high and are not deductible on *any* tax return.

So while I"m not trying to discourage you from doing the estate return, I am encouraging you to get professional help doing it. Otherwise, the potential fines and penalties can, and usually do make the cost of professional help seem like a pittance in comparison. On top of that, the estate can pay for that professional help if it has the means of doing so and there are no legal factors baring it.

 Two thing that need to happen first

1) The person that will complete the estate return (I assume that's you) needs to be legally recognized by the probate court as the administrator of that estate.

2) The administrator of the estate needs to obtain an EIN for the estate yesterday, if not sooner. It will be "REQUIRED" before any assets can be legally transferred by the probate count from ownership of the deceased to the estate.

So if the deceased has a fair number of titled assets (IRA, 401(k), cars, real estate, stocks, bonds, other investments, etc.) you have a "LOT" of work to do getting all that stuff titled/transferred into the estate. At this point, taxes are such a low priority, they're not even on the back burner yet.  The best part of this is, it appears you're doing your best to get a head start on this and get the ball rolling. Roll on!

[Carl]

Oh a few other things to.

If your mother had not completed and filed her 2019 return before passing, then the person who files it for her will need to be the legally appointed administrator of her estate so they can file the return. If a refund is expected then IRS Form 1310 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1310.pdf) will need to be included with the mailed return, along with any other documents needed to prove the person who signed the return on her behalf, has the legal right to do so.

[tagteam]

Just to clarify, the individual signing certain tax returns mentioned in this thread does not necessarily have to be appointed by a court; the returns are signed by the personal representative which can be anyone who has possession or otherwise controls the decedent's property.

If no personal representative has been appointed and if there is no surviving spouse, the person in charge of the decedent's property must file and sign the return as "personal representative".