Community Chat

[Munchkincat]

My hubby & I have always done our own taxes - ours are fairly easy to do. My mom died in Sept. last year & we'll be doing her taxes. I've never done taxes for someone who has died. Has anyone done this?

[Love my grandkids]

When my mom died 10 years ago, I had her tax guy do them. Please don't try this yourself, it can be tricky. Better to pay a professional for this situation IMO.

[free-spirit]

We also do our own taxes.

When my mother-in-law passed we had an estate specialist do her taxes. It will be worth the money you spend.

[Financialgrl]

Dad died late Dec 2012. So in our case he was alive almost the whole year - so this March I did his "final" personal return for 2012. Since he was was alive all but a few days shy of 2013 that made it easy - it wasn't much different than had he been alive.

BUT this year the IRS wants a 1041 (estate tax return). I read instruction quickly and thought I didn't need one. THEN I read them again and it brought up a lot of things I overlooked the first time. Dad's estate consisted of CDs and they earned just over $600 interest (that's the minimum threshold for requiring a 1041) and he had a traditional IRA he'd been making required minimum distributions. Since no taxes have been paid on tax deferred traditional IRAs, 401ks, etc., (things that either already have or will require a required minimum distribution) the IRS wants taxes paid on that before it's distributed.

I was a tax preparer years ago and decided the aggravation just wasn't worth it so my stuff is presently with a CPA. I want the estate closed out and the ability to move on - and I also think (in my mind anyway) that this document coming from a CPA will mean pretty much a rubber stamp of approval with little or no questions (I could be wrong).