Once the inevitable hits, it’s best to know how to deal with it. Let us help you with the tax side.

Death and taxes are two topics that no one wants to have a conversation about. However, they are two hurdles in life that every person is eventually faced with. Unfortunately, they can arrive together – when a taxpayer dies, there needs to be a final tax return filed on their behalf. We’ll tell you who needs to do this, what needs to be reported and how to get it done.   

Who is responsible for filing a final tax return?

A final tax return will always need to be filed after a taxpayer’s death, but who needs to do this will depend on the filing status of the deceased taxpayer on the day they passed away.

Were they married?

If the taxpayer was married when they passed away, then the IRS considers the couple to be married for the entire year for tax purposes. The surviving spouse is responsible for filing the tax return. In this case, the surviving spouse would file as married filing jointly, or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child.

If the surviving spouse plans to file a joint tax return, they are only able to do so for the current tax year in which their spouse has passed. In following tax years, they must file as qualifying widow(er) with dependent child, head of household, or single.

In order for the surviving spouse to file as a qualifying widow(er) with dependent child, specific requirements must be met. The surviving spouse must have: Continue reading “How to File Taxes for a Deceased Person”