When Your Client Dies: Final Form 1040, Post-Death Elections and More

Author: Steven G. Siegel

Tax practitioners need special knowledge and skills when working with clients after a family member’s death. There are special tax rules associated with preparing a client’s final Form 1040 and a host of other issues and options that must be carefully addressed. Your clients need you to be at your absolute best as you support them through the necessary steps during those difficult times.

The course provides a practical review of how to prepare the decedent’s final Form 1040 and advise clients on a range of essential post-death elections and decisions.

Publication Date: August 2021

Designed For
This course is essential for CPAs, CFPs, enrolled agents, estate planners, tax attorneys and other professionals who advise clients on tax, retirement and estate planning, and other wealth management matters.

Topics Covered

• Preparing the Final Form 1040
  • What should be filed and reported
  • Who Must File the Return
  • Income, Losses and Deductions to be Reported
  • Estimated Taxes, Liabilities and Refunds
  • Income in Respect of a Decedent (IRD) Considerations
• The Final Income Tax Return for a Decedent
• Items of Income and Deduction
• Elections that Affect the Fiduciary Income Tax Return
• Disclaimers
• Code Section 6166 Installment Payments
• Marital Deduction Planning
• Electing the Alternate Valuation Date
• Electing Special Use Valuation for Real Property Used in Farming or Closely Held Businesses
• Section 754 Election to Adjust the Basis of Partnership Assets
• Special Elections to Protect a Corporation's S Corporation Election

Learning Objectives

• Describe the tax reporting requirements for a decedent client's final Form 1040
• Discuss the key unique post-death elections and decisions that should be considered for a decedent client
• Recognize how to accurately answer client questions regarding tax issues for a decedent
• Recognize when the final income tax return of a decedent is due
• Identify how S corporation income is reported to a deceased S corporation shareholder in the year of death
• Recognize correct statements regarding carryovers
• Identify true statements regarding the year end of an estate
• Recognize which form is used to make portability election
• Recognize when an election must be filed within how many month to allow S corporation treatment to continue, when a trust becomes an S corporation shareholder

Level
Intermediate

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Taxes (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of federal individual income taxes and transfer taxes.

Advance Preparation
None