Executor question -- tax filing, etc.

[Release The Hounds]

My girlfriend was aiding a man in his 70s for several years, helping him with chores as well as keeping him company in the nursing home he was in. He passed away last year, but had appointed my gf as his executor with Power of Attorney and Power of Medical; he had 2 daughters who lived locally but had become estranged from them after he caught them stealing money from his accounts.

The court date to review the assignment of executor and validate the will will be in a few months.

My gf has since learned that this man had not filed tax returns in many years. He was on Social Security and received some sort of benefit from the VA due to his military service. I believe his SS benefits were around $25K a year. Right now, she cannot access his Social Security account online since she is not officially appointed by the court. I suggested logging onto his account and retrieving his tax transcript to find out the last time he filed.

Given how little money he earned, do you think there is any issue with him not filing? The only thing that I can see is that in order to file a tax return for his estate, his personal filings need to be up to date. My gf does not have any financial information except for what his bank account was at the time he died.

Thanks.

 

[Brat]

I would visit my local IRS office with the information she has and ask them what to do.

 

[Release The Hounds]

Thanks, but I was under the impression that no one at Social Security would be able to discuss his case until her court appointment is approved?

 

[ERD50]

Thanks, but I was under the impression that no one at Social Security would be able to discuss his case until her court appointment is approved?

Call the SS office and ask. Laws vary by State, it could be that your current paperwork is sufficient to gain access to that info?

My local courthouse was helpful when I settled my MIL's estate. I didn't get any legal-eze run-around, just a pretty clear, lay-person explanation of what I needed.

-ERD50

 

[Brat]

Given the fact that this is tax filing season, the local office may not have an appointment time available until after the court has blessed her executor assignment. Ask them how they want to handle this.

I assume the deceased had a will. If your gf will not inherit anything and there is insufficient cash resources to pay her your state's customary executor fees she should consider letting the court's contracted executors handle this. The estranged daughters will likely be difficult.

 

[Sunset]

OP - Your gf will be doing some running around and work etc to be executrix, in many States, the executor/executrix has the right to charge a fee of a few percent of the estate.

It seems that in IL, there is no set percentage, so best to track the hours she puts into it, and the trips needed. Then assign a reasonable hourly rate.

Now, if the Will says she gets everything, then it doesn't matter.

 

[PatrickA5]

It's possible that if all he got was SS and VA benefits, then he might not have needed to file tax returns.

 

[Release The Hounds]

OP - Your gf will be doing some running around and work etc to be executrix, in many States, the executor/executrix has the right to charge a fee of a few percent of the estate.

It seems that in IL, there is no set percentage, so best to track the hours she puts into it, and the trips needed. Then assign a reasonable hourly rate.

Now, if the Will says she gets everything, then it doesn't matter.

He had a small savings account and he named her as sole beneficiary in his will.

 

[sengsational]

I doubt he needed to file, given what we know so far from this thread.

You could open your own tax software and put in the basic information that you know.

Unless he was pulling from tIRA, it doesn't sound like he was showing any significant taxable income. The $25K in SS isn't taxable, and the deduction is $13,850, so any interest from savings should be way below that.

 

[pb4uski]

+1 If his SS was $25k then his VA income would have to be more than $12,500 for any of his SS to be taxable.

She should probably look thrh his bank statements for a few months to see if she can get a sense of his income.

 

[RetireBy90]

To those that have replied, what if he had taxes withheld from either income source, then still need to file if only to get back any taxes withheld. This is my position with mom's estate. She only had about $20K of income (Pension, SS, and RMD) but had about $2K in withholding so I have to find a way to file to get that back.

I have filed for her for about 10 years now and TT requires drivers license info before you can E-File. Previously I had sister get the license and read the required info to me over the phone but if she didn't save the license then can't do that. Hrmm. Now that I've finished our taxes guess I'll play phone monkey with IRS to see what they have to say unless someone here can provide experience on how they filed the taxes for departed.

 

[pb4uski]

To those that have replied, what if he had taxes withheld from either income source, then still need to file if only to get back any taxes withheld. This is my position with mom's estate. She only had about $20K of income (Pension, SS, and RMD) but had about $2K in withholding so I have to find a way to file to get that back.

I have filed for her for about 10 years now and TT requires drivers license info before you can E-File. Previously I had sister get the license and read the required info to me over the phone but if she didn't save the license then can't do that. Hrmm. Now that I've finished our taxes guess I'll play phone monkey with IRS to see what they have to say unless someone here can provide experience on how they filed the taxes for departed.

On the first part, you're right that if he had withholding and wanted a refund that he would need to file... however, it may be that there were no withholdings from his SS or VA income so there may be no withholdings or they may be negligible enough that it wasn't worth preparing a return to get them back.

On the second part, you could always print and file. Have you tried just hitting Continue and see what happens? I've had instances where I did that and it just skipped to the next screen. Worst case, put in your license since you are the executor and see if that works.

 

[meierlde]

To those that have replied, what if he had taxes withheld from either income source, then still need to file if only to get back any taxes withheld. This is my position with mom's estate. She only had about $20K of income (Pension, SS, and RMD) but had about $2K in withholding so I have to find a way to file to get that back.

I have filed for her for about 10 years now and TT requires drivers license info before you can E-File. Previously I had sister get the license and read the required info to me over the phone but if she didn't save the license then can't do that. Hrmm. Now that I've finished our taxes guess I'll play phone monkey with IRS to see what they have to say unless someone here can provide experience on how they filed the taxes for departed.

Of course you could still file the old fashioned way by mail. Send it certified mail an you have a receipt to prove that you did file, even if it never reaches the irs

 

[sengsational]

It takes a long time to answer all of the questions, but the IRS has a tool to check if someone needs to file.

Do I Need to File a Tax Return? | Internal Revenue Service

 

[Brat]

I have a relative who probably doesn't need to file but do so anyway just in case they raise an issue.

 

[RetireBy90]

To close the loop somewhat, I did E-File with TT today. It asked for info for form 1310 and I had to enter drivers license info but other than that it was same as any other E-File. Also allowed me to enter my bank RTN and account for the refund. Due to only 3 months of pension and a small RMD she had no tax due so the entire withholding will be a refund to be distributed per her will. Thanks for confirmation from posters.



I figure I will keep last 5 years of returns, and say end of 2025 will be free to dispose of all remaining tax records. Any thoughts ?

 

[ncbill]

Good chance that "VA income" is really a payment for service-related disability, so tax-free.

Unless he specifically asked for withholding from his SS retirement (doubtful) it's probable he did not need to file for just those two "income" sources.

 

[Scratchy]

My girlfriend was aiding a man in his 70s for several years, helping him with chores as well as keeping him company in the nursing home he was in. He passed away last year, but had appointed my gf as his executor with Power of Attorney and Power of Medical; he had 2 daughters who lived locally but had become estranged from them after he caught them stealing money from his accounts.

The court date to review the assignment of executor and validate the will will be in a few months.

My gf has since learned that this man had not filed tax returns in many years. He was on Social Security and received some sort of benefit from the VA due to his military service. I believe his SS benefits were around $25K a year. Right now, she cannot access his Social Security account online since she is not officially appointed by the court. I suggested logging onto his account and retrieving his tax transcript to find out the last time he filed.

Given how little money he earned, do you think there is any issue with him not filing? The only thing that I can see is that in order to file a tax return for his estate, his personal filings need to be up to date. My gf does not have any financial information except for what his bank account was at the time he died.

Thanks.

She should not have to think these things through too much. Especially if there is an issue such as tax liabilities, your gf should hire a probate attorney (fees will be paid by the estate) and follow the attorney's advice to the letter. At least in my state, an executor can be held personally liable if they mishandle things.