How to file taxes for a deceased person: the final return

Dana found the envelope in February, about nine months after her mother died. It was a W-2 from the school district where her mother had worked part-time in the cafeteria, plus a 1099 from a bank Dana didn't know her mother used. She sat at the kitchen table holding both and realized, with a small sinking feeling, that someone was going to have to file taxes for a deceased person. That someone was her.

If you're the executor, or the person who ended up handling things, this is one of the chores nobody warns you about. Death doesn't end a person's tax obligations for the year. Someone still has to report the income they earned up to the day they died, claim any refund they're owed, and sometimes file a separate return for the estate itself. This guide walks through who files, what forms are involved, when it's due, and where families tend to get tripped up. Tax rules change, and every situation is a little different, so treat this as a starting point and consider talking to a CPA or enrolled agent before you file.

Who files taxes for a deceased person?

The executor named in the will, or the administrator appointed by the probate court, files the final tax return. The IRS calls this person the "personal representative." If there's no executor and no probate, whoever is in charge of the person's property can file.

Married couples have another option. A surviving spouse can file a joint return for the year of death, combining their own income with their late spouse's, as long as they haven't remarried before the end of that year. That's often the simplest route and usually comes with a lower tax bill than filing separately. If the spouse has a dependent child, they may also qualify for the "qualifying surviving spouse" status for the following two years, which keeps the joint-return tax rates.

If you've been named executor and don't yet have the paperwork from the court, our guide to what probate is and how it works explains how you get "letters testamentary," the document that proves you have authority to act. You'll want it for the IRS, and for nearly everyone else.

It's worth filing IRS Form 56 early on, too. It tells the IRS that you're now acting on the person's behalf, so letters and notices come to you instead of to an empty mailbox.

What goes on the final return

The final return is a regular Form 1040. It covers income from January 1 of the year of death up to the date of death, and nothing after that.

So if your father died on June 10, his final return includes his wages through June 10, the Social Security he received through that point, any interest his accounts earned before that date, and any retirement withdrawals he took while he was alive. Interest that his savings account earns on June 11 belongs to the estate (more on that below).

A few things about the final return surprise people in a good way. The standard deduction isn't cut down for a partial year. Someone who died in February gets the same full standard deduction as someone who lived through December. If they had big medical bills in their last months, and the estate pays those bills within a year of death, the executor can generally choose to deduct them on the final return as though the person paid them while alive. IRS Publication 559, written for survivors and executors, goes through this in detail.

When you file, the return needs to show that the taxpayer has died. On a paper return, write "Deceased," the person's name, and the date of death across the top. Tax software has a box for it. The personal representative signs the return. A surviving spouse filing jointly signs on their own line and writes "filing as surviving spouse" in the space for the other signature.

Finding all the income

This was Dana's real problem. Her mother had never kept much in the way of files, and Dana had no way of knowing whether the cafeteria W-2 and the mystery bank 1099 were the whole picture.

The forms usually find you, if you've had the mail forwarded. Employers send a W-2 for the final paycheck. Banks and brokerages send 1099-INT and 1099-DIV forms, retirement plans send 1099-R, and Social Security sends an SSA-1099 in January. Hold off on filing until early March or so, when the stragglers have arrived.

If you suspect something's missing, the executor can request the person's IRS wage and income transcript, which lists every W-2 and 1099 that was reported under their Social Security number. You'll need to send Form 4506-T along with a copy of the death certificate and your letters testamentary. If you haven't ordered enough death certificates yet, our guide on how to get a death certificate covers how many to request. Count one for the IRS if you'll be asking for transcripts or claiming a refund.

How to claim a refund for someone who has died

If the person had taxes withheld from a paycheck or pension, there's a good chance they're owed a refund. To claim it, you'll usually attach Form 1310, Statement of Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer.

There are two situations where you don't need it. A surviving spouse filing a joint return can skip it. So can a court-appointed executor or administrator, provided they attach a copy of the court certificate showing their appointment. Everyone else, such as an adult child handling a small estate without probate, files the 1310.

Refund checks get made out to the estate or the personal representative, not the person who died. If you're not going through probate, check with the bank before you try to deposit one. Some banks will let you deposit it into an estate account, and some will want to see a small estate affidavit first.

When the final return is due

The final federal return is due on the usual deadline for the year the person died, typically April 15 of the next year. A death in March 2026 means a final return due in April 2027. You can request the standard six-month extension the same way anyone else would.

Don't forget about any year that was still open when they died. If someone dies on February 20 before filing for the previous year, the executor also has to file that prior-year return by its normal deadline. People in their last months are often too sick to deal with taxes, and families sometimes discover they're catching up on two or three years at once. If that's you, it's a common situation, and the IRS deals with late returns from estates all the time. Getting a tax professional involved at that point is money well spent.

Most states with an income tax require a final state return too, usually on the same schedule. Check your state revenue department's site for its version of the federal rules.

When the estate needs its own tax return

Once someone dies, the money they left behind becomes the estate's, and the estate is its own taxpayer. If the estate earns $600 or more in gross income in a year, the executor has to file Form 1041, the estate income tax return.

That income usually comes from things like interest on bank accounts that haven't been closed yet, dividends from a brokerage account still waiting to be transferred, rent from a property that hasn't sold, or a final paycheck that arrived after the date of death. A simple estate that's wrapped up within a few months often never hits $600. An estate that takes eighteen months to settle and holds a rental house almost certainly will. To file, the estate needs its own taxpayer number, called an EIN, which you can get for free in a few minutes on the IRS website. Most banks will ask for one before they'll open an estate account anyway.

Estate tax is a different thing entirely, and it's the one people worry about most and need to worry about least. The federal estate tax applies only to estates worth more than $15 million per person in 2026. A handful of states have their own estate or inheritance taxes with much lower thresholds, so it's worth checking if your parent lived somewhere like Massachusetts, Oregon, or Pennsylvania.

Who pays if there's a tax bill?

Taxes owed by the person who died are paid out of their estate. Their children aren't personally on the hook, and neither is a spouse, unless the spouse signs a joint return, which makes both people responsible for that return.

There's one big trap for executors, though. Federal law gives tax debts priority over most other claims, and if you hand out the inheritance to the family before the taxes are settled, you can become personally liable for whatever's left unpaid. It's tempting to distribute things quickly, especially when siblings are asking. Holding back a reserve until the final returns are filed and accepted is the safe move. If you want more certainty, the executor can file Form 4810 to request a prompt assessment, which shortens the time the IRS has to come back with additional taxes from three years to 18 months.

This works much the same way as other debts. Our guide on what happens to debt when you die explains the order creditors get paid in, and why heirs usually don't inherit the bills.

A related note: people who inherit stocks, a house, or other investments usually get what's called a "stepped-up basis." The cost basis resets to the value on the date of death, so if you sell your mother's shares soon after inheriting them, there's often little or no capital gains tax. Inherited IRAs and 401(k)s work differently, and withdrawals from those are generally taxable to the person who inherits them.

A short checklist for the executor

If you only remember a handful of things from this guide, make it these:

File Form 56 so IRS mail comes to you
Keep the person's mail forwarded through at least the following March to catch tax forms
Get an EIN for the estate before opening an estate bank account
File the final Form 1040 by the normal deadline, with Form 1310 if you're claiming a refund and don't qualify for an exception
File Form 1041 if the estate earns $600 or more
Check whether any prior-year returns were never filed
Hold some money back from distributions until the IRS has accepted everything
Keep copies of every return and form for at least three years after the estate closes

Making this easier for whoever comes after you

Dana did get it done, eventually. The bank 1099 turned out to be from a CD her mother had opened in 2011 and apparently forgotten about. Dana found two more accounts the same way, one envelope at a time, over the course of a year. She said afterward that the tax forms themselves weren't the hard part. Not knowing what existed was.

That's the piece you can fix now, for your own family. A list of where you bank, where your retirement accounts are, who your employer is, and who has done your taxes in the past saves your executor months of waiting for envelopes. If you work with a tax preparer, write down their name and number, and tell your executor where you keep past returns. A letter of instruction is a good home for all of it. You could keep that list in When I Die Files, too, alongside the personal letters you want your family to have, so the person sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of 1099s has the practical stuff and the words from you in the same place.