Death Certificate Required

[thomtax]

Am unable to locate the answer in TTB, so hopefully one of you can help.

If a spouse dies within a year, and the survivor spouse files a MFJ return for the year, is it necessary to send the IRS a copy of the death certificate? If so, what is the procedure?

Thanks for any and all help.

LT

[taxea]

No. TP files MFJ and there is a place to put the date of death on the return. Then you be sure to have a certified copy of it to keep in your file.

[Koss]

Date of Death

FYI--

Form 1040 does not have, and has never had, a box or field in which to enter the date of death. The instructions may direct you to enter the date of death somewhere at the top, or next to the taxpayer's name. Your software should take care of it. But there is no box or space designated for this information.

Also, I know of no regulation that requires the tax pro to have a certified copy of the death certificate in their records. It is certainly a good practice to request, and keep, a plain photocopy, or a scanned image of the death certificate. But even that may not be required. If you have real doubt as to whether the person died, then that raises all sorts of other questions. In most cases, it is fairly easy to confirm the death without requiring that the surviving spouse produce a certified copy that the tax pro is going to keep. Certified copies cost money, and that's an expense that the client doesn't need.

BMK

[dan doshan]

KOSS .. I am so used to entering the date of death in the software that I really never actually thought about it. You made me look at a 1040. But as I recall now, when entered into the software, doesn't the date of death get transcribed onto the top of the 1040. I know it shows up somewhere on the 1040 and I think it is the top of.

[thomtax]

Thanks for the replies. I have one of the death certificates. She got several copies from the funeral home.

When you enter the date of death in Drake software, it prints the deceased date in the space where the name is entered and shows as surviving spouse doing the filing in the signature space. I had everything filed okay but just did not know whether to send in the certificate.

LT

[Koss]

Date of Death

Pub. 559 says:

[quote]
Write the word “DECEASED,” the decedent's name, and the date of death across the top of the tax return. If filing a joint return, write the name and address of the decedent and the surviving spouse in the name and address space. If a joint return is not being filed, write the decedent's name in the name space and the personal representative's name and address in the remaining space.
[/quote

So, yes, you're right. What I meant in my earlier post is that Form 1040 doesn't have a specific box or space for the date of death. It also doesn't have a place for anyone's date of birth.

BMK

[thomtax]

Koss,

Just to clarify, if this was in reply to my post, I was in no way trying to correct you. I was just passing along the info about how my software handled things for general info.

Have a good season.

LT

[QUOTE=Koss;130792]Pub. 559 says:

Write the word “DECEASED,” the decedent's name, and the date of death across the top of the tax return. If filing a joint return, write the name and address of the decedent and the surviving spouse in the name and address space. If a joint return is not being filed, write the decedent's name in the name space and the personal representative's name and address in the remaining space.
[/quote

So, yes, you're right. What I meant in my earlier post is that Form 1040 doesn't have a specific box or space for the date of death. It also doesn't have a place for anyone's date of birth.

BMK