Efiling Form 1310

[Burke]

I have researched the board and find yea's and no's on this subject in 2013 and 2014. Any clarification on e-filing Form 1310 for a deceased by a non-spouse, court-appointed representative? I am getting red errors, saying "must be paper-filed."

[David1980]

There is a few rejects that can prevent a 1310 from e-filing.

F1310-009
Form 1310, Part II, Line 2a 'CourtAppointedRepInd' must have a choice of "No" indicated.

F1310-010
Form 1310, Part II, Line 2b 'RepresentativeToBeAppointedInd' must have a choice of "No"

F1310-011
Form 1310, Part II, line 3 'PaymentAccordingToStateLawInd' must have a choice of "Yes" indicated.

What that means, is if on 1310 you checked Part 1 question B you cannot e-file that return. Instead it has to be filed on paper with the court certificate attached. I find that when I ask the taxpayer these questions I always have to ask them more than once. Has a court appointed a personal representative for the estate of the decedent? I get a "Yes" a lot of the time - I think they're just giving me the answer they think I want. Of course then I have to ask again whether a court was involved at all. Often I get the "I don't know" at that point. So I send them away to get a copy of the court certificate and they figure out that their estate didn't need to go through court and we move on.

Note that Part I question A confuses some people sometimes as well. If they're filing an original MFJ tax return they're not requesting a reissuance of a check - that would happen if they failed to file the original return correctly and got a check with both names and need to get the check reissued with only one name. The only option in Part I that can be e-filed is option C.

Another source of confusion is that the 1310 isn't needed at all when they're filing a MFJ return with the deceased.

In your case, assuming there really is a court-appointed representative business rule F1310-009 will prevent e-file.

[Burke]

Thank you very much. I have the court appointment papers, so I definitely had to answer that question as a "yes." Mother is filing for daughter. There is an estate checking account and I have indicated direct deposit into it. I was debating about putting "Estate of XXXXX" on the line for person applying for refund on the 1310 and using the Estate ID# in lieu of the mother's SSN. What do you think?

[taxea]

if the mother is an appointed rep have her also file F56

[Burke]

Not necessary.

[taxea]

maybe so but possibly prudent