“Information Bits from the Boss: Samantha provides brief answers to clients frequently asked questions”

​               What if the decedent dies and you are not sure if the decedent filed the appropriate income tax return?
 
This question combines estate administration and income tax. The first thing to know is that if you are named as the executor under the last will and testament, and you have been properly appointed through the court, then you do have the legal authority to reach out to the IRS and determine whether or not income tax returns have been filed previous years by the decedent. Depending what years you are asking about and how close they are to when the decedent died, it may just be as simple as jumping on the IRS website and finding it that way. You can also call into the IRS because the IRS does have a number in which you can request those previously filed tax returns. The IRS does have a form in which the executor does have to fill out, in order to be given the authority to ask for that information and they do have to include the appropriate paperwork along with the form showing that he or she was properly appointed as the executor. One of the reasons that you might want to do that is just to make sure that there aren’t any outstanding tax liens as part of the estate administration process that you have to deal with. If you have additional questions, please contact our office.