Discipline
Tax
Tax after a death is smaller than most people fear and more precise than most guides admit. This discipline separates the final income tax return, which almost every estate must file, from the estate tax, which almost none will ever owe, and marks the few dates that genuinely bind.
You will be able to file the returns a death requires, tell the final income tax from the estate tax, and meet the few dates that truly bind.
The topics
Primary sources
Every statute, form, and agency cited here. When in doubt, trust these over anyone, including us.
Government
- Internal Revenue Service: Filing a final federal tax return for someone who has diedThe agency's plainest statement of who files, how to mark the return, the filing status options and when Form 1310 is required.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: File the final income tax returns of a deceased personConfirms that unfiled prior year returns may also be required and that the filer is responsible for paying any balance and claiming any refund.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: About Form 1310The form itself, with instructions on who must attach it and what documentation goes with it.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and AdministratorsThe full guide for anyone handling a deceased person's tax affairs. Dense, but it is the authoritative answer to most questions in this discipline.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Deceased personThe agency's index page linking every form, publication and procedure that touches a death, in one place.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: File an estate tax income tax returnThe $600 gross income threshold, the employer identification number requirement, the calendar or fiscal year choice, the due dates and the Form 7004 extension.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Information for executorsA short index of every filing an executor may face, useful as a checklist against what you have already done.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Estate and gift tax, current exclusion amountsThe basic exclusion amount by year of death, including $15,000,000 for 2026 and $13,990,000 for 2025, and the statement of how portability works.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Frequently asked questions on estate taxesThe nine month deadline, the Form 4768 extension, what the gross estate includes, and the fair market value standard.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Revenue Procedure 2022-32The simplified method for a late portability election, including the five year window and the exact conditions an estate must meet.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: 2026 inflation adjustments news releaseThe source of the 2026 figures, including the $15,000,000 exclusion and the $19,000 annual gift exclusion, with the revenue procedure reference.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Instructions for Form 706The return's own instructions, which is where the detail on schedules, valuation and the portability statement actually lives.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Gifts and inheritances frequently asked questionsThe direct answer that inherited property is not taxable income, and how basis is determined for a later sale.opens in a new tab
- Internal Revenue Service: Publication 551, Basis of AssetsThe general rules for establishing and proving basis, including inherited property, which is what a future sale will turn on.opens in a new tab