After doing people's taxes for over two decades, one of the worst parts of it is when your client's die and you have to help pick up the pieces. It is sad that in so many households only one of the spouses does all the accounting and taxes. If that spouse dies first, time and again I have found that the remaining spouse has no clue where to even start to put all the financial pieces together again.
It gets to be an even bigger challenge if the remaining spouse dies and the siblings have to figure things out, like distributing the assets or filing the final tax returns. So what happens when someone dies during the year and has a tax filing obligation?
When someone is deceased, the decedent's personal representative is generally required to file any final tax returns for the deceased person. That includes federal and state income tax returns that the decedent would have been required to file for the year of his or her death. A personal representative can be a remaining spouse, sibling, executor, or anyone else designated to oversee the decedent’s property.
Filing a final tax return for a deceased spouse
If your spouse died during the year, you are considered married for the entire year for federal income tax purposes, provided you didn’t remarry that year. So, for example, if your spouse died this year and you don’t remarry before Dec. 31, 2025, you can file a joint 2025 return this year. The return would show your spouse’s income before death and would show your income for the entire year.
- You would mark “married filing jointly” for your filing status and include your spouse’s name and your name and address as normal in the name and address fields of Form 1040 or 1040-SR.
- If filing a paper return, write the word “deceased,” along with the decedent’s name, and date of death, at the top of the 1040 or 1040-SR.
- If you are using tax preparation software, the software will do this automatically for you once you mark that the spouse is deceased and enter the date of your spouse's death.
If there is a court-appointed personal representative, that representative must sign the return with the surviving spouse. If there is no court-appointed representative, the surviving spouse will sign, and write “filing as surviving spouse” in the decedent’s signature box.
If you are filing a joint return that shows a refund due, there is nothing you need to do to receive the refund, other than filing the tax return.
Note: If you remarried before the end of last year, 2024, you file a joint return with your new spouse, and your deceased spouse’s filing status will be married filing separately. This is because the way you file depends on your legal situation on December 31 of the filing year.
Filing a final tax return for a deceased spouse with dependent children
The qualifying widow or widower filing status lets surviving spouses with dependents use the income tax brackets and standard deductions for joint filers for two years after a spouse’s death. The theory here being that it gives the surviving a couple of years to get their financial house in order before the standard deduction lowers to the head of household amount.
For example, if your spouse died last year and you have two minor children, you can file a joint 2025 return. Then for your 2026 and 2027 returns, you can file as a qualifying widow or widower, provided you are still unmarried at the end of 2025 and 2026 and claim dependent children for these years.
Filing a final tax return for an unmarried decedent
The decedent’s final tax return would report his or her income and expenses before death. If filing a paper return for the decedent, write the word “deceased” and the decedent’s name and date of death at the top of the 1040 or 1040-SR. If you’re using tax preparation software, the software will do this automatically for you once you mark that the filer is deceased and enter the date of death.
You also mark the decedent’s filing status as single or head-of-household, depending on the situation. You write the decedent’s name on the name appropriate line and the personal representative’s name and address in the remaining name and address field.
If there is a court-appointed or court-certified personal representative, that representative should sign the return. If no court-appointed representative nor surviving spouse, then whoever is in charge of the decedent’s property signs the return as the personal representative.
If a refund is due to the decedent, you may have to complete and attach Form 1310 to the final 1040 or 1040-SR income tax form. This rule does not apply to surviving spouses who file a joint return with the decedent. Nor does it apply to court-appointed or court-certified personal representatives, who are instead required to attach to the return a copy of the court document showing the appointment. However, all other filers requesting the decedent’s tax refund must attach Form 1310.
What happens if you don't file a deceased person's taxes?
This depends on whether the decedent owes money to the IRS or is due a refund for the year.
- If the decedent is required to file a return for the year and owes money with the final return, then the IRS will eventually send a notice to the decedent's last-known address about the requirement to file a return.
- If the taxes aren't paid, then the IRS could eventually go after the executor, or maybe even the decedent's heirs to the extent the heirs received the decedent's property upon death, for the unpaid taxes.
- If the decedent is owed a refund, and no final income tax return is ever filed, then the decedent's heirs will not get the refund payment. This is because the law states you have three years to claim a refund or lose it forever.