MTW <mtwingcpa[at]yahoo.com> wrote:
- quote -

My experience is the IRS doesn't write the TP, but it tells
the financial institution to take mandatory withholding.

If that happens, I have the client paper file and attach a
statement that the income is being declared for deceased,
with minimal estate, and client is the beneficiary. Both
income and withholding are claimed by client and it seems to
go through OK.

--
Art Kamlet ArtKamlet [at] AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->

Joe Faber wrote:

- quote -

That's what I would do.

She MIGHT receive a letter from the IRS inquiring as to why
your father's social security number is still in use. If,
so, just explain that the situation was an oversight and
that it has been corrected.

MTW

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->

Last year my dad passed away. His will left everything to
my mom who was also Personal Representative. Most accounts
and assets were jointly held and the company stock he owned
was quickly transferred to my mom (before any dividends were
paid). Because of that, she never filed for an estate EIN,
nor did she file a form 56. She filed his final 1040
jointly. Obviously, there was no 1041 because the estate
had no income.

Come to find out, she missed one of the stocks: AT&T
Wireless. They were just bought out by Cingular and all
shareholders were issued checks for $15/share. The 1099-B
was issued using my dad's SSN. We've contacted Cingular and
AT&T Wireless and they flat refuse to accept transfer
paperwork, reissue the check, or even to correct the SSN to
a hypothetical Estate EIN. They're claiming the sale is
closed and they can do nothing to change it. The check was
for over $1000, but the gain (computed using the stepped up
basis) is less than $600. Now for the questions:

Should my mom obtain an EIN, file form 56, file a 1041 with
Schedule D to report the income and Schedule K-1 to
redistribute the gain to herself? The instructions say that
1041 isn't required if gross income is less than $600, so
I'm not sure if she needs to go to the trouble.

If she doesn't need to file a 1041, is there any reason to
obtain an EIN? Or to file form 56 (which seems to require an
EIN as a prerequisite?

Does filing for an EIN somehow "make it okay" in the IRS's
vast inscrutable auditing machine that the 1099-B was issued
to my dad's SSN instead of his estate's, or does it not make
any difference?

Should she just cash the check, report the gain on her own
schedule D and stop worrying?

Thanks
-joe

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->