Tax practitioners need special knowledge and skills when working with clients after a family member’s death. There are special tax rules associated with preparing a client’s final Form 1040 and a host of other issues and options that must be carefully addressed. Your clients need you to be at your absolute best as you support them through the necessary steps during those difficult times.
The course provides a practical review of how to prepare the decedent’s final Form 1040 and advise clients on a range of essential post-death elections and decisions.
Publication Date: August 2021
Designed For
This course is essential for CPAs, CFPs, enrolled agents, estate planners, tax attorneys and other professionals who advise clients on tax, retirement and estate planning, and other wealth management matters.
Topics Covered
- Preparing the Final Form 1040
- What should be filed and reported
- Who Must File the Return
- Income, Losses and Deductions to be Reported
- Estimated Taxes, Liabilities and Refunds
- Income in Respect of a Decedent (IRD) Considerations
The Final Income Tax Return for a DecedentItems of Income and DeductionElections that Affect the Fiduciary Income Tax ReturnDisclaimersCode Section 6166 Installment PaymentsMarital Deduction PlanningElecting the Alternate Valuation DateElecting Special Use Valuation for Real Property Used in Farming or Closely Held BusinessesSection 754 Election to Adjust the Basis of Partnership AssetsSpecial Elections to Protect a Corporation's S Corporation Election
Learning Objectives
- Describe the tax reporting requirements for a decedent client's final Form 1040
- Discuss the key unique post-death elections and decisions that should be considered for a decedent client
- Recognize how to accurately answer client questions regarding tax issues for a decedent
- Recognize when the final income tax return of a decedent is due
- Identify how S corporation income is reported to a deceased S corporation shareholder in the year of death
- Recognize correct statements regarding carryovers
- Identify true statements regarding the year end of an estate
- Recognize which form is used to make portability election
- Recognize when an election must be filed within how many month to allow S corporation treatment to continue, when a trust becomes an S corporation shareholder
Level
Intermediate
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Taxes (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of federal individual income taxes and transfer taxes.
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Steven G. Siegel
Steve Siegel is president of The Siegel Group, a Morristown, New Jersey-based national consulting firm specializing in tax consulting, estate planning and advising family business owners and entrepreneurs. He holds a B.S. from Georgetown University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University.
Mr. Siegel is the author of several books, including the Grantor Trust Answer Book published by Wolters Kluwer, and is a nationally-recognized writer and speaker who has lectured extensively throughout the United States on tax, business and estate planning topics. Mr. Siegel has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Alabama Law School Graduate Tax Program and at Seton Hall and Rutgers University law schools.