Question

Death of Taxpayer or Spouse Filing in the Subsequent Year

Accepted Answer

When filing a return, the first year after the taxpayer or spouse has died, you can either import the prior year information into the return, and then make changes, or skip the import process and enter return details manually.

If you choose to import the prior year’s information, if the spouse was the deceased you need to:

Go through the return and remove all imported information for the spouse (i.e. any imported Forms W-2, 1099, etc.).
Remove the personal information on the spouse screen (i.e. name, SSN, date of birth, and occupation). See Changing Basic Information (Name, SSN, Birthdate) for details.
Change the filing status to what is appropriate in the current year. See Filing Status - Entering in Program for details.

These things must be done in the order listed, because once the filing status is changed, you will no longer have access to the screens containing spouse information.

If the primary taxpayer was the one who died, you can manually change the ownership of imported forms and then update the basic information and filing status, however, you may want to skip the import and start a new return with the surviving spouse as the primary taxpayer instead.

Accepted Answer

When filing a return, the first year after the taxpayer or spouse has died, you can either import the prior year information into the return, and then make changes, or skip the import process and enter return details manually.

If you choose to import the prior year’s information, if the spouse was the deceased you need to:

Go through the return and remove all imported information for the spouse (i.e. any imported Forms W-2, 1099, etc.).
Remove the personal information on the spouse screen (i.e. name, SSN, date of birth, and occupation). See Changing Basic Information (Name, SSN, Birthdate) for details.
Change the filing status to what is appropriate in the current year. See Filing Status - Entering in Program for details.

These things must be done in the order listed, because once the filing status is changed, you will no longer have access to the screens containing spouse information.

If the primary taxpayer was the one who died, you can manually change the ownership of imported forms and then update the basic information and filing status, however, you may want to skip the import and start a new return with the surviving spouse as the primary taxpayer instead.