2016 Form 1041 Instructions

[Francoise Witsell]

Calendaryear estates and trusts must file Form 1041 by April 15, 2024. If you live in Maine or Massachusetts, you have until April 17, 2024, because of the Patriots' Day and Emancipation Day holidays.

We encourage you to use Form 1041-V, Payment Voucher for Estates and Trusts, to accompany your payment of a balance of tax due on Form 1041, particularly if your payment is made by check or money order.

Generally, an NOL arising in a tax year beginning in 2021 or later may not be carried back and instead must be carried forward indefinitely. However, farming losses arising in tax years beginning in 2021 or later may be carried back 2 years and carried forward indefinitely.

Under Final Regulations - TD9918, each excess deduction on termination of an estate or trust retains its separate character as an amount allowed in arriving at adjusted gross income (AGI), a non-miscellaneous itemized deduction, or a miscellaneous itemized deduction.

With the exception of grantor trusts, if you held a qualified investment in a qualified opportunity fund (QOF) at any time during the year, you must file your return with Form 8997, Initial and Annual Statement of Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) Investments, attached to your return. For more information, see Form 8997 and its instructions.

If the estate has made a section 645 election, the executor must check item G and provide the taxpayer identification number (TIN) of the electing trust with the highest total asset value in the box provided.

The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Photographs of missing children selected by the Center may appear in instructions on pages that would otherwise be blank. You can help bring these children home by looking at the photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.

TAS is an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers and protects taxpayer rights. TAS strives to ensure that every taxpayer is treated fairly and that you know and understand your rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights describes 10 basic rights that all taxpayers have when dealing with the IRS. Go to TaxpayerAdvocate.IRS.gov to help you understand what these rights mean to you and how they apply. These are your rights. Know them. Use them.

TAS can help you resolve problems that you can't resolve with the IRS. And their service is free. If you qualify for their assistance, you will be assigned to one advocate who will work with you throughout the process and will do everything possible to resolve your issue. TAS can help you if:

TAS works to resolve large-scale problems that affect many taxpayers. If you know of one of these broad issues, report it to TAS at IRS.gov/SAMS. Be sure to not include any personal taxpayer information.

The estate or trust can download or print all of the forms and publications it may need on IRS.gov/FormsPubs. Otherwise, the estate or trust can go to IRS.gov/OrderForms to place an order and have forms mailed to it. The IRS will process your order for forms and publications as soon as possible.

A trust or a decedent's estate is a separate legal entity for federal tax purposes. A decedent's estate comes into existence at the time of death of an individual. A trust may be created during an individual's life (inter vivos) or at the time of their death under a will (testamentary). If the trust instrument contains certain provisions, then the person creating the trust (the grantor) is treated as the owner of the trust's assets. Such a trust is a grantor type trust. See Grantor Type Trusts, later, under Special Reporting Instructions.

Certain trust arrangements claim to reduce or eliminate federal taxes in ways that are not permitted under the law. Abusive trust arrangements are typically promoted by the promise of tax benefits with no meaningful change in the taxpayer's control over or benefit from the taxpayer's income or assets. The promised benefits may include reduction or elimination of income subject to tax; deductions for personal expenses paid by the trust; depreciation deductions of an owner's personal residence and furnishings; a stepped-up basis for property transferred to the trust; the reduction or elimination of self-employment taxes; and the reduction or elimination of gift and estate taxes. These promised benefits are inconsistent with the tax rules applicable to trust arrangements.

The administration costs of the estate or trust (the total of lines 12, 14, and 15a to the extent they are costs incurred in the administration of the estate or trust) that wouldn't have been incurred if the property were not held by the estate or trust.

Compute the AGI of the S portion of an ESBT in the same manner as an individual taxpayer, except that administration costs allocable to the S portion (to the extent they are costs incurred in the administration of the trust that wouldn't have been incurred if the property were not held by the estate or trust) shall be deducted in arriving at AGI.

The decedent's estate is an entity that is formed at the time of an individual's death and is generally charged with gathering the decedent's assets, paying the decedent's debts and expenses, and distributing the remaining assets. Generally, the estate consists of all the property, real or personal, tangible or intangible, wherever situated, that the decedent owned an interest in at death.

The income distribution deduction allowable to estates and trusts for amounts paid, credited, or required to be distributed to beneficiaries is limited to DNI. This amount, which is figured on Schedule B, line 7, is also used to determine how much of an amount paid, credited, or required to be distributed to a beneficiary will be includible in their gross income.

The portion of a lump-sum distribution to the beneficiary of a decedent's individual retirement arrangement (IRA) that equals the balance in the IRA at the time of the owner's death. This includes unrealized appreciation and income accrued to that date, less the aggregate amount of the owner's nondeductible contributions to the IRA. Such amounts are included in the beneficiary's gross income in the tax year that the distribution is received.

Income required to be distributed currently is income that is required under the terms of the governing instrument and applicable local law to be distributed in the year it is received. The fiduciary must be under a duty to distribute the income currently, even if the actual distribution is not made until after the close of the trust's tax year. See Regulations section 1.651(a)-2.

A trust is an arrangement created either by a will or by an inter vivos declaration by which trustees take title to property for the purpose of protecting or conserving it for the beneficiaries under the ordinary rules applied in chancery or probate courts.

A revocable living trust is an arrangement created by a written agreement or declaration during the life of an individual and can be changed or ended at any time during the individual's life. A revocable living trust is generally created to manage and distribute property. Many people use this type of trust instead of (or in addition to) a will.

Be sure to read Optional Filing Methods for Certain Grantor Type Trusts, later. Generally, most people that have revocable living trusts will be able to use Optional Method 1. This method is the easiest and least burdensome way to meet your obligations.

An estate is a domestic estate if it isn't a foreign estate. A foreign estate is one the income of which is from sources outside the United States that isn't effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. trade or business and isn't includible in gross income. If you are the fiduciary of a foreign estate, file Form 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return, instead of Form 1041.

If all or any portion of a trust is a grantor type trust, then that trust or portion of a trust must follow the special reporting requirements discussed later under Special Reporting Instructions. See Grantor Type Trust under Specific Instructions, later, for more details on what makes a trust a grantor type trust.

Section 645 provides that if both the executor (if any) of an estate (the related estate) and the trustee of a qualified revocable trust (QRT) elect the treatment in section 645, the trust must be treated and taxed as part of the related estate during the election period. This election may be made by a QRT even if no executor is appointed for the related estate.

In general, a QRT is any trust (or part of a trust) that, on the day the decedent died, was treated as owned by the decedent because the decedent held the power to revoke the trust as described in section 676. An electing trust is a QRT for which a section 645 election has been made.

All QRTs must obtain a new TIN following the death of the decedent whether or not a section 645 election is made. (Use Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, to notify payers of the new TIN.)

The executor must attach a statement to Form 1041 providing the following information for each electing trust (including the electing trust provided in item G): (a) the name of the electing trust, (b) the TIN of the electing trust, and (c) the name and address of the trustee of the electing trust.

The related estate and the electing trust are treated as separate shares for purposes of computing DNI and applying distribution provisions. Also, each of those shares can contain two or more separate shares. For more information, see Separate share rule, later, and Regulations section 1.645-1(e)(2)(iii).

The tax year of the electing trust closes on the last day of the election period, and the Form 1041 filed for that tax year includes all items of income, deduction, and credit for the electing trust for the period beginning with the first day of the tax year and ending with the last day of the election period.

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