Taxes
After a Spouse Dies: Build the Tax-Year Filing Map
A source-led roadmap for separating the final individual return, a possible estate return, filing status, refund authority, and the records each decision requires.
The Taxes desk
Taxes
Filing status, final returns, basis, and the years of filing alone.
36 guides · page 1 of 2
Taxes
Tax Planning After Widowhood: A 10-Year Map for Filing Alone
Build a careful multi-year tax plan after widowhood, coordinating filing status, RMDs, Roth conversions, Medicare IRMAA, investments, and charitable giving.
Taxes
Tax Documents to Gather After Your Spouse Dies
Build a preparer-ready file for the final joint return, estate income tax return, asset basis, medical expenses, and possible estate tax filing.
Taxes
Year-End Income Planning After Widowhood
A multi-year guide to retirement distributions, gains, filing status, estimated tax, Medicare IRMAA, and lawful income timing after a spouse dies.
Taxes
When an IRS Refund or Tax Bill Looks Wrong: A Careful Response Plan
Learn how to verify an unexpected IRS refund or tax bill, protect response deadlines, trace payments, document a dispute, and choose the correct remedy.
Taxes
Filing Taxes Alone After a Spouse Dies: A First-Return Guide
Prepare and review your first tax return after a spouse's death with a filing-status test, document map, preparer checklist, payment review, and security controls.
Taxes
Estate EIN: When You Need One and How to Apply Safely
Determine whether an estate needs an EIN, apply free through the IRS, identify the responsible party, avoid duplicates, and protect the confirmation record.
Taxes
Inherited Foreign Accounts: FBAR, Form 8938, and Estate Reporting
How to inventory inherited foreign accounts, separate FBAR from Form 8938, value assets, and manage U.S. estate reporting.
Taxes
Inherited Rental Property: Basis, Depreciation, Income, and Sale
Establish inherited rental-property basis, allocate land and building value, restart depreciation correctly, report income, and preserve records for a sale.
Taxes
Charitable Giving After Widowhood: The 2026 Deduction Rules
How the 2026 non-itemizer deduction, itemized-deduction floor, filing status, gift timing, and appreciated assets affect charitable planning.
Taxes
Widow's Tax Checklist: Year of Death Through Year Three
A federal and state tax calendar for the year of death through year three, covering final returns, Form 1041, filing status, estimates, portability, basis, and records.
Taxes
Free and Low-Cost Tax Help After a Spouse Dies: Where to Start
How to choose among IRS Free File, VITA, TCE, Low Income Taxpayer Clinics, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service after a spouse dies.
Taxes
Missing Tax Records After a Death: How to Reconstruct the File
A step-by-step guide to lawful access, IRS transcripts, prior returns, third-party documents, and reconciling a deceased spouse's tax file.
Taxes
IRS Penalty Relief After Bereavement: How to Make the Request
An evidence-led guide to reasonable cause, first-time relief, correcting a missed filing, requesting abatement, appealing a denial, and treating interest separately.
Taxes
How Annuity Payments Are Taxed: A Survivor's Decision Guide
A practical guide to identifying an annuity, reading Form 1099-R, tracing investment in the contract, and reporting survivor payments, withdrawals, or surrender.
Taxes
Are Life Insurance Proceeds Taxable? Income and Estate Tax Guide
Learn when life insurance death benefits, interest, installments, retained-asset accounts, policy transfers, and estate inclusion can create tax or reporting obligations.
Taxes
Year-of-Death RMDs: Rules for a Surviving Spouse and Beneficiaries
Determine whether a year-of-death RMD remains due, who must take it, how account and beneficiary rules differ, and how to correct a missed distribution.
Taxes
How Retirement Withdrawals Are Taxed After a Spouse Dies
Compare inherited and personal retirement accounts, taxable basis, early-distribution rules, rollovers, withholding, RMDs, and the wider cost of a withdrawal.
Taxes
State Taxes After a Death: A Multi-State Filing and Residency Guide
A practical guide to state income, estate, inheritance, property, and fiduciary tax questions after a spouse dies.