Did you receive a payment or other property from an estate or trust during the year? If so, here's what you need to know about how it affects your taxes.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
No, the cash your father left you in his will is tax-free.
You don't owe tax when you inherit the stock. You might or might not owe tax when you sell the stock.
When you inherit stock, your "tax basis" in the securities—that is, the value you use to determine your tax gain or loss—is generally the value of the stock on the date of your uncle's death as noted in any estate or inheritance records. So you would owe capital gains tax only on the amount of any appreciation after your uncle's death. If the stock falls in value before you sell it, you would have a tax-saving capital loss.
Cash, stock and real estate are not taxed as income when you inherit them, but you could have taxable gains when you sell the stock or real estate—depending on the circumstances. Some other assets come with a tax string attached—you're taxed on part or all of the value, just like the original owner would have been if they had lived. This rule often comes into play for assets that have what's called "income in respect of a decedent."
Common examples of assets of this type are:
If you inherit savings bonds, for example, you'll owe tax on all interest that accrued during the life of the previous owner. If you inherit an annuity, the same portion of each payment will be taxable or tax-free as was true for the original owner. This same rule applies if you are the beneficiary of a traditional IRA, as discussed later.
The principal on the bonds is tax-free, but you will owe income tax on some or all of the accrued interest.
If your mother was like most taxpayers and did not pay tax on the interest as it accrued each year, the executor of her estate can elect to have the estate pay income tax on the interest earned before your mother's death. If so, that wipes out your tax liability for that interest when you cash in the bonds.
On interest that accrues after her death, you have a choice of:
If your mother's estate doesn't pay income tax on the interest, you typically have the same choice for all of the accrued interest on the bonds: Pay tax now or postpone the bill until you cash in the bonds.
If your mother paid tax each year as the interest accrued on the bonds, you only need to report the interest earned after her death.
When you inherit stock, your "tax basis" in the securities is generally the value of the stock on the date of the decedent's death as noted in any estate or inheritance records.
It depends. If it's a Roth IRA, the inheritance is typically federal-income-tax-free if the account was opened more than five years before you take any withdrawals. If it's a traditional IRA, however, you will usually owe income tax as you withdraw money from the account.
You have the option to withdrawal the money in the account over your life expectancy, over a 10 year period or treat the IRA as your own IRA and follow the normal rules for IRA distributions.
Under the third option, you can elect to treat the IRA as your own by either,
By doing so, you won’t have to begin taking mandatory annual withdrawals from the IRA until after you reach age 72.
Actually, when you inherit an IRA, there's an easily overlooked deduction.
If the estate was large enough to be subject to federal estate tax, you can deduct the portion of the federal estate tax attributable to the IRA. In addition, you don’t have to pay tax on the portion of withdrawals attributable to nondeductible contributions that your mother made to the IRA (if any).
Say you inherited a $50,000 IRA when your mother died in 2023, which, because it was included in your mother's taxable estate, boosted the estate tax bill by $22,500.
This deduction for federal estate tax on "income in respect of a decedent" is taken on line 16 of Schedule A.
You are required to file a tax return for the trust if its gross income is $600 or more unless an exception applies such as if it is a grantor trust where the grantor reports all of the income and expenses on their own personal tax return.
If you are the beneficiary of a trust, you are typically responsible for paying tax on your share of the trust income that's allocated to you by the trust. The Schedule K-1 you receive provides details about your share of the trust's income, deductions and credits, which you report on your tax return. The K-1 tells you where to report each item. TurboTax does this for you automatically.
Trusts have their own income tax rate schedule for income the trustee chooses to retain rather than distribute to beneficiaries. To prevent trusts from being used as tax shelters, higher tax rates kick in at much lower income levels than for individuals.
For example, if a trust has undistributed taxable income of more than $3,750, it is at least in the 24% tax bracket in 2023. By contrast,
Trusts reach the maximum 37% tax bracket with undistributed taxable income of more than $14.450 in 2023, while married joint-filing couples need to have more than $693,750 of taxable income to be taxed at the highest rate in 2023.
With TurboTax Live Full Service, a local expert matched to your unique situation will do your taxes for you start to finish. Or, get unlimited help and advice from tax experts while you do your taxes with TurboTax Live Assisted.
And if you want to file your own taxes, you can still feel confident you'll do them right with TurboTax as we guide you step by step. No matter which way you file, we guarantee 100% accuracy and your maximum refund.
Use your Intuit Account to sign in to TurboTax . By selecting Sign in, you agree to our Terms and acknowledge our Privacy Statement . New to Intuit? Create an accountTaxes done right,
with experts by your side
Get unlimited advice, an expert final review and your maximum refund, guaranteed.
Start for free100% free filing.
Max refund guarantee. $0
The above article is intended to provide generalized financial information designed to educate a broad segment of the public; it does not give personalized tax, investment, legal, or other business and professional advice. Before taking any action, you should always seek the assistance of a professional who knows your particular situation for advice on taxes, your investments, the law, or any other business and professional matters that affect you and/or your business.
Estimate your tax refund and where you stand
I’m a TurboTax customer
Easily calculate your tax rate to make smart financial decisions
Know how much to withhold from your paycheck to get a bigger refund
Estimate your self-employment tax and eliminate any surprises
Estimate capital gains, losses, and taxes for cryptocurrency sales
Find deductions as a 1099 contractor, freelancer, creator, or if you have a side gig
See how much your charitable donations are worth
A Form 1040 return with limited credits is one that's filed using IRS Form 1040 only (with the exception of the specific covered situations described below). Roughly 37% of taxpayers are eligible.
If you have a Form 1040 return and are claiming limited credits only, you can file for free yourself with TurboTax Free Edition, or you can file with TurboTax Live Assisted Basic or TurboTax Full Service at the listed price.
Situations covered (assuming no added tax complexity):
Situations not covered:
TurboTax Individual Returns:
TurboTax Business Returns:
