I was appointed by the court to be trustee for my brother-in-laws trust account.

The trust consists of his home and $15,000 in cash. The only expenses are annual property taxes and home insurance. I have the money in a money market account and savings certificates. The income this past year was about $140 (the trust was set up in August).

I have a tax ID number for this account. It is set up as John Doe Testamentary Trust with Me as Trustee.

Should I file a federal and Oregon tax return for the trust. I have not had any luck perusing the IRS site to find my answer. If I do, do I use the regular 1040 tax return? Are there any other special forms I should consider.

I'm late to the table on this but this is such a simple thing to manage that it never dawned on me that I'd need to prepare a return.

Any help or advice? Thanks!

According to the IRS, the fiduciary, generally speaking, "must file Form 1041 for a domestic estate" that has:

1. Gross income for the tax year of $600 or more, or

2. A beneficiary who is a nonresident alien.

Since the gross income from the Trust is <$600 and the beneficiary is not a non-resident alien, it would appear that you would be exempted from the filing requirements of Form 1041.


Hence, there is nothing to worry as far as filing the Trust tax return based on your situation!

__________________
Find a CPA near you!

Ask TaxGuru Please refer to the legal disclaimer.