Navigating Tax Requirements After the Death of a Loved One

First and foremost, we want you to know that the staff and leadership of Kruggel Lawton offer our most sincere condolences to you and your family following the death of your loved one. Death is an emotional and troubling reality, and navigating the complicated and often overwhelming landscape of tax requirements after someone dies can make it all the more difficult.

If you are facing the difficult task of acting as Executor or Personal Representative to your family member’s estate, we are here to help to make this process easier for you.

Working with our team of accounting professionals will help you to ensure the tax administration portion of your loved one’s estate is taken care of, allowing you to focus on the grieving process and supporting your family and friends. You are not alone in your grief, and you are not alone in this process.

In the midst of the pain of losing a loved one, it can be difficult to focus on the tasks required of you as Executor or Personal Representative. Even if your loved one did not have a taxable estate (over $11,580,000 in 2020), there are many items to consider during the process:

• Collecting paperwork

• Assessing taxes owed

• Completing estate and/or trust income tax return filing requirements

• Trust funding

• Social security

• Assessing whether a portability election should be made to preserve the lifetime exemption for a surviving spouse

• And much more…

Navigating the filing of taxes after the death of a loved one is no simple matter, and there is a huge range of issues that could pop up along the way. With the help of our Kruggel Lawton CPAs Fiduciary Tax Services team, you can rest assured that your loved one’s estate will be properly handled and that you won’t need to worry about future tax compliance issues.

While this experience may be new and difficult for you, our team has decades of combined experience and can handle these tough trust and estate tax matters with ease.

If you are dealing with the death of a loved one and would like help with your role as Executor or Personal Representative, contact Kruggel Lawton and our Fiduciary Tax Services team right away. We’ll take care of the finer details of these tasks to give you the time you need to process and grieve while offering you the best advice for allocating funds toward retirement plan accounts, asset titling, and more.

The Kruggel Lawton Fiduciary Tax Services team is waiting to help you and your family begin to heal from your loss, and to give you financial peace of mind for yourself and the future of your loved ones.

Patrick Lee, CPA

Partner, Kruggel Lawton CPAs

574-264-2247 ext. 306

plee@klcpas.com

Courtney Watts, CPA

Manager, Kruggel Lawton CPAs

574-264-2247 ext. 320

cwatts@klcpas.com