Services for Trustees

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Preparation of fiduciary income tax returns

A trust is required to file an income tax return (Form 1041) if its gross income, including proceeds from the sale of assets, exceeds $100 during its fiscal year ($300 if all income is required to be distributed). A charitable remainder trust or charitable lead trust must file Form 5227.

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Depending on the terms of the trust, it may also be necessary to:

Track beneficiary balances for a separate share trust

Calculate accounting income and required distributions

Prepare Forms 706-GS for distributions to skip persons from a trust with an inclusion ration of greater than zero

Calculate required state withholding on distributed state sourced income to beneficiaries who are residents of other states

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Documents required: 

Income allocation from the preparation of the final 1040 if initial year for a testamentary trust

Prior year tax returns

Will and/or Trust documents

Account statements, tax documents, and check registers

Beneficiary name, address, social security number

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Due date: April 15 for calendar year trusts (most are)

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A 3 month extension is available for Form 5227 and a 5 month extension is available for Form 1041.

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Fiduciary Accounting Services

Many trust documents require annual financial statements to be prepared.

Simple trusts require that the accounting income be distributed annually. Simple is not a description of the level of difficulty. Accounting income for a trust is much different than accounting for a business. It is not intuitive and an incorrect distribution amount an affect both current and future beneficiaries of the trust. As fiduciary, you are required to get it correct.

Much of this work duplicates the bookkeeping I already had to do to prepare the fiduciary income tax return.