A question about a final tax return

Parent Cafe
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As some might know, I lost my mom at the end of February. I am the executor of the estate.

I do not wish to involve my sibling and she would not know what to do

When mom was in hospice, my sibling has mom’s mail forwarded to her. I tried to get mom’s mail changed to my address, my sibling needed to cancel the forwarding. She declined to do that.

I just found out that my sibling is moving out of state. I don’t believe that mom’s tax information will be sent from a forwarded address to another address.

I need to get mom’s tax documents to do her final taxes.

I can call her financial advisor, that’s easy. I’m pretty sure I will be able to ask her pension provider for her tax information

How do I get mom’s tax forms from social security? Anyone have any tips? Can I just call them or set up an appointment with mom’s death certificate?

Thanks. I have to admit that this final piece of mom’s estate has made me very anxious as dealing with my sibling is quite problematic

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You are correct that financial and tax mail is often not forwarded. Are you talking about the 1099-SSA that would be issued in January 2027 for 2026 SSA income? From what I can find online, they won’t issue it until 2027. No hurry but it seems the best method will be to go into an SSA office with your proof of being the executor. Possibly they can do a change of address on the record to the estate with you as executor. At a minimum, they should be able to print a replacement 1099. You could try calling the SSA customer service line at 1-800-772-1213 but in person just seems safer.

If there are documents that will be coming from other financial institutions, each may have different rules but you should contact them individually to find out the steps.

Social Security benefit statement for deceased individuals

1. Where do we send the benefit statement after the beneficiary dies?

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    If a beneficiary dies before the end of the year or before receipt of the SSA-1099, we send the beneficiary statement to the last address on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR). The benefit statement is used to file any final tax return, if applicable.

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I think @Marilyn has great advice. I agree you should be able to change the address for anything financial by proving you’re the executor. I was able to change my mom’s SS deposit bank online, but she was still alive. If you can get into her account though that’s another option.

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Thanks so much. This was exactly the information I was looking for.

I thought that I would need to wait until 2027 to ask and get the information I need

I was having such anxiety about it. I like to have a plan. To know what I need to do.

It’s silly to worry about these things that you know have to be somewhat common. Dealing with a non compliant sibling is stressful

I feel so much better!

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I’ve mentioned that there were a couple of checks that probably did not get to us because of the mail forwarding issue. Someone told me I could look for unclaimed finds later. They were around $500 so I’m not worried.

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Do you know who issued those checks? If so, perhaps you can contact them, prove you are executor, and have them stop payment in the first set and reissue. It’s also possible they received the checks back…

It’s worth asking.

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That’s a good idea. I took very good notes.

One was a refund on her Medicare supplement, the other was a cash refund for her discover card. I called both and both said they would issue a refund. I asked for it to be sent to me, but I suspect they went to mom’s last address

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You can ask if the checks were cashed, or if lost or stale, reissue.

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And OP- financial institutions are pretty careful in my experience about someone cashing a check who is NOT the legal executor/personal representative (if that’s a concern). So if you are having trouble tracking something down and suspect it was a “whoopsie” from your sibling or anyone else, it won’t be on you to prove it, “claw it back” for the estate, etc.

Sending condolences on your loss.