SO on federal tax returns

[dogmom]

So after a tortuous year (do NOT get me started on Washington County, PA incompetent registry of wills or the fact the only people who don’t pay inheritance tax in the state are well off people with trusts) I finally closed my mom’s estate. I sent in two years of her federal tax return. I got 2021’s refund, but not 2020, even though I sent the returns in the same envelope. I don’t get penalized since she owed nothing. I am assuming it’s just taking longer for them to process the older one? It’s hard to use the usually means of tracking refunds because she is deceased. The delay makes sense, right? I really don’t want to have to try to call them. The refund is around $1000, but it’s not holding up closing the estate account because it’s going to take Pennsylvania state at least 6 more months to process the estate tax papers. (Did I mention how much I hate my home state now?) So there is no rush on any of this.

[nfceagles]

Sorry this is proving so difficult. My DH is from PA but he says if he ever dies there, to drag his body to another state before reporting his death.


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[NCGrandma]

No idea what the "right" answer is, but I would just wait and expect that the older refund will eventually appear *IF* the refund you already received is for the amount you expected, without any late filing adjustments or whatever. Maybe separate groups process different years? Or some equally bureaucratic reason?

Congrats on closing her estate. No matter how organized you are or how straightforward the estate should be, there’s always something. If I remember correctly, you also had to deal with family issues etc.

Some years ago, my parents died 2 days apart, so I had to do 2 separate versions of the estate process. Even though the county clerk of courts office (which handles all estate matters here) was both competent and helpful, I was unable to close my father's estate for 9 months because it took that long to get a final bill from the local health care system hospital. Ugh.

Glad the process is almost completely behind you.


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[LBW]

My 2020 return was extremely late. I had to appeal to a tax advocate at the IRS to get it, and I finally rec’d it this summer. I had filed it early (Feb 2020) but it was my first year filing as a widow. I think that status change was the reason for the hold up.

https://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/get-help/refunds/i-dont-have-my-refund/

[AnnieW625]

I wonder if they even noticed the 2020 return because it was in the same envelope. Can’t you check the status of the refund through their website or download their ap? You can’t efile the taxes? Good luck and congrats on closing on your mom’s estate.


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[dogmom]

Thanks from all the comments and sympathy. Just to answer some questions.
No, cannot efile because the person is diseases and I am no filing as a couple.
I do not owe anything or penalties.
I put them in the same envelope because I had to fill out a separate form and give a copy of the short certificate to indicate I was the executor of the estate. (My brother had tried to file, but did not do that paperwork and it did not go through. He did it for both 2020 & 2021, so I do not think is an issue.)

Thanks for the congratulations. It was extra difficult because me mother named my bipolar brother as the executor. She said it was because he lived in state. But he was often out of contact for years. I think she mostly just wanted to be secretive and not put me in charge of finances. I did manage to get her to make me the medical proxy. In hindsight it would have been better to out my effort into making me the executor since my brother and I was always in agreement about her medical wishes. The delay waiting for my brother to admit he could not do it cost us about 20% of the estate. It was not large, but it was enough to pay for one year of college for each kid and my brother really needed the money.

Yes to never die or have property in PA! They charge 4.5-12% inheritance tax any ANY amount of inheritance. Even $1000. (It depends on your relationship to the deceases.) If you have over 50K in the estate OR have any real estate you have to do full probate and there really isn’t a way to do it without a lawyer. The won’t give advice to the average joe without much $$ in an estate at the county registry of wills. But the DO have computer out front with instructions on how to open up an estate. Of course they don’t tell you if you have less than 50k and no property you can do an expedited estate, which you can do without a lawyer. But once you open and estate can’t convert it to an expediter version. So the. Someone can spend thousands on legal fees to close out a 10K estate. It’s a scam as far as I can tell. Didn’t help the county I dealt got a new Registry of Wills elected that fired everyone, got incompetent people in, had improprieties, gave business to his buddies, and still kept his real estate business in a county with a lot of old people dying with property and no clear relations.


I think I will wait until the week after Christmas and call if it’s not here. I’m off, so I’ll just put music on and chug eggnog.

[Smillow]

When did you mail them in? As a tax preparer, I would expect the 2020 to take longer as the IRS prioritizes current year returns. Right now no individual returns can be efiled until after the IRS opens for efiling after the first of the year anyway. This may help them get caught up on paper, they are millions of returns behind.

[dogmom]

When did you mail them in? As a tax preparer, I would expect the 2020 to take longer as the IRS prioritizes current year returns. Right now no individual returns can be efiled until after the IRS opens for efiling after the first of the year anyway. This may help them get caught up on paper, they are millions of returns behind.

Thank you that is very helpful. I looked back and it did say it could take up to six months to get paper return refunds. I’m sort of shocked 2021 came so quickly since I mailed them at the end of September/beginning of October. I can completely understand also why they are quicker to process an estate return when the government knows, via SS, my mom died in 2021. She just was too sick to do her 2020 returns. It was on my back burner since I knew we owed nothing to the state and were owed from the feds.

[LBW]

It can't hurt to check the status on the IRS website. At least then you'll know that they rec'd it.

Where's My Refund page