Deceased Estates
At Hurley & Co our goal is to assist individuals where they have the role of managing tax responsibilities of a deceased estate.
Deceases estates hold the assets of the deceased person in trust from the time of death until all property and assets are transferred to beneficiaries nominated in the will. This is administered by either of the following:
- An executor appointed in the persons will, or
- An administrator appointed by the Supreme Court
If you have been appointed as the executor or administrator of the estate you will have the responsibilities of carrying out tax obligations of the estate. This could include but is not limited to the following:
- lodging tax returns for all years and a final tax return for the deceased
- lodging trust tax return for the estate
- providing necessary tax information to beneficiaries regarding distributions made to them to assist with tax return preparation
- In some cases paying the tax liability on behalf of the beneficiaries not presently entitled
As the executor you might have a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) event and have to manage the implications. There are special rules set by the ATO that applies to deceased estates that allows CGT assets to be transferred without a tax liability if the asset passed to the executor, to beneficiary or from executor to beneficiary.
However, a CGT liability may arise if the assets are sold and the proceeds distributed to beneficiaries through the estate procedures.
At Hurley & Co we can help with meeting the above obligations and completing the work to assist with getting the estate finalised to ease the pressure and also to meet the legal obligations of the executor.
Please call John Hurley at our office (02-9954-3843) if you are in the role of Executor or you have any questions regarding this issue.
The ATO is now making an effort to make it easier to finalise a deceased estate given the complexity of the issue and has released the following correspondence.
Please follow the link below for more information about the deceased estate on the ATO website.