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In partnership with
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Every Saturday, we open the mailbag, pour some strong coffee, and tackle the tax questions keeping America awake at 2 a.m. Here’s this week’s question:
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Can a trustee sign Form 8821 to request IRS records for deceased parents?
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Yes — a trustee can sign Form 8821 for deceased parents, but only if the IRS recognizes them as the authorized fiduciary. Power of Attorney ends at death, so the trustee has to prove they have legal authority through the trust.
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Here’s how it works:
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File Form 56 first. The trustee must file Form 56 with the IRS to officially notify them that he is the fiduciary for the parents’ estate or trust. Without this step, the IRS won’t release anything.
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Provide proof of authority. The IRS will want documentation that he is, in fact, the trustee. This usually includes pages from the trust showing his appointment and the relevant signatures.
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No higher-priority representative. If there’s no executor or court-appointed administrator with a higher legal claim, the IRS will generally accept the trustee as the authorized representative for transcript requests.
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Extra documents may be needed. If a refund is involved or something looks complex, the IRS may ask for more paperwork before releasing records. But for standard transcript requests, Form 56 plus the trust docs are usually enough.
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Once those pieces are in place, the trustee can sign Form 8821 and request the parents’ IRS transcripts for the unfiled years. As long as the IRS is satisfied with the documentation, they’ll release the tax records so the trustee can handle any outstanding issues.
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PS: If you have decided that reading about tax regulations on a weekend is a form of mild torture you no longer wish to endure, you can click here to opt out. We’ll miss you, but we won’t hold a grudge.
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