How are income taxes filed for a deceased person?

When a spouse dies, assuming the couple filed as Married Filing Joint, the surviving spouse will still file a joint return for the year in which the spouse died.  A death certificate must be attached to the return.  For this joint return to be valid, the remaining spouse must be single as of the last day of the filing year.  In addition, a surviving qualified spouse may file joint returns for two years following the year in which the deceased died.  To qualify he/she must be unmarried on the last day of the filing year and must have been eligible to file jointly for the year in which the spouse died.  In the case of an unmarried person, the deceased’s Personal Representative for probate purposes must file a final return for the year in which the deceased died, reporting income made until the date of death.  Any income made after that in the name of the deceased (such as interest, dividends, company profits, etc.) will be reported on the deceased’s estate income tax return.