If the deceased owes delinquent taxes at death, the IRS must file a claim for taxes owed by that decedent just as any other creditor must. They can collect out of the estate, but not from the Personal Representative’s personal assets. The only exceptions to this are: (1) if the PR mishandles the estate or is negligent in administering the estate, he can be held personally liable by any creditor and (2) the PR cannot prematurely take assets out of the estate. If he does, he can be held liable for the estate debts, at least up to the amount of assets he removed. If there is not enough money to pay all of the debts, the debts will be paid according to a priority schedule governed by statute. As you can imagine, taxes are high on the priority list. If there are not enough assets to pay the taxes in full, the balance due will become uncollectible.