Form 706 Schedule B: Stocks and Bonds Line by Line (2026)

Updated October 18, 2026. Quick answer: Schedule B lists the stocks and bonds included in the decedent’s gross estate. Each security is numbered and described with identifying details such as shares, issue and CUSIP number. The value comes from quoted selling prices on the valuation date, and the broker or custodian statements are the usual records.

IRS estate-administration forms, read line by line: Form 706-NA Part V.

What goes on Schedule B

“If the total gross estate contains any stocks or bonds, you must complete Schedule B (Form 706) and file it with the return.” The listing rule is “list the stocks and bonds included in the decedent’s gross estate. Number each item under column (i).” Bond interest and dividends are listed too: “List interest and dividends on each stock or bond on a separate line.”

On tax-exempt bonds the instructions say “bonds that are exempt from federal income tax are not exempt from estate tax.” They continue “You should list these bonds on Schedule B (Form 706).”

Every schedule opens with the same caution. “If any assets to which the special rule of Regulations section 20.2010-2(a)(7)(ii) applies are reported on this schedule, do not enter any value in the last three columns.” It then points the reader to the instructions for Part V, item 10, which explain how to estimate and report the value of those assets.

Describing stocks and bonds

For each stock the instructions ask for the “Number of shares”, “Whether common or preferred”, the “Price per share”, the “Exact name of corporation”, the “Principal exchange upon which sold, if listed on an exchange”, and the “Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures (CUSIP) number”.

For each bond they ask for the “Quantity and denomination”, the “Name of obligor”, the “Date of maturity”, the “Interest rate”, and the “Interest due date”. On unlisted securities, “If the stock or bond is unlisted, show the company’s principal business office.”

Where is the CUSIP number found? The instructions say “Usually, the CUSIP number is printed on the face of the stock certificate.” Without a certificate, “the CUSIP number may be found on the broker’s or custodian’s statement or by contacting the company’s transfer agent.” For a trust, partnership or closely held entity the instruction is “provide the EIN of the entity in the appropriate column”.

Dividends and foreign death taxes

Uncollected dividends have their own rule: “Indicate as a separate item dividends that have not been collected at death and are payable to the decedent or the estate because the decedent was a stockholder of record on the date of death.” The instructions also say “Dividends declared on shares of stock before the death of the decedent but payable to stockholders of record on a date after the decedent’s death are not includible in the gross estate for federal estate tax purposes and should not be listed here.”

If a foreign estate or inheritance tax was paid, “group those stocks and bonds together and label them” “Subjected to Foreign Death Taxes”.

Where the number comes from

The instruction on value is “The FMV of a stock or bond (whether listed or unlisted) is the mean between the highest and lowest selling prices quoted on the valuation date.” When only closing prices exist, “the FMV is the mean between the quoted closing selling price on the valuation date and on the trading day before the valuation date.”

When there were no sales that day, “figure the FMV as follows.” The first step is to “Find the mean between the highest and lowest selling prices on the nearest trading date before and the nearest trading date after the valuation date.” The instructions then give a prorating method and a bid and asked fallback, and they illustrate the method with a worked example of their own.

For closely held stock, the instruction is to “Apply the rules in the section 2031 regulations to determine the value of inactive stock and stock in close corporations.” Worthless holdings have a rule too: “Securities reported as of no value, of nominal value, or obsolete should be listed last.” If you use broker quotations, “attach to the schedule copies of the letters furnishing these quotations or evidence of sale.” Gifts of stock are a different topic, covered on the gifting appreciated stock to family page.

Where it goes next

Each schedule feeds one item of Part V, the recapitulation, on the form. The form’s caption for this schedule reads “Total stocks and bonds. Schedule B, line 4”. The Part V instructions list which schedules to attach: “Schedules A, B, and C, of Form 706, if the gross estate includes any (1) real estate, (2) stocks and bonds, or (3) mortgages, notes, and cash, respectively.” The same instructions say “If the gross estate does not contain any assets of the type specified by a given item, enter zero for that item.” They add “Entering zero for any of items 1 through 9 is a statement by the executor, made under penalties of perjury, that the gross estate does not contain any includible assets covered by that item.”

For the alternate value column, the Part V instructions say not to enter amounts there “unless you elected alternate valuation on Part III, line 1.” That election is explained on the Part III elections page and the alternate valuation date page, and the recapitulation is covered on the Parts 4 and 5 page. The return itself is explained on the Form 706 page.

Edition and line numbers

This page reads the Form 706 revision dated August 2025 and the Instructions for Form 706 revision dated July 2026. They are the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-18, byte-identical to the archived copies used here. The instructions state “For decedents dying after December 31, 2025.” The form itself says “To be filed for decedents dying after December 31, 2024.” Check the revision date printed on your Form 706 and the instruction edition for the year of death, and use the line numbers on that revision.

Common mistakes

• Leaving tax-exempt bonds off the schedule. The instructions say “bonds that are exempt from federal income tax are not exempt from estate tax.”
• Listing a dividend declared before death but payable to holders of record after it. The instructions say such dividends “are not includible in the gross estate for federal estate tax purposes and should not be listed here.”
• Valuing a security at a single day’s closing price when quoted high and low prices exist. The instruction is “the mean between the highest and lowest selling prices quoted on the valuation date.”

Related: Form 706, gifting appreciated stock to family, and alternate valuation date.

Sources

• Instructions for Form 706 (Rev. July 2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i706.pdf
• Form 706 (Rev. August 2025), United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f706.pdf

Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 18, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.