Updated October 18, 2026. Quick answer: Form 8971 is the filing an executor makes to tell the IRS which beneficiaries acquired property from an estate. A copy of each beneficiary’s Schedule A goes with it. This page covers who files, the due date, the mailing address and the list of excepted property. The answers come from the estate tax return and the instructions.
What Form 8971 is for
The instructions open with its purpose: “Form 8971 and copies of Schedules A provide information to the IRS about beneficiaries who acquired property from a decedent.” They add “Schedule A provides basis information to beneficiaries who acquire certain property from the decedent.” On who sees what: “Do not furnish a copy of the Form 8971 to any beneficiary.” The form’s own Notice to Executors agrees: “To protect privacy, Form 8971 should not be provided to any beneficiary.” The form is explained in overview on the Form 8971 page.
Who must file
“An executor of an estate or other person(s) required to file Form 706 or Form 706-NA (estate tax return) under IRC section 6018(a) or 6018(b) is required to file Form 8971 and furnish Schedules A to certain beneficiaries.” “More than one person may be required to file a Form 8971 for the same decedent’s estate.” The word executor is wider than it sounds: it “includes the executor, personal representative, or administrator of the decedent’s estate.” The estate tax return itself is explained on the Form 706 page.
The instructions list when the form is not required, starting with “The gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts and specific exemption is less than the basic exclusion amount applicable in the year of decedent’s death”. It is also not required when “The estate tax return is filed solely to make an allocation or election respecting the generationskipping transfer tax, solely to elect portability of the deceased spousal exclusion amount (DSUE), or solely as a protective filing to avoid a penalty or satisfy a state law requirement.”
Even when every asset is on the excepted list below, the form is still filed: “The executor is required to timely file Form 8971 with the IRS even if all property subject to reporting is excepted property.” And “be filed with the IRS separate from any and all other tax returns filed by the estate.”
When to file
The form and each required Schedule A are due “no later than the earlier of:” “The date that is 30 days after the date Form 706 or Form 706-NA is filed with the IRS.” The other date is the first bullet: “The date that is 30 days after the date on which Form 706 or Form 706-NA is required to be filed (including extensions) with the IRS;” “If the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the executor may file on the next business day.” Extensions of the estate tax return are covered on the Form 706 due date and extension page, and the deadlines after a death calculator lists related dates.
Where to file and how to deliver a Schedule A
“File Form 8971 (including all Schedule(s) A) at the following address.” The instructions give the address as “Mail Stop 824G 7940 Kentucky Drive Florence, KY 41042”.
Beneficiaries are served separately: “Furnish a Schedule A to each individual beneficiary, each trustee of a beneficiary trust, and each executor of a beneficiary estate, required to receive a Schedule A:” The listed methods include “By U.S. mail to the beneficiary’s last known address;” “The executor must certify on Form 8971, Part II, column (d), the date on which Schedule A was provided to each beneficiary”.
Excepted property defined
Excepted property is the property an executor does not have to describe on a Schedule A. The instructions say “Excepted property includes:” United States dollars, “United States dollardenominated demand deposits”, and “Life insurance proceeds on the life of the decedent payable in a lump sum in United States dollars”. Also on the list are “Federal, state, and local tax refunds and other refunds payable in United States dollars” and “Household and personal effects for which an appraisal is not required under section 20.2031-6(b) of the Estate Tax Regulations”.
Retirement money is on the list when it is all dollars: “Interests in and distributions from retirement plans and deferred compensation plans, including individual retirement arrangements as defined in section 408 and 408A, that are expressed entirely in United States dollars”. The instructions define the dollar term this way: “United States dollars means the official currency of the United States.” Coins are a limit: “This definition does not include other physical United States bills or coins with numismatic value”. The list has further items that this page does not repeat, so read the full list in the instructions before you decide a beneficiary received only excepted property.
What to enter and where it comes from
This page has no dollar entries. Whether you must file at all turns on the estate tax return: “Only an executor of an estate for which a Form 706 or Form 706-NA is filed after July 2015, whether or not that form is filed timely, is required to file Form 8971.” The later parts of the form are walked through on the Part I, Part II and Schedule A pages.
Where it goes next
The form says “Submit Form 8971 with a copy of each completed Schedule A to the IRS.” It also says “Retain copies of all forms for the estate’s records.” What happens if the form is late or wrong, and how to supplement it, is on the penalties and supplemental filings page.
Edition and line numbers
This page reads Form 8971 (Rev. August 2025), Schedule A (Form 8971) dated August 2025, and the Instructions for Form 8971 and Schedule A (Rev. August 2025). Those are the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-18. The form carries the caption “(Rev. August 2025)” and the instructions carry “(Rev. August 2025)”. Check the revision date printed on your own Form 8971 and Schedule A, and use that revision’s line numbers, because a different revision can number or word its lines differently.
Common mistakes
- Giving a beneficiary a copy of the whole Form 8971. The form’s notice says “Only Schedule A of Form 8971 should be provided to the beneficiary.”
- Skipping the form because every asset looks like cash. The instructions say “The executor is required to timely file Form 8971 with the IRS even if all property subject to reporting is excepted property.”
- Folding the form into the estate’s other returns. The instructions say they “be filed with the IRS separate from any and all other tax returns filed by the estate.”
Related: Form 8971, Form 706, Form 706 due date and extension, deadlines after a death calculator, and Form 8971 Part I.
Sources
- Instructions for Form 8971 and Schedule A (Rev. August 2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8971.pdf
- Form 8971, Information Regarding Beneficiaries Acquiring Property From a Decedent (Rev. August 2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8971.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.