Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: the estate is a separate taxpayer and needs its own EIN. Get it first, open an estate bank account with it, and run every penny of estate money through that account. Never use the decedent’s Social Security number, and never let estate funds touch your personal account.
The IRS says get the EIN first
The first action you should take if you’re the personal representative for the decedent is to apply for an EIN for the estate. … Don’t use the deceased individual’s identifying number to file an individual income tax return after the decedent’s final tax return.
— IRS Publication 559
Two instructions in one passage. Applying for the EIN is the first action a personal representative should take. And the decedent’s own identifying number is finished after their final individual return — it does not carry over to the estate.
Why the separate account is not bureaucracy
- It is how you prove what you did. An executor accounts to the beneficiaries and sometimes to a court. A dedicated account produces that record automatically; reconstructing it from a personal account is painful and looks bad even when nothing is wrong.
- Commingling is the accusation that sticks. Estate money in a personal account is the fact pattern behind most executor disputes, and it is hard to explain away afterwards however honest the intention.
- It keeps the tax position clean. Income the estate earns after death is the estate’s, reported under its EIN on Form 1041 if the filing threshold is met — not on the decedent’s final return.
⚠️ Not every account the decedent used is estate money. Where an account was held jointly, the balance can pass to the surviving party by survivorship as against the estate — outside the will, and regardless of who put the money in. Joint versus convenience accounts explains which rule applies and why the signature card matters more than the statement.
What the bank will want
- The EIN, which you can obtain from the IRS.
- Certified letters testamentary — the bank needs proof of your authority, not the will.
- A certified death certificate. Order several at the outset; almost every institution wants one.
- Identification for you, as the person who will operate the account.
Some banks will not open an estate account at a branch where the decedent held nothing. It is usually easier at the decedent’s own bank, which already has the relationship and the records.
The usual reason people need this account in a hurry is a cheque they cannot deposit. ⚠️ Before opening an estate for one payment, check whether you need probate at all — a cheque made out to someone who has died routes the situation, and for smaller estates a sworn affidavit often releases the money without any of this machinery.
The order that avoids the mess
EIN, then letters, then account, then move money. Doing it in any other order produces the situation this page exists to prevent: estate funds sitting somewhere they should not, with no clean way to show where they came from or where they went.
Related: getting authority · the estate income tax return · the decedent’s final return.
General information drawn from federal statute, IRS publications and state probate codes, not legal or tax advice. Probate is STATE law and the order in which claims are paid differs between states; the federal priority rule described here applies everywhere, but the state ordering below it does not. An executor who pays the wrong claim first can become personally liable, which is why this wing exists. We sell nothing and refer you nowhere for a fee.
The business version of this is the same free application with a different reason for needing it — how to get an EIN for a business, directly from the IRS.