Updated October 18, 2026. Quick answer: Form 1041-ES is the package an estate or trust uses to figure and pay estimated income tax during the year. The fiduciary decides whether payments are required by comparing the expected tax with the withholding and credits, and then sends a voucher with each payment. The test, the exceptions and the vouchers all come from the 2026 package.
More IRS forms and schedules, read line by line: Form 5227 instructions.
What Form 1041-ES is for
The package opens with its purpose: “Use this package to figure and pay estimated tax for an estate or trust.” It defines the term: “Estimated tax is the amount of tax an estate or trust expects to owe for the year after subtracting the amount of any tax withheld and the amount of any credits.” Publication 505 says the same thing in one line: “Estates and trusts must also pay estimated tax.” This form is separate from the annual return, which is explained on the Form 1041 for estates page.
Who must make estimated tax payments
The package states the test: “Generally, a fiduciary of an estate or trust must pay estimated tax if the estate or trust is expected to owe, after subtracting its withholding and credits, at least $1,000 in tax for 2026” and the withholding and credits are expected to fall below a second measure. The package says the estate or trust “can expect its withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of:” two amounts. The first is “90% of the tax shown on the 2026 tax return”. The second is “The tax shown on the 2025 tax return”. The second comparison has a limit: “if a return wasn’t filed for 2025 or that return didn’t cover a full 12 months”, the package says that second comparison does not apply, in these words: “item (2) above doesn’t apply.”
Exceptions 1 and 2: when no payments are required
The package says “Estimated tax payments aren’t required from:” and lists the estates and trusts that qualify. The first is “An estate of a domestic decedent or a domestic trust that had a full 12-month 2025 tax year”, and in the package’s words “had no tax liability for that year”. The second is “A decedent’s estate for any tax year ending before the date that is 2 years after the decedent’s death”. Check the full list in the package for your own situation before relying on either one.
What to enter and where it comes from
The package tells the fiduciary where to start: “Use the 2026 Estimated Tax Worksheet and 2026 Tax Rate Schedule, later, and the estate’s or trust’s 2025 tax return and instructions as a guide for figuring the 2026 estimated tax.” So the expected income, deductions and credits come from the prior year’s return and from what the estate or trust expects this year. For uneven income the package adds: “it may be able to lower or eliminate the amount of its required estimated tax payment for one or more periods by using the annualized income installment method.” The worksheet figures are in the package itself and are not repeated here.
First-time filers and the vouchers
The package says who it is aimed at and what happens next: “After the IRS receives the first payment voucher, the estate or trust will receive a 1041-ES package” with the name, address and EIN printed on the vouchers for the next year. If none arrive: “If you, as fiduciary, didn’t receive any 2026 preprinted vouchers, use the vouchers in this package.” It also warns “don’t use the vouchers to notify the IRS of a change of address.” A new estate needs an EIN before it can fill in a voucher; see the estate EIN and bank account page.
Where it goes next
Once the test is met, the next questions are when to pay, how to complete the voucher and what happens if a payment is short. Those are covered on the Form 1041-ES due dates page, the Form 1041-ES payment vouchers page and the Form 1041-ES penalty and amended payments page. A beneficiary election to treat payments as the beneficiary’s own is made on Form 1041-T.
Edition and line numbers
This page reads the 2026 Form 1041-ES package, which the IRS titles “Estimated Income Tax for Estates and Trusts”. It is the current file irs.gov served on 2026-10-18, identical to the archived copy, and the package carries the footer “Created 11/20/2025”. Every date on this page is a date the 2026 package prints for 2026 payments, not a date for any other year. The package works from worksheet line numbers, so check the revision date printed on your own copy and use the line numbers on that revision.
Common mistakes
- Assuming every estate must pay. The package says “A decedent’s estate for any tax year ending before the date that is 2 years after the decedent’s death” is one of the estates that need not pay.
- Using the vouchers to report a new address. The package says “don’t use the vouchers to notify the IRS of a change of address.”
- Skipping the second comparison. The package measures the withholding and credits against “The tax shown on the 2025 tax return” as well as the 2026 figure, and not only one of them.
Related: Form 1041-ES due dates, Form 1041-ES payment vouchers, Form 1041-ES penalty and amended payments, Form 1041 for estates, and estimated tax due dates.
Find the right next step for your situation
About how much do you have invested? Pick the range that fits; your next step appears immediately below.
advisor help with estate income tax planning
For U.S. investors with $250,000 or more in investable assets. WiserAdvisor is an independent service matching you with 2 to 3 vetted advisers. Its form asks for your ZIP code and answers to a few questions; a match is not guaranteed.
Free to request, with no obligation to hire. By submitting, you consent to calls, texts and emails from WiserAdvisor and up to three advisers. Advisers pay for introductions.
Clear Money Guide may earn a referral payment for a qualifying completed form. An introduction is not a Clear Money Guide recommendation.
Opens on WiserAdvisor’s site in a new tab.
estate income tax planning options
Price the destination before you decide. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide may earn a referral payment for a qualifying submitted form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here; you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions: age, investable assets, location; then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
Prefer flat-fee or hourly pricing instead? Compare ranges here.
Answer againSources
- Form 1041-ES, Estimated Income Tax for Estates and Trusts (2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1041es.pdf
- Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax (2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.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.