Updated October 18, 2026. Quick answer: Part I of Form 1310 is where you say who you are in relation to the decedent’s refund. You check one box: A for a surviving spouse with a joint-name check, B for a court-appointed or certified personal representative, or C for anyone else claiming for the estate. The right box depends on your own paperwork, not on the family relationship alone.
What Part I asks
The form’s instruction for the part is short: “Check only one box.” It continues “Complete Part II only if you check the box on line C. However, you must complete Part III.” The form’s stated purpose is “Use Form 1310 to claim a refund on behalf of a deceased taxpayer.” The questions in Part II are covered on the Form 1310 Part II page and the signature on the Form 1310 Part III page.
Line A: surviving spouse with a joint-name check
The form describes line A as a “Surviving spouse requesting reissuance of a refund check received in the name of both the decedent and the surviving spouse.”
The instructions limit it: “Check the box on line A only if you received a refund check in your name and your deceased spouse’s name.” They also describe what to send: “along with a written request for reissuance of the refund check.” What you get back: “A new check will be issued in your name and mailed to you.”
Line B: court-appointed or certified personal representative
Line B reads “claiming a refund on Form 1040-X or Form 843.” The instructions name those forms: “claiming a refund for the decedent on Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return; or Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement.”
The attachment rule is on the form itself: “you must attach a court certificate showing your appointment, even if you have previously filed that certificate with the IRS.” The form’s own list of changes repeats it: “you must attach your court certificate to the Form 1310, even if you have already filed that certificate with the IRS.”
Line C: everyone else, and proof of death
Line C is for a “Person, other than A or B, claiming refund for the decedent’s estate.” “If you check the box on line C, you must complete Part II.” The instructions add the records you need: “If you check the box on line C, you must have proof of death.” “The proof of death is a copy of either of the following.” The first is “The death certificate.” The second is “The formal notification from the appropriate government office” that informs the next of kin of the decedent’s death.
Do not mail it with the form: “Do not attach the death certificate or other proof of death to Form 1310. Instead, keep it for your records and provide it if requested.”
What to enter and where it comes from
Part I has no dollar figures. Which box you check comes from three documents. For line A it is the check itself, issued in both names. For line B it is the court certificate showing your appointment as personal representative. For line C it is the death certificate or other formal notification, which you keep. The next page, Form 1310 Part II, asks the questions that apply only to line C. If you are not sure whether you hold a refund for a decedent, the checks made out to a deceased person page explains the common situations.
Where it goes next
Line A and the later lines both end in Part III. On where the form is sent, the form says “If you checked the box on line A, you can return the” check “to your local IRS office or the Internal Revenue Service Center where you filed your return.” For line B or line C filers the routing is covered on the Form 1310 Part III page. The surrounding final-return rules are on the final tax return for a deceased person page.
Publication 559 on the same point
IRS Publication 559, the guide for survivors, executors and administrators, repeats the joint-check rule: “you can have the check reissued in your name alone.” It is written for 2025 returns, the same period as this form revision.
Edition and line numbers
This page reads Form 1310, revision dated December 2025, which prints its own revision as “(Rev. December 2025)”. That is the current file irs.gov served on 2026-10-18. Check the revision date printed on your own Form 1310 and use that revision’s line letters and numbers, because a different revision can word or label its lines differently. The form also tells you where to look for later changes: “Go to www.irs.gov/Form1310 for the latest information.”
Common mistakes
- Checking more than one box. The form says “Check only one box.”
- Checking line B without the court certificate. The form says “you must attach a court certificate showing your appointment, even if you have previously filed that certificate with the IRS.”
- Mailing the death certificate with a line C claim. The instructions say “Do not attach the death certificate or other proof of death to Form 1310.”
Related: Form 1310, checks made out to a deceased person, final tax return for a deceased person, Form 1040-X, and Form 1310 Part II.
Sources
- Form 1310, Statement of Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer (Rev. December 2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1310.pdf
- Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators (for use in preparing 2025 returns): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p559.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.