Estate Tax – Charge for Closing Letter

Starting Oct. 28, a new $67 user fee will apply to any estate that requests a closing letter for its federal estate tax return.  The new user fee was authorized under final regulations, TD 9957, available in the Federal Register. Closing letter requests must be made using Pay.gov.  Under the final regulations, the IRS has determined that issuing closing letters is a service that confers a special benefit warranting a user fee. That’s because, though obtaining a closing letter from the IRS can be helpful to an executor of an estate, it is not required by law.

Prepared/Contributed by:
Jean Partridge and Jason Bergman, Benchmark Title Agency, LLC