Payments received for being an executor of an estate are considered taxable income. The information below will help to determine if this income is subject to self-employment tax or not and where to enter it in your TaxAct® return.

Per IRS Publication 559 Survivors, Executors, and Administrators, page 5:

Fees Received by Personal Representatives

All personal representatives must include fees paid to them from an estate in their gross income. If you aren’t in the trade or business of being an executor (for instance, you are the executor of a friend’s or relative’s estate), report these fees on your Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8z. If you are in the trade or business of being an executor, report fees received from the estate as self-employment income on Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business.

If the estate operates a trade or business and you, as executor, actively participate in the trade or business while fulfilling your duties, any fees you receive related to the operation of the trade or business must be reported as self-employment income on Schedule C of your Form 1040.

To enter a description and an amount for Line 8z of Federal Schedule 1 (Form 1040 or 1040-SR) Additional Income and Adjustments to Income, read our article Recoveries as Income – Property Tax Refund or Rebate.

When you print your return, the text “See Attached” will print to the left of Schedule 1 (Form 1040 or 1040-SR) Line 8z. An attached sheet will print with the return titled “Other Income – Supporting Details for Schedule 1 (Form 1040), Line 8z, which will print both the description and amount that was entered for Line 8.

Conversely, if you need to report this income so that self-employment tax is assessed, you can enter it on Schedule C (Form 1040) Profit or Loss From Business in the TaxAct program. See our article Schedule C – Entering Sole Proprietorship in Program for more information.

Note that any link in the information above is updated each year automatically and will take you to the most recent version of the webpage or document at the time it is accessed.