Upon sending in a Form 56 "Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship" for a deceased taxpayer (individual income tax, not an estate or trust), the IRS sends it back with the puzzling form letter stating in part "we [...] could not process it because the fiduciary's address is different than the address we have on file for this taxpayer". They also state they want a Form 8822 "Request for Change of Address" in addition.
Huh?
For one thing, a deceased taxpayer cannot have a change of address. For another, I see nothing in the instructions, or common sense, that says a fiduciary must have the same address as the (now deceased) taxpayer. For a third thing, if the purpose of the form is to *establish* a fiduciary relationship, how could there be a *change* of address (since there was no address on file for the previously non-existent fiduciary to begin with)?
They even sent back the opened envelope in which the original form was mailed, along with the original form.
I called the IRS and spoke to a person who couldn't explain it. Is there any drawback to simply ignoring the letter and keeping the returned documents on hand in case they ever decide they want them after all? Except for this letter, the decedent's last two individual returns (2006, filed after date of death, and 2007) seem to have been processed without comment.
-Mark Bole