Social Security payment for deceased spouse

Feb 18, 2008 5 Replies

Taxpayers husband died in 2004. He had been receiving social security disability benefits since 1988. In 2007 his widow got a phone call from Social Security Administration stating that they had made an error when paying his benefits and they would be sending a check for the amount of the error of the years. The widow received a SSA-1099 with he following information.



Box 1: Name of the deceased Box 2: Blank Box 3: Benefits paid Box 4: NONE Box 5: Same as Box 3 Box 7: NONE Box 8: Taxpayers name O/A/O Deceased's name DEC'D Street Address City, State Zip Box 9: Deceased's SS$ U1



In the description of Box 3 there is no indication this was for prior years, it just states "Benifits for 2007"



Should the widow file this as Social Security income on her tax return? If not, what are your thoughts??


Thank you, George L. Anthony Anthony's Income Tax Service



1602 Killian Avenue Johnstown, PA 15909-1220 (814) 322-4740 snipped-for-privacy@atlanticbb.net

Whose SSN is on the 1099?

Only Social Security # on form is in Box 9 and that is the deceaseds #. There is NO Social Security # in Box 2 where one usually appears.

George

Looks like genuine tax free income to me.

ChEAr$, Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

Just to make you feel better... I agree with Harlan. The surviving spouse can disregard the SSA benefits when filing her own tax return.

Thanks for the input, makes me feel good and am sure the widow will feel great.

George Johnstown, PA

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