Income of a Deceased Person: Who Files the Return and How 2027
Sunita lost her father in October and, on top of everything else that comes with that, discovered a few months later that his last income tax return still needed to be filed. Income of a deceased person does not simply stop being taxable the moment someone passes away, and the obligation to file falls on whoever the law recognises as the legal heir. This guide covers exactly who handles income of a deceased person and how the process actually works, without the confusion that usually surrounds it.
Who Is Actually Responsible for Filing
The obligation to file does not disappear with the person, it passes to their legal heir or representative, sometimes called the executor if a will names one. This applies whenever the deceased earned income up to the date of death that exceeds the basic exemption limit or otherwise required a return to be filed, exactly as it would have for a living taxpayer. A legal heir is anyone legally entitled to represent the deceased’s estate under applicable succession law, and more than one heir can exist, though typically one takes on the filing responsibility with the others’ consent.
Two Separate Income Periods You Must Track
This is the part that trips people up most. Income earned by the deceased from the start of the financial year up to the date of death is computed and taxed in the deceased’s own name, using their own PAN, exactly as if they were still alive filing it themselves. Any income the same assets generate after the date of death, interest on a fixed deposit that continues to accrue, rent from a property that keeps coming in, belongs to whoever inherits that asset, and gets reported in the legal heir’s or estate’s own separate return, not the deceased’s. Mixing these two periods into one filing is the single most common error in this process.
Step 1: Gather the Required Documents
Before you can register anything on the portal, collect the death certificate, the deceased’s PAN card, a self-attested copy of your own PAN card as the legal heir, and proof establishing your legal heir status. This last document can be a Legal Heir Certificate issued by a court or local revenue authority, a Surviving Family Member Certificate, a registered Will, or a Family Pension Certificate where applicable, the portal accepts any of these as valid evidence. If the request relates to an existing notice or appeal, include a copy of that order issued in the deceased’s name as well. All of these need to be compiled into a single ZIP file under 5MB when you submit the registration request.
Step 2: Register as Legal Heir on the Portal
Log into the income tax e-filing portal using your own PAN and credentials, not the deceased’s. Navigate to Authorised Partners and select Register as Representative Assessee, then create a new request. Choose the category for a deceased person, enter their PAN and date of death, and upload the ZIP file with your documents. Submit the request, and it goes to the department for verification. Once approved, typically communicated by email, you can switch your login view from Self to Legal Heir or Representative, which unlocks access to the deceased’s income tax profile within your own account.
Step 3: File the Return Itself
With the legal heir registration approved, select the deceased’s PAN and choose the ITR form that matches their income sources for that year, the same form rules apply as they would for any living taxpayer, ITR-1 for simple salary and interest income, ITR-2 for capital gains, and so on. Fill in the income earned only up to the date of death, claim any deductions and TDS credits the deceased was entitled to, and verify the return. As the legal heir, you can e-verify it the same way you would your own return, there is no separate physical verification process required specifically because the taxpayer has passed away.
If You Don’t Know the Deceased’s Full Income
Many legal heirs are handling this without full visibility into what the deceased actually earned. Once your legal heir registration is approved, you gain access to the deceased’s Form 168 and AIS through the representative login, which shows salary, TDS, interest, and other reported income exactly as it would for the deceased checking it themselves. Bank statements, fixed deposit certificates, and any Form 130 from an employer for that year fill in whatever the department’s own records do not fully capture. Reconstructing income of a deceased person this way, from official records rather than guesswork, is far more reliable than trying to estimate from memory or informal notes.
Filing for a Year Before the One They Died In
Sometimes the deceased had an earlier year’s return still pending, not just the year of death itself. The same legal heir registration covers this, you are not limited to filing only for the year someone passed away. If the original due date for that earlier year has already passed, ordinary rules around belated and updated returns still apply, including the same loss of loss carry-forward rights a living taxpayer would face for filing late, so it is worth checking whether an updated return under Section 139(8A) is still available if the standard windows have already closed.
How Much Is the Legal Heir Personally Liable For
This is worth knowing early, since it removes a lot of unnecessary worry. Under Section 159, a legal representative’s tax liability for the deceased is limited strictly to the extent of the assets they actually inherit from the estate. You are not personally on the hook for the deceased’s tax dues beyond what you received as your share of the estate, and this protection exists specifically so that inheriting an estate does not also mean inheriting unlimited personal tax exposure tied to it.
What Happens to Refunds and Pending Notices
If the deceased is owed a refund, the legal heir can claim it through the same representative access, using the portal’s refund reissue service tied to the deceased’s PAN once the return is processed. If a notice or an outstanding demand from an earlier year surfaces after death, the legal heir registration also gives you the standing to respond to it, review the demand, and either contest or settle it on the estate’s behalf, again within the Section 159 liability limit rather than out of your own separate funds.
Conclusion
Income of a deceased person still needs to be reported, and the process, while it adds one more task to an already difficult time, is more procedural than daunting once you know the sequence: register as legal heir with the right documents, file only the income up to the date of death under the deceased’s own PAN, and keep anything earned after that date in your own or the estate’s separate filing. Section 159’s liability cap means you are protected from any exposure beyond what you actually inherited, which is worth remembering if a demand or notice arrives later than expected. For the broader picture on how to handle a notice if one does arrive, see my best response to income tax notice guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if there is more than one legal heir?
Any one legal heir can register as the representative assessee and file the return, though it is generally sensible for the heirs to agree on who takes this responsibility, since the department deals with whoever is registered rather than requiring every heir to file jointly.
Does the legal heir need the deceased’s income tax portal password?
No. The entire registration process happens through the legal heir’s own login and credentials, not the deceased’s, which is exactly why the portal requires document-based verification of your legal heir status rather than access to the deceased’s account itself.
What if the deceased’s PAN was never registered on the e-filing portal at all?
The legal heir can still register on the deceased’s behalf during the same representative assessee request, the portal accommodates this as part of the registration flow rather than requiring the deceased’s PAN to already have an active account.
Is there a different filing deadline for a deceased person’s return?
No separate deadline applies, the normal due dates that would have applied to the deceased based on their income category still apply, so it is worth starting the legal heir registration process well before the relevant deadline rather than close to it, since document verification can take some time.
Can the legal heir claim deductions the deceased was eligible for but had not yet invested?
Only deductions the deceased actually claimed or invested in before the date of death can be included, since the return reflects the deceased’s own financial position up to that point. A legal heir cannot retroactively make an 80C investment or similar claim on the deceased’s behalf after the date of death to reduce their tax liability for that period.
