Does anyone know if I should file IRS Form 4810 for my deceased mother-in-law's estate in Massachusetts?

So my mother-in-law passed away last year and the estate is finally being settled. The house was the main asset - we sold it for about $380,000 and paid off her remaining debts (around $45,000 in medical bills and credit card debt). The money has been distributed to all the beneficiaries according to her will. Now the estate attorney has sent my wife (who is the personal representative for the estate) a form called IRS Form 4810. He said it would reduce the time the IRS can audit the estate from 3 years down to 18 months. I've been doing some research and I'm not sure if this makes sense for us since Massachusetts still seems to require a 3-year period anyway. The form seems like we'd actually be requesting an audit, which sounds scary! Is this just standard procedure after an estate is settled? Has anyone dealt with Form 4810 before? I'm trying to figure out if there's any benefit to filing this or if we should just let the normal 3-year period run its course.

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19 comments

Lim Wong

•8M

Form 4810 is actually a Request for Prompt Assessment, not a request for an audit. It's a completely normal filing for estates. What it does is ask the IRS to complete any examination of the estate's tax return within 18 months instead of the standard 3-year period. The benefit is that it can help close out the estate's tax matters more quickly. It doesn't increase your audit risk - it just shortens the timeframe during which the IRS can decide to examine the return. Since your estate seems straightforward (just the house sale and debt payments), there's likely minimal risk in requesting this. Even though Massachusetts may still have a 3-year statute of limitations for state taxes, shortening the federal timeframe can still be beneficial. Your attorney is giving standard advice here that many estate representatives follow.

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Lim Wong

•8M

You typically don't need additional documentation beyond what you've already prepared for the estate tax filings. You'll just need to complete Form 4810 with basic information about the estate and the personal representative. Even if Massachusetts maintains their 3-year review period, shortening the federal window can still provide peace of mind for most of the tax liability. Some estates choose to do both - file the federal Form 4810 and also check if Massachusetts has a similar request for prompt assessment option for state taxes (many states do have this).

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Noah huntAce420

•8M

After my father passed, I was completely overwhelmed with all the estate paperwork and tax forms. I kept worrying I'd miss something important or make a mistake that would cost us money. I actually found this service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that was a game-changer for me. It analyzes all your estate documents and tax forms and explains exactly what everything means in plain English. For complex situations like estates, it was super helpful because it caught several things I wouldn't have understood on my own - including explaining this exact form you're asking about and whether it made sense for our situation. They explained the pros and cons of filing Form 4810 and gave me confidence in my decision.

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Noah huntAce420

•8M

They don't fill out the forms for you, but they review them and explain each section in normal language. They'll point out potential errors or missing information before you submit. For my dad's estate, they found a section we had filled out incorrectly that could have caused problems. Their advice aligned perfectly with what our estate attorney told us, but I understood it better from taxr.ai because they explain things without all the legal jargon. And yes, we did end up filing Form 4810 based on their analysis - they explained that since our estate was straightforward (similar to yours with just a house and some investments), it made sense to shorten the potential audit period.

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Fidel Carson

•8M

I wanted to follow up about my skepticism of taxr.ai - I decided to try it for my mom's estate that I'm handling right now. I hate to admit when I'm wrong, but this tool is actually really helpful! I uploaded the Form 4810 the attorney sent us and it gave a detailed explanation of exactly what it does and the pros/cons for our specific situation. It confirmed that filing the form was low-risk for us since we had a simple estate. The analysis matched what two different attorneys told me but in much clearer language. Just wanted to share since I was dismissive before, but it actually saved me a lot of stress and helped me understand some complicated tax concepts around estate closure.

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Isaiah Sanders

•8M

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Isaiah Sanders

•8M

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Fiona Gallagher

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I need to eat my words about being skeptical of Claimyr. After struggling for literal months trying to get IRS help with my dad's estate taxes, I tried it yesterday. Within 40 minutes (not even the full hour they estimate), I got a call connecting me to an actual IRS representative who specialized in estates. I asked about this exact Form 4810 situation, and she walked me through everything, confirming it was appropriate for our situation and explaining how it would impact the estate timeline. She even pointed out a potential issue with how we filled out another form that could have caused problems later. Honestly, that one conversation saved me countless hours of stress and potentially prevented delays in closing the estate.

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Thais Soares

•8M

I was a personal representative for my aunt's estate in Massachusetts last year. We did file Form 4810 and had no issues. Our lawyer recommended it as standard practice, especially since the estate was straightforward like yours. Even though MA keeps the 3-year period, having the federal side closed sooner gave us peace of mind. One thing to note - make sure you've filed all the required federal tax returns for the estate before submitting Form 4810. The 18-month period doesn't start until all proper returns are filed.

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Thais Soares

•8M

In our case, they simply accepted the form and we never heard anything from them afterward. There was no additional review triggered by filing Form 4810. We didn't have to wait the full 18 months to distribute assets or anything like that. The form just means they have 18 months to audit if they want to, but it doesn't prevent you from closing the estate otherwise. Our lawyer advised us that after about 6 months with no contact from the IRS, the chances of them looking at anything were extremely low. We considered everything effectively closed at that point, though technically the 18-month window was still open.

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