Executor Responsibilities

• When a will is in the process of being probated, the executor is the individual in charge of distributing the assets of the estate. It is the executor's responsibility to file a tax return for the estate and for the individual who passed away. As part of this filing, the executor does not have to include any information about the beneficiaries of the will. The tax information is only for the personal income taxes of the deceased individual and any money earned by the estate since the time of his death.
  
  

Estate Taxes

• Many who stand to inherit money from a will are concerned with the possibility of having to pay estate taxes. However, the beneficiaries of the estate do not have to pay estate taxes. Instead, the estate pays the estate taxes before the assets are distributed to beneficiaries. On top of that, the estate tax in this country only affects the top 2 percent of estates in terms of their monetary worth. This means, in most cases, estate taxes will not affect you when you inherit money from an estate.
  
  

Trust Returns

• If you are the beneficiary of a trust to go along with a will, you may receive tax documentation in regard to the income generated by the trust. The trustee will file Form 1041 with the Internal Revenue Service. You will receive a document that shows how much money you earn from the trust over the course of the year. However, if you are not receiving a regular income from the trust and instead inherit money upon the death of the grantor, you will not have to worry about paying taxes on the inheritance.
  
  

Considerations

• When you are a beneficiary in a will, you have to wait for the executor to distribute your portion of the assets to you. This could take some time, as the executor has to pay all the outstanding debts of the estate and pay the taxes before the money can be distributed to you. At that point, you are entitled to the portion of the estate that was allocated to you by the deceased individual when he created the will.