$98.00
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Secure Transaction CPE Credits
2 Credits: Taxes
Course Level
Basic
Format
Webcast
Course Description
When a client becomes a surviving spouse, the tax issues arrive fast—and they touch almost everything: the final 1040, filing status changes, basis and residence decisions, retirement distributions, portability, Social Security timing, and fiduciary administration, often while the survivor is grieving and vulnerable. This CPE course gives practitioners a practical, advisor-ready framework for triaging the immediate questions, protecting the survivor from avoidable mistakes, and building a plan for the first two years after death and beyond.
Taught by Steven Siegel, JD, LL.M. (Taxation), the webcast walks through the decedent’s final return and the joint-return decision, key elections and carryover traps, and planning for bracket compression after the shift to single filing. You’ll also cover estate-tax and portability strategy (including why a Form 706 may matter even when it isn’t required), plus core planning considerations around the home sale exclusion, retirement account options and common rollover pitfalls, and Social Security survivor-benefit planning.
Learning Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Identify the primary tax and planning decisions that arise immediately after a spouse’s death and organize them into an actionable triage checklist.
- Determine key filing options and compliance requirements for the decedent’s final return, including when joint filing may (or may not) be advantageous.
- Apply planning concepts related to filing-status transitions and bracket changes, including strategies that may be considered while joint-filer rates remain available.
- Evaluate estate-tax considerations affecting the surviving spouse, including portability planning and circumstances where filing Form 706 may be beneficial.
- Compare surviving-spouse options for retirement plans and Social Security benefits, including common traps and timing decisions that can materially change outcomes.
Course Specifics
WC1826464646
January 23, 2026
None
None
Compliance Information
IRS Provider Number: 0MYXB
IRS Course Number: 0MYXB-T-02767-26-O
IRS Federal Tax Law Credits: 2
CTEC Course Number: 2071-CE-02210
CTEC Federal Tax Law Credits: 2
CFP Notice: Not all courses that qualify for CFP® credit are registered by Western CPE. If a course does not have a CFP registration number in the compliance section, the continuing education will need to be individually reported with the CFP Board. For more information on the reporting process, required documentation, processing fee, etc., contact the CFP Board. CFP Professionals must take each course in it’s entirety, the CFP Board DOES NOT accept partial credits for courses.
CTEC Notice: California Tax Education Council DOES NOT allow partial credit, course must be taken in entirety. Western CPE has been approved by the California Tax Education Council to offer continuing education courses that count as credit towards the annual “continuing education” requirement imposed by the State of California for CTEC Registered Tax Preparers. A listing of additional requirements to register as a tax preparer may be obtained by contacting CTEC at P.O. Box 2890, Sacramento, CA, 95812-2890, by phone toll-free at (877) 850-2832, or on the Internet at www.ctec.org.
Meet The Experts
Steven G. Siegel, JD, LLM, is president of The Siegel Group, which provides consulting services to attorneys, accountants, business owners, family offices, and financial planners. Based in Morristown, New Jersey, the Group provides services throughout the United States. Steven is the author of many books, including: The Grantor Trust Answer Book (2018 CCH); The Adviser’s Guide to Financial and Estate Planning(AICPA 2019); Federal Fiduciary Income Taxation (Foxmoor 2019); and Federal Estate and Gift Tax (Foxmoor 2016). He is also a co-author with Richard Oshins, Esq. of The Anatomy of the Perfect Modern Trust, Estate Planning Magazine January and February 2016. In conjunction with numerous tax-planning lectures he has delivered …
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