Is surviving spouse required to file for deceased spouse?

New consultation comes in. Husband passed away in 2022. Went to file 2021 tax return and discussed husband has accrued over $75K in back taxes from 2018 & earlier. All returns filed MFJ. No returns have been filed for 2019, 2020, & 2021.

All income was generated by the husband. Nothing under her name. Husband had multiple businesses (pulled transcripts, both Sch C and S Corps). Logistical nightmare to try and figure out what needs to be filed for the husband.

She is willing to payoff the back taxes for the filed years. We discussed filing her return MFS for 2019 - 2021.

However, I am unsure if she is obligated to file her husbands MFS return on his behalf. Can she just filed MFS and let the husbands returns go unfiled?

I’m not sure why she should have a responsibility to file for him but if he has any assets in his estate they need to go toward paying his taxes before she can get the money. So in light of that, anything you can do to lower the overall tax liability, would put her in a better financial position. I know that’s a tall order!

The executor of the estate is responsible for filing the decedent's personal income tax returns. That may or may not be the surviving spouse.