Question on executor fee and taxes

[noname87]

What is the name of your state? NJ

Is the executor fee considered "earned income"?

Is the Trustee Commission (paid upon the distribution of the trust's assets) considered "earned income"

This is not what I do for a living but what I received as the executor of my mother's estate. I know it is taxable income but is it "earned income"?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? NJ

Is the executor fee considered "earned income"?

Is the Trustee Commission (paid upon the distribution of the trust's assets) considered "earned income"

This is not what I do for a living but what I received as the executor of my mother's estate. I know it is taxable income but is it "earned income"?

This is what the IRS says about those fees:

"All personal representatives must include in their gross income fees paid to them from an estate. If paid to a professional executor or administrator, self-employment tax also applies to such fees. For a nonprofessional executor or administrator (a person serving in such capacity in an isolated instance, such as a friend or relative of the decedent), self-employment tax only applies if a trade or business is included in the estate's assets, the executor actively participates in the business, and the fees are related to operation of the business."

Therefore, unless it counts as self employment (requiring SE taxes to be paid) it wouldn't count as "earned income".

 

[noname87]

Thank you for your clear and thought out response.