CCH Answers

In most cases, when the surviving spouse dies (or when the client dies in a single case), retirement plans are cashed in and a tax is put on the transaction.  If you do not see taxes on retirement plans at the second death, please verify the following:

1. Did you enter beneficiaries in your plan?  As a default, when the retirement plans are cashed in, the beneficiary is the estate.  If you did not enter any beneficiaries into your plan, CCH ViewPlan/CCH ViewPlan Advanced will not know who is part of the estate, and therefore, not put a tax on retirement plans.
2. Did you remove the tax rates from your plan?  You can find the Federal and State tax rates by going to Estate Details > Client Preferences > Calculations.  If the "Tax Rates" fields show 0%, CCH ViewPlan/CCH ViewPlan Advanced is not taxing any transactions in the plan.  Entering tax rates will resolve the issue.
3. Did the beneficiaries you entered die before the surviving spouse?  If the beneficiaries die before the surviving spouse, it will be the equivalent to having no beneficiaries at all, leading to a condition similar to #1 above.