Uniform Rules § 207.44

Payment of estate tax · as in force on May 31, 2026

(a) No decree of final settlement of an executor's or administrator's account or of the discharge of an executor or administrator shall be signed unless the petition is accompanied or preceded by a copy of the letter from the Estate and Gift Tax Section of the New York Department of Taxation and Finance captioned "New York Estate Tax Discharge from Liability" showing that no final estate tax is due or that the final estate tax plus interest and penalties, if any, have been paid.

(b) Nothing herein shall preclude the discharge of an executor or an administrator who has complied with the requirements of section 1804(3) of the Surrogate' s Court Procedure Act where a tax has been fixed but not paid because of insufficient funds in the estate, or the representative seeks a discharge before the estate has been administered, or where no return has been filed, or for other sufficient cause.

Official sourcehttps://www.nycourts.gov/rules/part-207-uniform-rules-surrogates-court

In plain English

This rule requires proof the estate tax is settled before a fiduciary's final decree or discharge.

(a) No decree of final settlement of an executor's or administrator's account, and no discharge of an executor or administrator, shall be signed unless the petition comes with (or follows) a copy of the "New York Estate Tax Discharge from Liability" letter from the Estate and Gift Tax Section of the NY Department of Taxation and Finance, showing no final estate tax is due or that it (plus any interest and penalties) has been paid. ★
(b) This does not prevent discharge of an executor or administrator who has complied with SCPA 1804(3) where a tax was fixed but not paid for lack of estate funds, where the representative seeks discharge before the estate is administered, where no return was filed, or for other sufficient cause.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Surrogate's Court in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Surrogate's Court: Court Rules & the EPTL; Volume 5 — Your Career: Surrogate's Court in Plain English.