Form 706-NA: how to file the US nonresident estate tax return

Section 01Who must file

The starting question is not "is tax owed" but "who has to file," and the answer is broader than most families expect. The return is filed by the executor, a word the Internal Revenue Code defines generously: the executor, the personal representative, or the administrator of the estate.

The part that catches Canadian families is what happens when there is no such person. If no executor is appointed, qualified, and acting within the United States, then any person in actual or constructive possession of any US property of the deceased is treated as the executor and must file. A Canadian heir who simply holds the Florida condo, or who controls the deceased's US brokerage account, is the filer, even if no probate has been opened anywhere and no one has been formally named.

So the common assumption that "there is no US executor, so there is nothing to file" is exactly backwards. The absence of a formal executor does not remove the filing duty; it transfers it to whoever holds the US asset. That person should not wait for a court appointment that may never come before dealing with Form 706-NA.

Section 02The filing threshold

The executor must file Form 706-NA when the value at death of the deceased's US-situs assets, increased by adjusted taxable gifts and the specific gift-tax exemption, is more than USD 60,000. For most Canadian estates this is a low bar: a single Florida condo clears it on its own.

This guide deliberately stops at the filing trigger. How the tax is actually computed, the unified credit, the treaty's prorated credit, the marital credit, and the stepped-up basis that filing secures for the heirs, is the subject of our US nonresident estate tax guide and our Article XXIX-B guide. We do not repeat that arithmetic here. The only point that matters for this procedural guide is that crossing USD 60,000 of US-situs assets creates the filing obligation, after which the rest of this guide applies.

Section 03The form and its schedules

Form 706-NA itself is short, two pages, but it does its real work through schedules. Part V is the recapitulation: the list of the deceased's US-situs assets with the value of each. Schedule A is where you describe the US-situs property, the Florida condo and any other US assets, in enough detail for the IRS to identify and check it.

Three situations pull in schedules borrowed from the full Form 706. Jointly owned property is reported on Schedule E. Certain transfers the deceased made during life are reported on Schedule G. Powers of appointment the deceased held are reported on Schedule H. When one of these applies, you do not re-enter those assets in Part V. Instead, you attach the relevant Form 706 schedule and, on Part V, enter the line "Total from Schedule X (Form 706)" with the schedule's total. This keeps the recapitulation clean and avoids double-counting. Whether property lands on Schedule E at all is decided when title is taken; the guide to estate planning before a Florida purchase covers the joint-ownership choices Canadians make at closing and their 706-NA consequences.

Section 04How to value the assets

The default measuring date is the date of death: each US-situs asset is reported at its fair market value on the day the person died. For a Florida condo that means a date-of-death appraisal; for listed securities, the value on that date from the brokerage records.

The estate may instead elect the alternate valuation date. Under that election, any asset that is sold, distributed, or otherwise disposed of within six months after death is valued at the date of that disposition, and every asset still held is valued six months after death. The election is all-or-nothing: it applies to every asset in the estate, so you cannot take the date-of-death value for the assets that fell and the six-month value for the assets that rose. It is a single choice for the whole estate, usually made when values dropped after death.

Whichever date applies, keep the evidence. The IRS expects to see how each value was derived: appraisals for real estate and for any asset that is not publicly traded, and complete brokerage statements for listed securities. Those records are what support the numbers on Schedule A if the return is examined.

Section 05The mandatory supporting documents

Form 706-NA is not accepted on its own; it travels with a defined set of attachments, and an incomplete package slows everything that follows. The core documents are a certified copy of the death certificate, and a certified copy of the will. If the person died without a will, the return states that the death was intestate instead.

Valuation evidence comes next: appraisals for the real estate and for any other valuable or non-publicly-traded property, supporting the figures on Schedule A. Then the requirement that most often trips up a Quebec estate: any document in a language other than English must be accompanied by an English translation. A French notarial will has to be translated into English before it is attached, which takes time and should be arranged early rather than discovered at the deadline.

Finally, if the estate is claiming a treaty position, the prorated unified credit or the marital credit, it attaches the relevant treaty article together with a one-page explanation of the position being taken. That is the formal act of invoking the treaty on the return.

Section 06Where and when to file

Form 706-NA is a paper filing, sent by mail to the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Kansas City, MO 64999. The deadline is nine months after the date of death.

An extension of time to file, up to six months, is available on Form 4768. The point that estates most often get wrong is that the extension covers the filing only, not the payment. Any tax owed is still due at nine months, and interest accrues from that date even when a filing extension has been granted. So an estate that expects to owe tax should pay an estimate at the nine-month mark and use the extension only to finish the paperwork, not as a reason to delay payment. Where the treaty reduces the tax to zero, there is nothing to pay, but the return is still filed, with the treaty position claimed, inside the same deadline.

Section 07The Transfer Certificate

The Transfer Certificate is the practical key to the US assets, and the part of the process that most often surprises a grieving family. It is the IRS's written confirmation that the estate's US tax obligations have been satisfied. US institutions, the brokerage holding the shares, the title company handling the condo sale, generally will not release, transfer, or sell the assets without it.

There is one exception: a Transfer Certificate is not required where the US property is being administered by an executor who is appointed, qualified, and acting in the United States. That situation is rare for a Canadian estate, so most Canadian families do need one. The procedure is specific: fax a copy of the filed Form 706-NA, both pages, together with all of the Schedule A sheets, to the IRS Transfer Certificate unit, at 855-201-8011 from within the United States or 304-707-9970 from outside it.

Then comes the wait. The IRS typically takes 12 to 18 months to issue the certificate, during which the US assets stay frozen. This is why the family of a snowbird often cannot sell the Florida condo for more than a year after the death, even when no tax is owed. The timeline should be built into the family's plans, not discovered when a buyer is waiting.

Section 08The Medallion Signature Guarantee

A second practical hurdle is routinely confused with the first, and the confusion costs time. Many US brokerages will not transfer securities without a Medallion Signature Guarantee: a stamp from a participating financial institution confirming the identity and authority of the person signing, with the guarantor accepting liability if the signature turns out to be invalid. It is not a tax document at all. A Transfer Certificate proves the tax is satisfied; a Medallion proves the signer is who they claim to be. An estate that holds US securities can need both.

The practical move is to run the Medallion process in parallel with the IRS process, not after it. Doing them in series, waiting for the Transfer Certificate and only then chasing a Medallion, can add months to an already slow timeline. Not every institution provides Medallion stamps, and many that do will only stamp for their own account holders, so call ahead to find one that will help. When you go, bring government-issued identification, a certified death certificate, the court letters establishing your authority, and the brokerage's transfer forms, so the guarantor can verify everything in one visit.

Section 09Claiming a treaty position on the form

The treaty reliefs, the prorated unified credit and the marital credit, are claimed on Form 706-NA by attaching the relevant treaty article and a short, one-page explanation of the position being taken. The substance of those credits, the prorated formula and the marital doubling, is set out in our Article XXIX-B guide; on the return itself, the act of claiming is simply the attachment and the explanation.

One trap surfaces precisely at filing time and is worth catching before the return goes out. If a significant US asset is left to a surviving spouse who is not a US citizen, and there is no QDOT in place, that share is taxed now rather than deferred, because the automatic marital deduction is not available to a non-citizen spouse. At the filing stage it may still be possible to fix this, if the surviving spouse establishes a QDOT before the return's due date. The conditions and trade-offs are in our QDOT guide for the Canadian surviving spouse. The point for the executor is to spot the issue while the return is still being prepared, not after it is filed.

Section 10Worked example: filing as the heir in possession

Trace the procedure through one common situation. A Canadian dies owning a Florida condo worth USD 400,000 and nothing else in the US. No US executor is appointed, and the adult daughter, a Canadian resident, holds the keys and the file. The dollar figure and the timing below are an illustration of the process, not a calculation for any specific estate.

The example shows the shape of the work: the filing duty falls on the heir in possession, the documents and translations have to be assembled, the return is mailed to Kansas City, and the Transfer Certificate request and any Medallion run in parallel so the family is not left waiting twice. None of it depends on whether tax is actually owed; the procedure is the same when the treaty erases the tax.

Section 11Common mistakes

Assuming that no formal executor means nothing to file. The opposite is true. If no US executor is appointed, the person in possession of the US asset is the filer and must file Form 706-NA. Waiting for an appointment that never comes only burns the nine-month clock.

Selling the condo before the Transfer Certificate issues. US title companies and brokerages generally will not complete a transfer without the certificate, so a sale arranged before it is in hand will stall at closing. Line up the certificate first, and expect it to take a year or more.

Omitting the English translation of a Quebec will. Any non-English document must be translated into English to be attached. A French notarial will without a translation makes the package incomplete and delays everything downstream.

Sequencing the Medallion after the IRS clearance. The Medallion Signature Guarantee is separate from the Transfer Certificate. Chasing it only after the certificate arrives adds months; start both at the same time.

Leaving US assets to a non-citizen spouse without a QDOT. Without a QDOT, that share is taxed at the first death rather than deferred. Spot it while the return is being prepared, when a QDOT established before the due date can still help.

Section 12Checklist

• Determine who must file: the executor, or, if none is appointed in the US, the person in possession of the US asset.
• Inventory and value the US-situs assets at the date of death, or elect the alternate date for the whole estate.
• Gather the documents: certified death certificate, certified will (with an English translation if it is not in English), and appraisals.
• Complete Part V and Schedule A; attach Form 706 Schedules E, G, or H if joint property, lifetime transfers, or powers of appointment apply.
• Mail the return to the IRS Center, Kansas City, MO 64999, within nine months; file Form 4768 for a filing extension if needed, and pay any estimated tax at nine months.
• Fax the filed return and all Schedule A sheets to the Transfer Certificate unit (855-201-8011 in the US, 304-707-9970 outside).
• Start the Medallion Signature Guarantee in parallel if the estate holds US securities.
• Do not sell or transfer any US asset until the Transfer Certificate issues.
• Engage a cross-border estate professional; the filing, the schedules, and the clearances are technical.

Section 13FAQ

Do I have to file if there is no formal executor? Yes. If no executor is appointed, qualified, and acting in the US, the person in possession of the US asset is treated as the executor and must file. A Canadian heir holding the Florida condo is the filer.

Can I sell the condo before the IRS clears the estate? Generally no. US title companies and brokerages usually require the IRS Transfer Certificate before completing a transfer, and it typically takes 12 to 18 months.

My parent's will is in French. Is that a problem? It must be translated into English to be attached to the return. Arrange the translation early, because the package is incomplete without it.

What is a Medallion Signature Guarantee and where do I get one? It is a stamp confirming the signer's identity and authority, often required by brokerages to move securities. Call participating institutions in advance, since many stamp only for their own clients, and bring identification, a certified death certificate, the court letters, and the transfer forms.

Does the filing extension push back the payment too? No. Form 4768 extends the time to file, not the time to pay. Tax owed is due at nine months, and interest runs from then. For the tax computation and the treaty credit, see our US nonresident estate tax guide; for a later sale of the property, see the FIRPTA guide, and for the Canadian estate, our probate fees guide.