Where Trust Tax Returns Are Filed: Estate and Trust Returns by State

Disclaimer: General educational research only — not legal, tax or investment advice. Talk to an estate planning attorney or tax professional about your situation.

Estate Planning Data & Research → Where Trust Tax Returns Are Filed

The IRS counted 3,187,009 estate and trust income tax returns (Form 1041) in fiscal year 2025. That’s about 24 for every 1,000 U.S. households, but the count swings from 9 per 1,000 households in Mississippi to 103 in Delaware.

It’s tempting to read that as “how much families in each state use trusts.” It isn’t, and this page explains why. The IRS sorts these returns by the address on the return, which is the fiduciary’s address, not where the family lives. So the table below shows where trust and estate returns are filed. That’s useful, but it’s a different question from where families have trusts.

The IRS counts show where the paperwork lands, not who has a plan. If you aren’t sure whether a will or a living trust fits your family, compare them here.

Key findings

• 3.19 million Form 1041 returns were filed in FY2025 (Oct. 2024 – Sept. 2025), plus 755,971 estimated-tax payments (Form 1041-ES). Together with 311,332 gift tax returns and 28,495 estate tax returns, they’re the IRS’s main footprint of estates, trusts and large gifts.
• Delaware files 103 returns per 1,000 households, South Dakota 53 and Maine 57. The U.S. figure is about 24. Mississippi (9), Louisiana (12) and North Carolina (13) are lowest.
• Delaware and South Dakota also stand out in dollars. Tax collected per Form 1041 return is $82,177 in Delaware and $195,264 in South Dakota, against $23,401 nationally. That pattern is what you’d expect if some returns are filed by trust companies and other fiduciaries managing large balances for people elsewhere. The IRS data can’t confirm that, though.
• Maine looks different. It ranks second in filings per household but last (51st) in tax per return: $4,393. More on that below.
• Gift tax returns are a cleaner comparison. They’re filed by the donor, so they track the donor’s address. Massachusetts (4.3 per 1,000 households), Connecticut (4.3) and Wyoming (4.1) lead. Maine’s rate (2.5) is close to the national 2.35.
• Estate and trust income tax brought in $74.6 billion in FY2025, estate tax $28.1 billion and gift tax $3.0 billion (IRS Data Book Table 1-5).

What the count does and doesn’t measure

What it measures. Each Form 1041 is the income tax return of one estate or one trust that has to report income to the IRS. The form asks for the name and address of the fiduciary, the executor, trustee or institution in charge. The IRS Data Book says state classification “is based on the individual’s address (or, in the case of businesses, the location of the principal office or place of business).” For a 1041, that address is the fiduciary’s, and the form’s instructions say to use the fiduciary’s own P.O. box if there is one.

What it doesn’t measure.

• Where the family lives. If a bank or trust company in Delaware serves as trustee for a family in Ohio, the return can be filed from Delaware. The IRS Data Book itself warns that people may use “the address of a tax attorney or accountant” and that such addresses can sit in a different state than the one where the person lives.
• How many people have a trust. A return is only required when the estate or trust has gross income of $600 or more, taxable income, or a nonresident-alien beneficiary. Many revocable living trusts are grantor trusts, which the IRS generally doesn’t treat as separate taxpayers while the grantor is alive (the Form 1041 instructions describe special reporting for them). A family trust holding only a home may never generate a return. Estates also file returns, so the count mixes estates with trusts, and some of the 3.19 million are tax returns for estates that closed after one year.
• Trust assets. A count of returns says nothing about how much money sits in the trusts.

The 10 states with the most estate and trust returns per household

Maine: what we checked and what we found

Maine’s second-place rank is the most surprising number on the table, so we tested it.

• We confirmed how the IRS assigns states. The Data Book’s notes and the Form 1041 instructions both point to the address on the return, which is the fiduciary’s.
• We looked for IRS data that breaks the count out by filer type within a state. The IRS publishes national totals by trust type and income size (Statistics of Income, tax year 2022), but we found no state-level split between individual trustees and trust companies. So the IRS data can’t tell us who files Maine’s returns.
• We compared Maine to the states known for trust business. Delaware, South Dakota, Nevada and Wyoming all have high tax per return ($82,000 to $195,000), which fits large balances. Maine’s is the lowest in the country at $4,393, and its 35,010 returns brought in $153.8 million. Maine’s gift tax filing rate, a measure tied to the donor’s own address, is ordinary.
• Conclusion. Maine’s high count is in the IRS table, but the data doesn’t show it comes from the Delaware-style pattern of large trusts managed from a different state. We can’t say what’s behind it. Maine had the highest median age of any state in the 2024 Census survey (B01002), which could contribute, but we haven’t measured that. Treat Maine’s rank as “many small returns filed from Maine,” and don’t read it as Mainers using trusts at twice the national rate.

Gift tax returns: a cleaner state comparison

Form 709 is filed by the person making the gift, so the address is usually the donor’s. Most gifts don’t produce a return at all (a return is generally only required for gifts above the annual exclusion), so this is a count of larger gifts, not of everyone who gives.

All states

Households and residents 65+ are from the Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates. Tax per return is estate and trust income tax collected (Table 1-5) divided by Form 1041 returns (Table 1-3). The two tables cover the same fiscal year, but returns filed in a fiscal year mostly report the prior tax year, so treat the per-return figure as a rough scale.

What this means if you’re planning

• Where a trust return is filed doesn’t change which state’s law governs your trust. That depends on the trust document, where the property is and where you live. Some people choose a trustee in another state for specific reasons, and that’s a legal decision to make with an attorney.
• A will goes through probate; a revocable living trust generally doesn’t. Whether a trust makes sense depends on what you own and where. See revocable vs. irrevocable trusts and how probate works.
• The trustee’s location is a choice. Picking an individual or an institution to serve as executor or trustee is one of the biggest decisions in a plan. See who will be your executor.
• Estate tax is a separate question. Only 28,495 estate tax returns were filed nationally in FY2025. Our estate tax statistics page covers who owes it.

Related: The estate pipeline · Money that skips the will · Great wealth transfer tracker

Methodology

Returns and collections. IRS Data Book, fiscal year 2025 (Publication 55-B, Rev. 4-2026): Table 1-3, Number of Returns and Other Forms Filed, by Type and State (Form 1041 = “Estate and trust income tax”; Form 709 = “Gift tax”; “Estate tax” = Form 706 series), and Table 1-5, Gross Collections, by Type of Tax and State (dollars in thousands). Fiscal year 2025 ran Oct. 1, 2024 – Sept. 30, 2025. “Other” areas (territories other than Puerto Rico, overseas filers) are 13,895 Form 1041 returns and aren’t in the state table.

Households and 65+. U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 1-year estimates, B11001 (households) and B01001 (people 65+, the sum of male and female 65–66 through 85+ age groups). Puerto Rico is excluded. Rates divide IRS counts by these figures. The U.S. rate uses all 3,187,009 returns over the 50 states’ and D.C.’s households (24.0); excluding the “other” areas it’s 23.9.

Maine check. IRS Data Book general notes to Table 1-3; Form 1041 and instructions (2025); IRS Statistics of Income fiduciary tables (tax year 2022). We found no state-level breakdown by filer type.

What this doesn’t measure. The share of families with a trust or will, trust assets, or where beneficiaries live. No federal source publishes those by state.

Frequently asked questions

How many estate and trust tax returns does the IRS get each year?

3,187,009 Form 1041 returns in fiscal year 2025, up 0.7% from 3,165,460 the year before.

Does Delaware have the most trusts?

Delaware has the most estate and trust returns per household (103 per 1,000, against 24 nationally), but the IRS counts returns by the fiduciary’s address. It can reflect trust companies and other fiduciaries located there rather than Delaware residents’ trusts.

Does a revocable living trust file its own tax return?

Often not while the person who created it is alive. A revocable trust is typically a grantor trust, and the Form 1041 instructions describe special reporting for these. After the person dies, the trust generally needs its own EIN and may need to file Form 1041 if it has income. An attorney or tax professional can say what applies to you.

Are gift tax returns a better measure?

For location, yes, because the donor files them. They only count gifts large enough to require a return, so they miss most giving.

Does this show which state is best for a trust?

No. It describes where returns are filed. Choosing a trust’s governing law and trustee is a legal and tax decision for an attorney.

Sources

U.S. government public-domain data and official agency pages only.

Data (pulled 2026-10-09)

• IRS Data Book FY2025 (Publication 55-B, Rev. 4-2026), Table 1-3 Number of Returns and Other Forms Filed, by Type and State: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p55b.pdf .
• IRS Data Book FY2025, Table 1-5 Gross Collections, by Type of Tax and State (thousands of dollars).
• U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 1-year: B11001 (households), B01001 (age by sex, 65+ rows _020–_025 and _044–_049), B01002 (median age): https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs1 .
• IRS Statistics of Income, Fiduciary income tax returns by tax status and size of income, TY2022 (national only, used in the Maine check): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/22fd01.xlsx .

Rules (checked 2026-10-09)

• Instructions for Form 1041 (2025): Who Must File; Address (fiduciary’s address / P.O. box): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1041.pdf
• Form 1041 (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1041.pdf (name and title of fiduciary, address)
• IRS Data Book notes to Table 1-3: “Classification by state is based on the individual’s address (or, in the case of businesses, the location of the principal office or place of business)…”

Cite this data

You’re welcome to reuse the tables with a link back to this page. IRS and Census data are public domain.

Published October 9, 2026 by Family Estate Guide. Data vintage: IRS Data Book FY2025 (Oct. 2024 – Sept. 2025); Census ACS 2024 1-year estimates. Pulled Oct. 9, 2026. Editorial standards.