A fiduciary for a resident trust or estate must file a North Dakota fiduciary income tax return Form 38 – Fiduciary Income Tax Return if the fiduciary is required to file a federal fiduciary income tax return (Form 1041 – U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts).
A fiduciary for a nonresident trust or estate must file a North Dakota fiduciary income tax return (Form 38 – Fiduciary Income Tax Return) if:
- The fiduciary is required to file Form 1041 - U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts, AND
- The estate or trust received income from North Dakota sources during the year.
The North Dakota fiduciary income tax return is due on April 15. If an extension of time to file the federal Form 1041 is received, the same extension of time to file the state Form 38 is automatically applied.
At times, a fiduciary for an estate or trust must pay estimated North Dakota income tax. To learn more about estimated income tax for estates and trusts, see Form 38-ES – Estimated Income Tax – Estates and Trusts.
If you have questions regarding estate tax:
Changes for E-Filing
For tax years 2022 and after, a partnership, S Corporation, trust, or other passthrough entity with 10 or more owners (or beneficiaries) must file its North Dakota income tax return and pay any tax due on it electronically. This requirement is due to law changes passed by the 2021 North Dakota Legislature.
For more information about electronic filing, see:
Tax Forms
To find tax forms for the current and previous tax years, visit our Forms Library where you can search by form name, tax type, tax year, and SFN.
Remember, E-Filing is fast, safe, and easy!
E-File
The Office of State Tax Commissioner offers a variety of E-Filing options for fiduciary tax. See more information:
Grantor Trusts
A grantor trust is required to file a North Dakota fiduciary income tax return (Form 38 - Fiduciary Income Tax Return) if the grantor is required to file a federal fiduciary income tax return (Form 1041 - U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts).
If you are passing state income tax withholding through to the beneficiary from the grantor trust, the grantor trust must file a complete North Dakota fiduciary income tax return (Form 38) – including Schedule BI and North Dakota Schedule K-1 – to claim the withholding and pass it through to the beneficiary. For instructions, see Grantor Trust with North Dakota Withholding Reported to its FEIN.
Composite Return
A nonresident beneficiary is eligible to be included in a composite filing if both of the following apply:
- The beneficiary’s only source of income within North Dakota is one or more passthrough entities. A passthrough entity includes a trust, partnership, S corporation, limited liability company treated like a partnership or S corporation, and any other similar entity.
- The beneficiary elects to be included in a composite filing. An election is indicated by the trust’s calculation and reporting of a tax amount for the beneficiary on Form 38, Schedule BI, Column 7. If the distributive share is a loss, the tax is zero.
The distributive share of North Dakota income included in a composite return is subject to tax even if it is under $1,000.