Last year an EIN was applied for, and received, for a trust. The IRS notice says you must file 1041 by 4/15/08.

Later on, attorney advised us that this trust can be treated as a grantor trust and we can use the optional reporting method of reporting under my SS#, instead of the trust EIN. The payer of income was furnished with my SS#.

Now I have a 1099 from the payer of income that has my SS#. There is no income being reported under the trust EIN. However, I still have the trust EIN notice that says I must file 1041 by 4/15/08.

Can I just file my own tax return, since no income was reported under the trust EIN?

If I have to file 1041, what do I report?

I have read in the Treas Regs how to change filing methods, but it looks like it would have worked better to get 2007 income under the trust EIN, file a final 1041, and *then* give my SS# to the payer of income for 2008 income. It seems we have jumped the gun in giving the SS# to the payer of income. Obviously, best of all would have been never to apply for the trust EIN.

(Note: The amount of income is small, and the tax liability will be very small. I’d rather just file my own return and forget the 1041 completely.)