1040NR regarding a Canadian citizen inheriting from a US parent

[formerpatriot]

American mother-in-law passed away last summer.
The 4 children are equal-share beneficiaries.
Three of them are American citizens living in the USA.
The fourth child, my wife, is a Canadian citizen living in Canada.
(She renounced her US citizenship a few years ago).
The oldest son is the executor.
A lawyer and an accountant (in the US) are handling the case.
The deceased mother had investments totaling more than 2 million dollars (all stocks, no real estate) in a living trust.

My wife got an email from the lawyer asking (on behalf of the accountant) if she (my wife) "will need help in filing a non-resident US income tax return". She goes on with "Do you have an accountant who is able to guide you with respect to these issues?". We are not quite sure what to make of that. Perhaps it has to do with the gains that occurred between the time of death and the time of distribution of the inheritance to the beneficiaries. Perhaps there are other issues (such as stock adjusted cost basis inside a trust not applicable to a non-US resident?).

What should my wife do? Perhaps the simplest thing to do is to let the accountant in charge of this inheritance dossier help my wife file a 1040NR since he is up to date with all of the details.

Thank you in advance for your comments and suggestions.

[nelsona]

That would seem to be the simplest course of action. Remind the lawyer that, if applicable, capital gains are not taxable in US for Cdn residents.

Any income whether or not taxable in US will also need to be reported on her Cdn/QC returns, with credit taken for any US tax paid.

[RichardAllen]

Since your wife is a non-resident alien for U.S. tax purposes, she may need to file a 1040NR to report any U.S.-sourced income.

[ND]

and remember that social security numbers never expire, she should not apply for ITIN and isn't even eligible to do so.