IRS Form 712, the Life Insurance Statement, is a valuation document completed by an insurance company and attached to a federal estate tax return (Form 706) or a federal gift tax return (Form 709) whenever a life insurance policy is part of a taxable estate or a taxable transfer.1Internal Revenue Service. About Form 712, Life Insurance Statement You don’t fill it out yourself. You request it from the insurer, wait for the completed form, and file it with the return it supports.
Most people never see one. The federal estate tax exemption for 2026 is $15,000,000, and the annual gift tax exclusion lets you give $19,000 per recipient without filing anything.2Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax Form 712 only enters the picture when a return is required and life insurance is involved.
When You Need Form 712
Two situations trigger it.
The first is an estate large enough to require Form 706. If the gross estate exceeds $15,000,000 in 2026, the executor files a federal estate tax return, and any life insurance that gets pulled into the gross estate needs a Form 712 attached. Insurance proceeds land in the gross estate when they’re payable to the estate itself, or when the decedent held any incidents of ownership in the policy at death (the right to change beneficiaries, borrow against the policy, surrender it, or assign it).3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2042 – Proceeds of Life Insurance A separate three-year lookback rule pulls back policies the decedent transferred within three years of death, which is what catches failed transfers to irrevocable life insurance trusts.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2035 – Adjustments for Certain Gifts Made Within 3 Years of Decedent’s Death
The second is a lifetime transfer of a policy. Giving a policy to another person or to a trust is a taxable gift, which requires Form 709 for the year of transfer, and Form 712 supplies the value.5Internal Revenue Service. About Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return The value gets measured against the $19,000 annual exclusion; any excess counts against the $15,000,000 lifetime exemption but is still reportable.6Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances
If the estate falls under the exemption and no policy transfers happened during life, there is no Form 706, no Form 709, and no Form 712.
What the Insurer Puts on the Form
Form 712 has two parts. Part I covers a deceased insured (for estate tax on the decedent’s own life). Part II covers a living insured, which applies to gift transfers and also to any policy the decedent owned on someone else’s life.7Internal Revenue Service. Form 712 – Life Insurance Statement Which part gets completed determines how the policy is valued.
When the Insured Has Died
The policy has matured, so the insurer starts with the face amount, adds accumulated dividends and accrued interest owed at death, and subtracts outstanding policy loans and any unpaid premiums. The result is the net proceeds includible in the gross estate.7Internal Revenue Service. Form 712 – Life Insurance Statement
When the Insured Is Still Living
The death benefit hasn’t paid out, so valuation shifts to what it would cost to replace the policy on the valuation date. For a policy in force for some time, the insurer calculates the interpolated terminal reserve, which is the policy’s reserve value adjusted for how far into the current premium period the transfer occurs, plus any portion of the last premium covering time beyond the transfer date.8eCFR. 26 CFR 25.2512-6 – Valuation of Certain Life Insurance and Annuity Contracts Those figures appear on Lines 58a and 58b of Part II.7Internal Revenue Service. Form 712 – Life Insurance Statement
The same interpolated terminal reserve method applies when a decedent owned a policy on a still-living insured, even though the return being filed is an estate tax return.9eCFR. 26 CFR 20.2031-8 – Valuation of Certain Life Insurance and Annuity Contracts This catches executors off guard because the relevant section of Form 712 looks like the gift tax valuation.
Requesting Form 712 From the Insurer
Contact the issuing insurance company’s policyholder services or tax compliance department. Have three things ready: the policy number, the insured person’s full name, and the specific valuation date.
For estate tax, the valuation date is the date of death, unless the executor elects the alternate valuation date six months after death (available only if it reduces both the gross estate and the estate tax liability).10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2032 – Alternate Valuation For gift tax, the valuation date is the date the policy was transferred.
Request the form as soon as the triggering event happens. Insurers often route these requests through centralized tax departments, and four to eight weeks is a common turnaround. Some large carriers take longer. If several policies are involved across different carriers, send all the requests at once. Each policy needs its own Form 712.
Filing Deadlines
Form 712 has no independent deadline. It inherits the deadline of the return it accompanies.
- Form 706 is due nine months after the decedent’s date of death. An automatic six-month filing extension is available via Form 4768, pushing the filing deadline to fifteen months after death; the tax payment is still due at nine months.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 706
- Form 709 is due April 15 of the year after the gift. An automatic six-month extension is available through Form 8892, and it also piggybacks on an income tax extension filed with Form 4868. Again, the extension covers filing, not payment.12Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709
If the donor dies in the same year the gift was made, the Form 709 deadline becomes the earlier of the estate tax return due date (with extensions) or April 15 of the following year.12Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 709
Where the Numbers Land on the Return
Form 712 must be physically attached to the return. A return filed without it is treated as incomplete and can generate IRS correspondence and processing delays.
On Form 706
When the decedent held incidents of ownership at death, the net proceeds from Form 712 go on Schedule D (Insurance on the Decedent’s Life).7Internal Revenue Service. Form 712 – Life Insurance Statement When the policy was transferred within three years of death and pulled back into the estate under the lookback rule, the value goes on Schedule G (Transfers During Decedent’s Life) instead.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2035 – Adjustments for Certain Gifts Made Within 3 Years of Decedent’s Death Every policy gets its own Form 712, and all of them attach to the single Form 706.
On Form 709
The interpolated terminal reserve value from Form 712 goes on Schedule A (Computation of Taxable Gifts).5Internal Revenue Service. About Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return For multiple policies transferred in the same year, each gets its own Form 712, and the sum of the values is the aggregate gift for the year, measured first against the annual exclusion and then against the lifetime exemption.