If you are the executor of an estate, you will have quite a few responsibilities that you need to take very seriously. One of the most important of these is making sure the taxes are paid on time, and in full, for everything you are responsible for. Estate taxes may be deferred in whole or in part and it will be your responsibility to make sure that you make all the right elections timely (this is especially true for an estate that is highly illiquid, i.e. holds assets other than cash or marketable securities). You need to analyze how taxes are going to be allocated among the beneficiaries and how funds are going to be raised to pay taxes.