Frequently asked here and the answer is always no.  The trustee, of course, should have told the beneficiaries in December not to file their returns until they received a K-1.  Oh well. 

The better question is, what happens if we do it wrong?  Likely the trust will pay more tax than the beneficiaries would on their returns.  So does IRS really care?  Has IRS ever audited the average run-of-the-mill 1041?  In the unlikely event that they did, would they insist on issuing a refund and assessing the beneficiaries?

I wonder if that's something that could be filed with a disclosure statement.  Probably not.