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Unless there was tax withheld, I'd just take the 2021 amount times 1.059. It might be a couple dollars off due to rounding.

I have also used the bank statements to determine the net social security, and then added back the standard amount for Medicare if I could be reasonably certain they had not had an income jump that caused their Medicare to be increased. Again, this only works if they have no federal withholding.

And eventually everything purchased before 2011 will be inherited (with basis step-up). So there's that....

Because of the legal implications of the 2848, I do not get one unless needed (think about a former client who has moved and you're the only one getting their IRS notices). I am a big advocate for collecting 8821's from clients and checking their accounts in late October. I do not charge for the service, I just want to know that if there is a problem with an account, we can fix it before the IRS takes action. I'm currently going through 2022 returns and unfortunately, Transcript Delivery is acting funky--it's working but everything is in plain text. I believe with the Tax Pro Account, there is a new method for cleaning up your POA's. When I left H&R Block in 2011, I had to use the Freedom of Information Act to clean mine up. I might add, I do know preparers who require the 8821 of all clients; I don't, but I try and point out all the advantages.

I have a client who still holds some stock gifted to him by his grandmother, who bought it in the 1930's. He still has her basis.... on a long enough time scale (with mergers, acquisitions, stock splits, and more), the per-share basis approaches, but never quite reaches, zero.

When all else fails, I have looked up the lowest price a fund or stock ever traded for in its history. The taxpayer can't have purchased it for less than that amount.

I had a similar situation that went on for several years--elderly client with dementia had moved several times and son could not get Social Security information. I did the same as Kathy, adding a few bucks extra every year just in case. We finally received the SSA-1099 for 2022 and I was pleased to see we were only about $3 off after four years. Fortunately, there was no withholding.

Thanks to all who have posted. The group has given me more options than I realized were available. Actually, I believe the year was 2011 when stockbrokers and custodians were forced to disclose basis on their 1099-B information returns. I would trust any basis for mutual funds held less than 12 years, but a majority have held much longer. But time is on our side - one day almost all funds will be held 2011 and later.

The MFA code is sent to the phone of the person signing in through ID.me or Login.gov prior to gaining access for purposes of logging into EFTPS. The entire process is designed to identify the individual signing in to EFTPS. It's easy to understand if you just sign in to an EFTPS account a few times. But the first thing you must have is a validated Login.gov or ID.me account. That's the key to the whole process.

Some neighbors long ago would buy one animal to raise for their freezer. The year they got a steer calf, they named him Sir Loin, and that was a daily reminder of his purpose and ultimate fate. IIRC, they had a paid of piglets named Bacon and Sausage, too.

Went to log in to e-services for something else, and saw "Renew Your PTIN" as a new option. I've already done mine. Fee is down to $19.75 for 2024.

According to the attached TIGTA report dated 9/27/23 Login.gov is not as secure as it should be. https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2023-10/20232S070fr.pdf In fact the use of both Login.gov and ID.me will be temporary until they can be replaced. "In July, the IRS approved a road map for a future credential service provider outlining the need for two or more CSPs, including a government and non-government option, to provide taxpayers with a choice."

This annoys me. It has been the same thing for my rare uses of e-services. Each time I'd try to access it, it was starting over with a new process. This last time I finally gave up. I got in and could never get to what I needed and kept getting a message that I wasn't authorized to access the report for that-whatever-it-was that I needed. Useless.

I have a client that thought he was getting a big ERC credit and that did not work for him - because his business grew during the pandemic. So he is now looking for money in his wife's retirement account and thinks there must be a way to avoid tax and penalties.