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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 need to get my mind out of the gutter when I read the topic

How long does it take you to prepare their returns? 10 minutes, 20, 30, 40, 50, an hour? If the client was a paying client for X years, I would do X years free.

I've sent lots of clients to the local SSA office to get copies of their 1099s. In the cases discussed here, however, the clients are not able to go and there don't appear to be court-appointed fiduciaries who could get info from SSA or an IRS transcript. In that case, I'd take their last actual SSA1099, look up the increases and Medicare amounts for each year, and just file the return with the estimated numbers. If they're off, the IRS will send a correction if it changes the tax. They will also send a correction if withholding was off, so don't worry about it.

Sect 751 prevents converting ordinary income to capital gains at the partner level. It does not apply to corporations since the transfer is a deemed sale to shareholders. And the situation you described is a direct sale unless Sec. 368(a)(1)(D)) is applied.

Why are they selling inventory and recognizing income instead of a Type D tax free transfer if ownership is the same? 751 applies to transfers from partnership to partners. Transfer of corp. assets is an entirely different ball game.

I have never been able to access what I want from e-services. After much frustration, I just gave up and have not tried it for a few years now.

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.

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 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.

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.

COVID related distributions had to be taken in 2020. The CAA21 provision was for other disasters occurring between 1/1/2020 and 1/26/2021. The SECURE 2.0 act (part of CAA22) made permanent a waiver for disasters occurring after 1/26/2021, but only for up to $22,000 in distributions taken within 180 after the disaster. Both of the latter are only for those who lived in a Presidentially declared disaster area and sustained an economic loss due to the disaster.

Basis re-creation, as best you can, and any estimation on the low side. Document what you do & any assumptions made. Weirdest one I had was an elderly man who had been investing in a mutual fund through payroll deduction, for years. He knew it was $5/week, started about when his son (older than I am!) started kindergarten. How long? Well, he left that job, and we figured out how many years at $5/week. I documented everything. It was still a pittance compared to the total sale, but it saved him some tax, he felt better about the whole thing, and I had copious notes to back up the assumptions made. Charge for the time. (I didn't, but then my client was in his mid-90's and it was worth it to hear the tales of his work and his son's scout troop shenanigans and the rest.)

It depends upon the fund company and whether they used an adviser. If it was held at the fund company, they have the cost basis 99% of the time. The client needs to ask. If it's with an adviser, usually they will generate a letter with what their records say (if the adviser can't figure it out, the adviser stinks). Explain to the clients what you need, why you need it and they will almost always come up with a basis. As an adviser we occasionally have a mutual fund which doesn't have a cost basis like this, we'll get a list of all distributions (they are on the internet) and come up with a basis as best as can be determined. With mutual funds it's rare to not have at least 80% of the sale price as actual cost. Stocks (as mentioned) are a very different story. Occasionally you'll get someone with ATT stock or whatever and you have to come up with a cost basis that is a true nightmare situation. Spinoffs are horrific and you can have real difficulty figuring that out.