Taxpayer stated their prior tax preparer died in 2010 (April 15th) and he had only filed their business returns (1120S). Personal 1040 was not filed and the preparers tax office closed. All records were destroyed. Yes, I know that is not the way it is supposed to go but the deceased preparers wife was not involved in the business and took it upon herself to destroy all office records. She was distraught and very angry given the passing.
The taxpayer has been carrying a balance due with the IRS since this event. Seems like the IRS created the missing personal return and failed to use all pertinent data, of course, much to my new clients dismay and confusion. I am now trying to reconstruct the 2010 return and see if the balance due is realistic. Issue is the taxpayer has no W2's etc since all were destroyed.
My question is, given the year of the missing return, can I get information from the IRS to reconstruct the 2010 1040 return. Can you get transcripts back that far?
Thanks for the assistance....