Missing SSA 1099

[Patrick Michael]

Client had dementia and was in a nursing home. Her daughter misplaced client's 2022 SSA 1099.   Daughter was working on trying to get  a replacement, but she (daughter) passed away before she was able to get it.   Client passed away a couple of weeks ago and a family friend is now trying to get her affairs in order.  Any ideas on how the friend can obtain a copy of the SSA 1099?  

[kathyc2]

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.

[BrewOne]

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.

 

[Gail in Virginia]

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.

[Max W]

A copy can be gotten at ssa.gov.   You will probably have to set up an account.

[Sara EA]

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.

[BrewOne]

This is one of those cases that, as Sara relates, you do the best you can.  Under normal circumstances, I won't consider claiming withholding unless I have a tax document in hand.

[Patrick Michael]

Thanks for all the responses. 

 

[Catherine]

On 10/25/2023 at 10:43 AM, BrewOne said:

Under normal circumstances, I won't consider claiming withholding unless I have a tax document in hand.

Under normal circumstances, yes. But these aren't normal. If there is any provable history of withheld tax (from an ancient SSA-1099 or 1040 listing), I'd use the same percentage. Older folks by and large don't change withholding percentages, but let them coast for years. 

I had one older couple that was having way TOO much tax withheld from one retirement account, and they got 5-figure refunds every year. I reminded them for nearly a decade to cut that back, and they never did. Dealing with a retirement custodian is usually fare easier than dealing with the government, so there you go.