So what do you do with the 80 year old who today handed me a 1099B with no basis listed as it was a noncovered security?  She has no clue when she got it, how she got it, or how far back she has account statements.  And even if she has all the statements, guess who is going to be computing it?  Nor does she know what to ask if I tell her to call the company to get additional info regarding her account.

Don't you ever have anything like that?  That is my practice, day in and day out, several times a day.  I can never complete a tax return in 30 minutes.