Haven’t you missed those proposed assessments? I saw the first one in a long time today. 2019 return filed by an 89-year-old who died late last year. Her family had to file returns just to collect the withholding that was being withheld, unnecessarily, on a small pension. Also, as it turns out, for EIP's.  Now it turns out a $30,000+ distribution was paid to her from a MetLife annuity that no one knew about. We don’t know where the money went, but a suspect item appears in the state list of unclaimed property, using a PMB address from years ago.

I suspect that this was an annuity that matured and had to be cashed when she reached a certain age. It was enough to make some of her Social Security taxable. Disappointing to IRS, the tax owed is still less than the $5,000 when the 20% Section 6662 penalty kicks in.

She had $50,000 of long-term care expenses in 2019 that qualify for medical deductions. I thought it would be a waste of time to file a Schedule A. Now I’ll have second thoughts before making that decision again.