Helping my Mother with taxes after my Father passed away in 2020. IRS sent a letter in 2024 requesting he needed to file a return for 2020

[rdb5]

Both my parents are retired and in there 80's. My father didnt keep good records so Im having a difficult time finding any W2's, 1099's. I have POA over my mother because of health problems. He didnt share any tax info with her. What a mess he left behind. what do I need to do?

[ThomasM125]

You can get a transcript of tax information from the IRS and use that to prepare the tax return. Here is a link that will allow you to do that online or through the mail.

[xmasbaby0]

A few suggestions that might help.   You mention that you cannot find any W-2's?  Was your dad still working for an employer in 2020?   If he was retired, then there would not be any W-2's since W-2's only come from employers.   If he was still working, you could ask that old employer for copies of his W-2's.

And....there are a lot of different kinds of 1099's.   Many come from banks or financial institutions, from which you could seek copies.  Of course....you need to determine which financial institutions to contact.    Did your father work as a consultant or independent contractor for anyone who would be able to provide a copy of a 1099NEC they issued to him for 2020?

You can try getting a wage and income transcript from the IRS---that would show the income that was reported to the IRS by employers, banks, financial institutions, brokerages, etc. for a federal return.   The transcript will not be as helpful for preparing a state return.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript             You want the one called a Wage and Income transcript

Or you can pay Social Security for copies of W-2's.

To get a copy of a W-2 from Social Security https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02501

Was he receiving Social Security benefits?    Contact Social Security to see what you need to do in order to get a copy of his SSA1099 for 2020.

https://www.ssa.gov/agency/contact/

Try getting copies of banking records from their bank.   If you have POA the bank should be helpful.  

You might  (most likely) need to seek local paid tax help.   You will not be able to use TurboTax to prepare a 2020 tax return.  A 2020 return has to be filed by mail.  

[xmasbaby0]

AND....since he passed in 2020, your mother can file a joint return for 2020, which makes more of their combined income "tax free."   If she files a joint return, the standard deduction for 2020 for a married couple over 65 was $27,400  (+additional $1300 per spouse for legal blindness).