Q. How to eliminate ES?
A. Just don't mail them in. It's optional. TurboTax (TT) prepares the voucher (form 1040-ES)just in case you want to use them. They are not required.
Q. She cannot afford that payment. What does she do?
A. She requests a payment plan from the IRS. See below.
You say she is a retired senior. If she was over 59.5, at the time of the withdrawal, there is no penalty, just tax. For a $16K tax bill, it must have been a big withdrawal. Part of the her problem was that, by having additional income (the IRA distribution), most (up to 85%) of her social security became taxable.
PAYMENT PLAN In order to sign up for a payment plan, you need to go to the File section of TurboTax, then when you get to the screen "<your name>, just one more step and we'll file your returns" select the Revisit link under "Here's how you chose to pay your taxes". Then on the screen "How would you like to pay your federal taxes?" you should see the last option listed as "I want to request an installment plan".
. In addition to the interest, there are fees (lower if you meet poverty guidelines). The fee drops more if you agree to direct bank debit.
The Turbotax help topic at this link explains how to set up a plan:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-payments/help/can-i-set-up-a-payment-plan-for-my-taxes/00/2651...
