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Thank you ThomasM125!

Just for clarification, we file a joint tax return, and I have substantial Social Security that is taxed and is substantially in excess of Medicare premiums.  My wife's Social Security goes into the "Spouse Column" on the Social Security Benefits Worksheet.  It is essentially added to mine, when the taxable amount is calculated--so it definitely is responsible for some tax--in fact, TurboTax computed $300 more than when I simply left it out (since TurboTax only asks you for the amount in Box 5 of all SSA-1099 forms, and we never got one for my wife).  But even though my wife never received an SSA-1099, it seemed to me that I needed to include it anyway, because otherwise the IRS would say that we were not including all the benefits paid to both of us--even though 100% of my wife's benefit went to paying her Part B Medicare.  The small balance remaining on her Part B, as well as IRMAA add-ons for Parts B and D, were paid out-of-pocket.  My Social Security benefits more than covered the premiums, including IRMAA, for me, and would have covered both of us, but Social Security and Medicare treat each person separately, and my Social Security couldn't be used to pay her shortfall.

So, it seemed to me that I needed to truthfully include my wife's benefit on our joint return, even though we never received an SSA-1099 for her.  But then I was also concerned that that could raise some sort of red flag, because no SSA-1099 was ever reported to the IRS and yet, by including the benefit (and Part B deduction), we are stating that the info is coming off of an SSA-1099 (per TurboTax wording).

Then it occurred to me that perhaps, if no actual money is paid to a person, and the entire benefit is used to fund the Medicare premium, with the balance being paid out-of-pocket, the tax laws changed to automatically treat the benefit as nontaxable.  But that didn't make sense, because why would the IRS forego receiving the extra tax that was definitely created by inclusion of the Social Security benefit?  And my conclusion now, based on your response, is that I that I better include the relevant benefit information, even if no SSA-1099 was ever created.

In other words, if we do nothing about my wife's Social Security benefit (because she never received an SSA-1099), our taxes are about $300 less than it is when we do include the proper info.  But I figure that if we did that, somewhere down the line someone at IRS will conclude that we failed to report Social Security income for my wife and that the $300 plus penalties are overdue!  So, looking at your advice in your reply to my original message, I think the most correct way to proceed is to pretend that my wife actually received an SSA-1099 and to report her benefit and its 100% use to pay Part B Medicare (based on the amount of her benefit and the amount of the premium).

BTW, I can verify the info, because at the end of 2020, Social Security sent a letter explaining my wife's new benefit for 2021 and the amounts owed for Medicare in excess of the benefit, which we subsequently paid out-of-pocket.  Sadly, no such letter was received at the end of last year--but when I telephoned Social Security, they confirmed that my wife's benefit went up 5.9% like everyone else's.  Still, I suspect that next year there will also be no SSA-1099 for her!  And we will use the same method for our 2022 taxes.

Thanks, again, for responding to my original query.  By asking the question and getting your reply, it clarified in my mind what I need to do.