@fanfare
"It's gong to depend on your other income.
if your AGI is low, there is no tax on the SS benefit and you should dispute the IRS finding."
Unfortunately, my 2020 income is high enough that tax on the Lump Sum seems to be payable.
"It's pretty surprising that you would get such fast turnaround from the IRS given their current backlog.
That's another reason to dispute it."
I rather suspect that the letter from the IRS was computer-generated.
You could argue that, from the IRS point of view, the best strategy would be to work on the returns that generate additional taxes and have reduced priority on the ones that require refunds to be paid.
Ha! Ha! But not so funny for us taxpayers.
