TomYoung,
Thank you for your response. My father in law had some brain trauma a few years back and it is making the whole process that much more difficult, but overall what you said about the account seems to be accurate. My wife was responsible for paying any taxes owed over the years. I am guessing he was thinking of the dividends that were paid out when he said it was shown each year.
"Since the concept of "covered" securities was introduced in 2010 that should mean that the securities sold were not purchased in the 2010 - 2016 time frame and therefore should be Box E sales."
Thank you, this is definitely helpful information.
"Since a 1099-B was created somebody has to report those sales. The IRS will be looking for it. How is the account out of which the securities were sold actually titled? Whose Social Security Number is on the 1099-B?"
The "account name" is both my wife's name and her father's name, but the "recipient's identification number" displayed at the top of the 1099B appears to be my wife's social security number. I gather from this that my wife and I are then responsible for filing the form, which again is definitely helpful.
"After 20+ years of non-attention it's going to be pretty darn hard to come up with reasonable, supportable bases for the securities sold. Has the father kept 20+ years of broker/banker reports by any chance?"
He said he has kept them. I'm not certain what I would be looking for in this information, but it does look like the entire account was sold off. Would it just be the principle that was added to the account since it was created?
Thanks again for any help.
