What happens when elderly parent doesn't pay taxes?

[Anonymous]

My parent. who did pay taxes last year, has no idea if he filed and paid this year or not. Income is most Soc Sec, but some payout from investments (which I have statements for). I'm not getting anywhere with Soc Sec office thanks to two factor authentication which is linked to a phone # he no longer has access to. Any advice from BTDT?

[Anonymous]

Call the irs or put in a request for the copies. He probably didn't. Then go online and file. Try to reset his online social security account.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much. I didn't know the IRS would be willing to release copies. Any idea of how I can reset given both this 2FA and the fact that I cannot get him to go in person to an office? I really appreciate your reply.

[Anonymous]

Here are instructions to reset t2FA. You will have to get them to mail the reset info to your parent.

https://blog.ssa.gov/how-to-change-your-second-factor-authentication-for-your-personal-my-social-security-account/

[Anonymous]

Some options to get the tax transcript from IRS.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parent. who did pay taxes last year, has no idea if he filed and paid this year or not. Income is most Soc Sec, but some payout from investments (which I have statements for). I'm not getting anywhere with Soc Sec office thanks to two factor authentication which is linked to a phone # he no longer has access to. Any advice from BTDT?

By all means go through the process listed above about filing for taxes and paying therein. But, in general, what would happen if they aren't paid. Nothing. The IRS will just wait until your parent passes away and take action then. The IRS takes the view they have priority over everyone for claims against the estate. There claim will also include a great deal of interest and penalties.

As a note, as a probate attorney, people deciding to not pay income tax or even file is not an uncommon occurrence. I had one family member essentially tell me about their recently deceased loved one..."yeah, they said they had paid enough."