All About Pocket Knives

Sorry for this being long but I gotta vent. My Mom lived with me the final 12 years of her life. She died suddenly in mid-January 2020 at a local rehab facility (blood clot) at age 84 after falling and breaking her hip here at home. She left only a hand-written will which dealt mostly with the disposition of her remains and the few personal items she owned. She sold off/gave away all of her household goods when she moved in with me and over the final 5 years or so divested herself of most of her other belongings. I discussed her will with an attorney, who advised against filing it or having myself named as executor since her estate was pretty much non-existent. I did, however, settle her affairs--paying her credit card debts, medical bills, burial, gravestone, etc.

Now, the reason for this rant. In 2020 I filed her final "taxpayer deceased" income tax report with the IRS, which was for the year 2019. Her refund was $250 or so. I ensured that I did all of the paperwork to show that she was deceased--enclosing copies of her death certificate, obituary, and IRS Form 1310 Statement of a Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Person. I never heard or received anything back from the IRS. After about a year, I did phone the regional IRS office but after waiting on hold for a long while, I hung up. I just figured that the IRS decided that I wasn't entitled to the refund since I wasn't a court-appointed representative/executor. My Mom's death effected me deeply at the time, but over the years I have moved on. Now today, 6 years after I filed her last taxes, I received a packet from the IRS in Andover, MA, telling me that the Form 1040 that I filed for her is missing the Form 1310 and the proof of death documents. They want me to provide the documents within 30 days, saying that if they don't hear from me, my Mom's account "may reflect incomplete or incorrect information."

The fact is that I know I enclosed the documents that they claim are missing. It's clear to me that these documents were lost during the past 6 years in their possession. I settled her affairs with Social Security, Federal Retirement (OPM), and the West Virginia Tax Department, among others. I was very meticulous about ensuring everything was complete each time, and I made copies of what I sent. At this point I have no desire to pursue the $250 refund. I was just going to give half to my older brother, my only sibling, who, in the long run washed his hands of helping me settle her estate--although he and his family were happy to accept their portion of her life insurance payout. (He refused to pay anything to help me in having her ashes/urn interred, saying that the cemetery wanted too much to dig the hole.)

Anyway, I'm going to phone IRS tomorrow, and hopefully I can put this to rest without getting too frustrated.

As I said, just had to vent to somebody. If you read this, thank you for your patience in getting through it.

Chris J.

Chris, it’s troubling reading this. I know what dealing with the govt can be like, especially the IRS. In my working days as a financial advisor, I would often have clients coming to me with letters like that. Usually it involved a capital gain that they had failed to provide the cost basis for. The IRS assumes that if you sell something you paid zero for it so they expect taxes on the full amount of a sale, even if it’s a loss. It’s usually much easier fix than you think when you get one of those letters. For some reason they always give you a small amount of time to respond. My guess is it will be a much easier fix than it feels like right now. I hope it works out for you. Don’t blame you for wanting to vent about it.

Sharpnshinyknives wrote: ↑Tue Jun 02, 2026 9:11 pm Chris, it’s troubling reading this. I know what dealing with the govt can be like, especially the IRS. In my working days as a financial advisor, I would often have clients coming to me with letters like that. Usually it involved a capital gain that they had failed to provide the cost basis for. The IRS assumes that if you sell something you paid zero for it so they expect taxes on the full amount of a sale, even if it’s a loss. It’s usually much easier fix than you think when you get one of those letters. For some reason they always give you a small amount of time to respond. My guess is it will be a much easier fix than it feels like right now. I hope it works out for you. Don’t blame you for wanting to vent about it.

Hi Mark:

Thanks so much for "lending an ear" so to speak and for sharing some of your experiences with the IRS. I appreciate it. I'm sure that I'll get it squared away. I just thought that after all of these years I had put this stuff behind me.

Chris J.

Hi Chris. I'm sorry to hear that the good old IRS is putting you through the ringer a this stage. I guess that they must have smelled a few drops of blood on the floor somewhere. I encourage you to stick in there and not give in to their shenanigans. But, of course, that's easy for me to say.

Good luck and, as always, best regards.

Herb

Sounds like you had all your i's dotted and your t's crossed, wow talk about something falling through the crack, that is ridiculous. The boss is helping her cousin with her husband's stuff. There's lots of hoops to jump through for sure.
I've got a good friend that been going through probate for over 2 years. Things can sure be messy when doing things with the gov'ment involved. Vent on buddy.

bighomer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 03, 2026 1:52 pm Sounds like you had all your i's dotted and your t's crossed

unfortunately the IRS wants your i’s crossed and your t’s dotted - the Golden Rule is most certainly in place when dealing with the IRS (He who has the gold makes the rules)

Thanks for lending an ear, everybody. To Mark, Herb, BH, Tom, and Treefarmer (who reached out via PM), thanks for the encouragement and for sharing your known experiences of the pitfalls of estate matters. Much appreciated, guys.

Chris J.