What are the options/

[AccTaxMan]

Taxpayer is seriously ill. She is in coma. She needs to file her 2009 now but her daughter could not locate her tax information. Her daughter tried to call her investment companies to request her Form 1099s. But they do not want to do anything unless her daughter has a power of attorney. But then her daughter cannot get a power of attorney from her because she is in coma. So what can her daughter do now? Please advise.

[Burke]

She can be appointed guardian by the court due to TP's medical condition. It's not that complicated to do in this circumstance, especially if daughter is the only immediate family or no one contests. Many investment companies have Form 1099 available on-line if the daughter has a copy of the investment acct info. Tell her to check old tax returns as acct info may be filed there or elsewhere in home/office. However, TP apparently cannot sign the return as is, so daughter still needs the authority provided by the court. And she can't get the info from the IRS for the same reason.

[AccTaxMan]

She can be appointed guardian by the court due to medical condition.

Is it a long process and does she need a lawyer to do it? They are in California.

[Burke]

You would have to check California law, but I do not believe an attorney is normally required, as this is handled through the probate courts. See this: https://www.expertlaw.com/library/es...rdianship.html.

[JohnH]

This may not be acceptable but I'll toss it out. If info could be estimated from prior years and any current year info on hand (bank statements, etc) then an unsigned paper return could be filed with a statement attached that taxpayer is in a coma and the return is based on best info available at the moment. It will take IRS a month or so to send the return back with instructions to sign & return it to them within 10 days. Maybe the 30-40 days this takes would allow sufficient time to get the legal niceties in place.

I'm assuming the return is on extension. If so, then waiting to take the above action just before the Oct 15 filing date would push everything forward another 3 weeks. The key seems to be trying to avoid a late filing penalty, so showing good faith might establish a valid reason even if a penalty is assessed. On the other hand, if it's fairly certain there's a refund or little/no tax due, then there's really no rush to get anything done right now or even by Oct 15. (Although I'd still feel better overall getting something filed & on record)