I had an examination a few years ago. It was about 5 years after the fact. My wife and I were taking turns doing taxes and for some reason I forgot to give h

I had an examination a few years ago. It was about 5 years after the fact. My wife and I were taking turns doing taxes and for some reason I forgot to give her the paperwork for an investment account one year. It was not a pleasant experience. So they knew about this account, all the years before and then all the years after. We got a letter that said I under-reported my income for some year 5 years prior. I mentions the account and the amount. Explains that since I didn't report that account, it's treated like normal income for that year I owe them $80k plus penalties.... I forget the exact wording but prison time was mentioned for tax evasion in the initial letter. Hired a lawyer, hired an account, refiled that year and then the subsequent years since the account found some more deductions. Then it took about 2 years to get it closed out. We'd write a letter, 3 weeks later we'd get a letter back the said they'd respond to our letter within 90 days. After like 9 months the accepted our new tax submission but insisted we pay the penalties. It took another 15 months for those to get waived. It is infuriating fighting over penalties that no longer apply.