Income loss

[pa4gbodine]

Self Employed and  I didnt received money due me , how can I claim a loss.  They only paid partial of what they owed me and didn't pay the rest.  How do I claim it as a loss

[VolvoGirl]

You don't.   You can't deduct income you never received.  You will just have less income to be taxed on.  You take the loss by still deducting all your expenses but not your time or labor.

[VolvoGirl]

More info

Per IRS Publication 535 Business Expenses, see the caution on top of page 41, it says.........

You can claim a bad debt deduction only if the amount owed to you was previously included in gross income.  This includes amounts owed to you from all sources of taxable income, including sales, services, rents and interest.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf

Or see Topic 453 - Bad Debt Deduction

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc453.html