Not necessarily. It is an option to amend if you choose, and may be the best option if, because of the recovery you essentially lose the Casualty and Theft Deduction you claimed.
However, your car has still lost value because of the theft, so you still have a casualty. Let's say that the car had a value of 12,000 at the time of the theft, and you were able to claim a casualty deduction of 6,000 (valuing the car at zero) after the formula to determine how much casualty you could claim was applied. Now that you've recovered the vehicle in 2017, it has a current value of 3,000 because of the theft and other. You essentially have 3,000 in income for this year (2017), because that's when you received the car back. You will claim this as a reimbursement for a deduction taken, and it will be determined how much you actually will claim on your taxes (depends on how much you claimed in itemized deductions). To make sure that you claim this correctly, have a fair market value assessment made on the car.
Having said this: congratulations on getting your car back.. Hopefully it will be in working order for a while to come still.
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