Had a house fire April 2018

[Nashorn]

Had a house fire in a non fed declare area.
What deductions if any will be have for tax year 2018?
Also if insurance pays me $100k to replace personal items but same insurance inventory items and appraisers them to be worth $200 K
Would I still have a cap grain if I didn’t replace items?
Thanks for any help

[tagteam]

Have a look at the post (link below) by SuperUser Carl (assuming this is a rental property).

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/Tax-questions-for-investors-landlords/Rental-Property-Fire-Loss-ho...

[Nashorn]

It’s not a rental

[tagteam]

Then, you have a gain if your reimbursement is more than your adjusted basis in the property,

The deduction for personal casualty losses has been suspended for tax years 2018 through 2025, unless the loss occurred in a federally-declared disaster area and was caused by the disaster.

[Nashorn]

Sorry to be so ignorant but can you explain this?
“adjusted basis in the property”

[tagteam]

With respect to personal property (that you referenced as "personal items" in your original post), it would most likely be your cost - what you actually paid for the items.

If you received personal items as a gift, then your basis would generally be whatever the donor paid for them.

[NCperson]

can we go back to the original question as this is rather simple

$200,000 of personal property was lost in a fire.  The insurance company paid $100,000 under the claim

whether or not the money is used to replace the destroyed items there are no tax consequences as long as what you paid for the personal property that was lost originally cost you at least $100,000. .  It is a reimbursement from insurance and is not taxable.

The $100,000 that was NOT paid by the insurance company is not deductible as it's a personal loss which are no longer tax deductible

 again, nothing about this situation will impact your tax filing

[Nashorn]

Thanks I think this was the answer I was hoping for.
Insurance loss inventory is at 200K but my my coverage is only 100 K.
I know fed has no deduction for 2018 but I wonder if California local tax still has a deduction?

[tagteam · Accepted solution]

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@Nashorn wrote:
I know fed has no deduction for 2018 but I wonder if California local tax still has a deduction?

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That doesn't appear to be the case:

California law generally follows federal law regarding the treatment of losses incurred as a result of a casualty or a disaster.

See https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/1034.pdf

[Bees]

There is no casualty loss available under the new tax laws for personal use property.

  Uncertain how this helped out middle american or created jobs.

https://www.mileiq.com/blog/how-changes-to-tax-law-affect-fire-and-casualty-loss-tax-deduction/

[NCperson]

are you assuming that any change to the tax law is intended to help the middle class or create jobs? 

aren't tax law changes  number of 'puts and takes' (i.e. "compromises") to meet a political agenda?

wasn't the elimination of effectively all misc deductions a 'put', but there were other 'takes' that made up for it?