I abandonned my home under construction as it did not turn out as expected. Can I claim the down payment as a financial loss?

[rogerfc37]

I paid a down payment to the contractor to build my new primary residence.  There were some major disagreements relevant to how the construction was turning out and I refused to continue making payments. The contractor refused to reimburse me  the funds already paid out.  Can I claim those funds as a loss?

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

No.  You're probably lucky you didn't get sued.  You had a contract disagreement, not a casualty or theft loss and not an investment loss.  That's not tax deductible.  

If you owned the land, and stopped construction, those costs might help you if you sold the land to someone else who wanted to start over and build something.  But here, where you have a contract to buy a finished home, failing to complete the contract is not a tax deductible loss.