topic Re: Utilities and insurance claim in Deductions & credits

Utilities and insurance claim

Stephanie59 — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 11:40:06 GMT

I had a house fire in 2022. In the winter, I had insane gas bills since most of my ceiling and insulation were missing.

I sent the utility bills to my insurance company. My adjuster said they'd reimburse the difference. When they sent me money, I asked my adjuster to break it down for my taxes. His response was, "Policy owes for the increased cost. Not your total bill. So we paid $463 for increased cost." That doesn't really tell me anything. The amount they paid would account for maybe one month's increase in my gas bill. So I plan to simply put my utilities into TurboTax. The total gas bill for 2024 was $2990.62. Most of that ($2,386.55) was in the first 5 months of the year. I asked my adjuster how the amount was calculated. If I get an answer, it probably won't matter. I figure, they snatched that number out of the air.

Re: Utilities and insurance claim

xmasbaby0 — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 22:03:20 GMT

Were you in a federal disaster area---like a wildfire area? If not, casualty losses are not deductible on your federal tax return. Only casualty losses related to being in a federal disaster area can be entered.

Re: Utilities and insurance claim

Stephanie59 — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 23:37:43 GMT

Thanks, but that wasn't the question.

I'm self-employed and work from home. My question was, should I deduct what the insurance company sent me from the actual numbers? I entered the actual numbers. I asked him where they got the number. He hasn't responded. I don't have time to wait.

Re: Utilities and insurance claim

xmasbaby0 — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:13:23 GMT

Thanks, but that wasn't the question.

Your post above makes no mention at all about a home office. If you were reimbursed by insurance for some of your costs you cannot enter the amount you were reimbursed for as an expense on your tax return. You can only enter the amount that you actually paid.